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Congratulations GSD Class of 2021!

Our GSD finalists were awarded their degrees on Monday 12 July 2021. The past two years have been particularly challenging and we are so proud of everyone who has graduated this year. We hope to congratulate our graduates in person when it is safe to do so.

A headshot of Dr Stephanie Panichelli-Batalla. Stephanie is stood outside and smiling

“Congratulations to all of you! The past two years have been really challenging but you have all done extremely well! We are all so proud of you. When I took on the role as Head of School (HoS), one of the duties I was most looking forward to was the graduation ceremony. Unfortunately, I still haven’t had a chance to take part in it as HoS. I do hope that one day we will be able to see you in person again, and celebrate your achievements properly! It has been a real pleasure to have you as a member of our School for Cross-Faculty Studies community over the past 3 to 4 years, and we will miss you very much!! Please join our alumni network and make sure you stay in touch! And if you’re back in Coventry at some point, do come and say hello. It would be so lovely to have a chat and see how you are doing.”

Dr Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla,
Head of the School for Cross-faculty Studies

To celebrate our graduates, we held a virtual graduation event on Wednesday 14 July 2021. During the celebration, the following prizes were awarded:

  • Citizenship/Leadership Throughout the Years: Beth Disdel and Akshaya Shekaran
  • Best Dissertation: Joe Gosney
  • Best Overall Mark: Anoushka Freeman

Many congratulations Akshaya, Anoushka, Beth, and Joe!

"My dissertation sought to understand the impact that a marine protected area has had on a shallow-water coral reef in the Philippines and determine its effectiveness as a marine conservation tool. I am elated to have won this prize and am excited to see how my research can further conservation efforts within marine habitats around the world. I couldn't have done this without the support and guidance from my professors and peers and I would like to wish everyone graduating this year the best of luck in the future."

Joe Gosney, 'Best Dissertation' Prize Winner

Akshaya and Beth were awarded the 'Citizen/Leadership throughout the years' prize for "the amazing work they have done for the Warwick Sutton Scholars Widening Participation (WP) programme this year. In their capacity as GSD Student Ambassadors, their role was mainly to support the GSD staff during live presentations, but they went above and beyond this. One of the big challenges this year was how to adapt the programme to online-only delivery. On their own initiative, Akshaya and Beth contributed many valuable ideas of what we could do – for example, they came up with the ‘letter to your future self’ idea to fit the ‘Future Foods’ theme, which the participants really loved! Furthermore, they both volunteered to step in to cover for (wider-university) team members who couldn’t join live events because of wifi issues on the day, often at very short notice. They supported the central WP Team, the young people, and each other, demonstrating a level of solidarity that we can all be proud of.”

Charlotte Flechet, Tori Keene, and Luke Netherclift were nominated for the 'Citizenship/Leadership Throughout the Years' prize. Charlotte was put forward for her work as Student-Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) Course Representative and as Chair of the SSLC, "serving as a bridge between the student body and the department in a particularly difficult year". Tori was nominated for her work with GLOBUS, running the student-led online publication as the first woman editor: "she can leave feeling really proud of what she is leaving behind". Luke was nominated for "consistently applying his learning to his citizenship, using his learning to drive changes and programmes for social enterprise at the university".

Staff and students in GSD smiling for a photo during the virtual graduation event

Above: Staff and students during the virtual graduation event

Hear from some of our graduates!

Virtual yearbook

Staff and students have been adding messages to the GSD Virtual Yearbook. If you are a Class of 2021 graduate and you haven’t added a message to the yearbook yet, we encourage you to get involved! You can submit your message and photo here.

Staying in touch

GSD graduates, please remember to register on warwickgrad.net so that we can keep in touch with you. In addition, you can: