Sam Martin successfully passed her viva on Monday 4 December, 2017. The title of her thesis is Coeliac Disease: Chronic Illness and Self-Care in the Digital Age. Sam’s thesis contributes to the fields of the Sociology of Health and Illness (SHI), specifically in the way it speaks to Coeliac Disease, and the field of Big Social Data and Health in general. Using Twitter, Facebook and Instagram data, Sam investigated and the way Coeliac patients actively use social media platforms in the process of self-care and self-identity. As part her of research, Sam developed two apps, both of which have received great reviews in a recent review of the Lancet*:

*Zajanckauskaite, E. (2017) Apps: solutions to sociological and health problems. The Lancet, Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Vol. 2, No. 8, p554

Published: August, 2017, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253(17)30191-7

Pablo Velasco Gonzalez defended his doctoral thesis on the 5th of December 2017, passing his viva with minor corrections. Pablo’s thesis is entitled "The authority of the steam": power dynamics of digital production in the Bitcoin Blockchain”.