Eleanor's PhD examination

I should have finished my job at Wimbledon on the 30 June. However, Eleanor’s PhD exam had been scheduled for the 1st July and I just couldn’t do this to her or to Charlotte, who will be taking the organisation of Viva’s from me.

It is also good in other ways:
- Ellie and I started at the same time and will finish together, giving mne a feeling of completion
- It will be good to go away knowing Ellie had passed her PhD and is now Dr Ellie
- It will provide with much needed PhD examination experience (even though I will not be examining, only present)

Ellie’s submission was an interesting one because it pushed boundaries. She decided that in order to convey the new knowledge she produced, she need to submit a text and a metatext, to be read together. The text (or thesis) is conventionally written and bound. The metatext, however, has images, quotes and video works and is presented unbound, in a box. They both have to be read together.

The strength of Ellie’s examination was the fact that she chose the right examiners for her submission, which in PhD degrees is often an underestimated procedural point. Her choices were not only knowledgeable in Drawing, Photography and her theoretical framework, they also knew about the specifics of practice-led research.

Having had some trouble in her supervisory team, she also decided to maximise their expertise in the examination, asking everyone to be present but only allowing one to be present at the Viva Voce examination. The examiner she chose was the one that could represent her better in terms of both theory and practice. This reduced the possibility of disagreement amongst her team.

Needless to say that all of this worked to her advantage and Eleanor got her PhD subject to minor corrections and I felt that my job at Wimbledon was done.