Celebrating success at Graduation

9 July 2018

Today we officially congratulated our most recent graduates from the School of Media Arts and Technology during a ceremony at Southampton Guildhall.

Following an introduction by the president of the Students Union, David Cowley, the ceremony was officially declared open by the Chancellor Admiral the Right Honourable Lord West of Spithead. Vice-Chancellor Graham Baldwin then spoke of the successes of the School over the year and thanked the students for their contributions as well as congratulating them on their individual achievements.

Around 300 students were admitted for their degrees during the ceremony including from the Media Technology Programme well done to our graduates from:

As is traditional at graduation ceremonies, Honorary Doctorates were awarded to a couple of individuals for the outstanding contributions that they’ve made to their fields. Ian Hughes was admitted for an Honorary Doctorate of Technology for his work in emerging technologies. His current role is Senior Analyst for Internet of Things but he has also been instrumental in a number of technologies as well as promoting STEM subjects to the next generation of engineers. Ian encouraged the graduates to always look ahead and to continue learning – he advised that they stick to what they love and use modern networking tools to find collaborators.

Mark Sanger was admitted for an Honorary Doctorate of Arts. He has won an Oscar and been nominated for a BAFTA for his work as an Editor. Mark emphasised the value of patience and left some breadcrumbs for the graduates’ onward journeys; he suggested they shouldn’t be afraid of failure, should embrace collaboration and to make themselves invaluable but not at the expense of others. The ceremony was then closed by Lord West who gave a characteristically human and heartfelt speech to congratulate and encourage those present.

Congratulations to all of you on your achievements. A higher education degree reflects a high level of independence and resilience as well as subject specialism. Many of you have overcome substantial obstacles at some point during your time here and every one of you is to be commended on your determination and stamina. We hope you leave with not just knowledge and experience but also the confidence to achieve your potential and to live your aspirations. Please do stay in touch as we love to hear about your onward journeys.

Further congratulation go to recipients of additional awards:

William Clark and Nicola Parr for the KP Acoustics Prize
Alex Snell for the Christie Prize
Hannah Gerrard-Field and Adam Mitchell for the Ellucian Prize