The day was 31st August 2023 when I completed my thesis and submitted it to QUT (Queensland University of Technology)
On submission, my thesis was sent to two independent examiners who are experts in the field of HIV, Disability, and Qualitative Research. These examiners are kept anonymous to ensure a rigorous review and examination process.
Yesterday, 4th December at about 11:43 am, I got a pleasing email from my University that my examiners reports are back. My examiners recommended that I “PASSED WITH MINOR REVISIONS.” In addition, I was also nominated for the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award (ODTA).
Among other weighty comments, one of the examiners noted:
𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑷𝒉𝑫 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒅𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝑶𝑽𝑰𝑫-19 𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒄 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒃 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉. 𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍. 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒚.
Next steps:
Make the minor revisions, submit my thesis finally, and wait for the award of my PhD. I am NOT yet Dr. AAP but it is looking promising that I will become one soon.
Sincere thanks to my supervisors, Dr. Julie Anne King, Dr. Jo Durham, and Prof. Amy Mullens
Massive thanks to my girls Squeezim, Zoe, and Zita. Without them, getting here would have been impossible.
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