I haven’t had a moment to put together PhD success of my former doctoral students. Here is a summary of those celebratory memories in recent years, together with my wholehearted congratulations to all of them and best wishes to their career.

The oral examinations in 2020 under COVID-19 constraints were particularly challenging, as they had to take place on Zoom, and the in-person summer graduation cancelled, but those who endured the pandemic constraints deserve an extra pat on their back.


Dr Carwyn Morris (2020), “Life under chai: Spatial governmentality and practices of resistance in the digital and physical spaces of Beijing, China” (PhD thesis passed with no correction)

Post-viva Celebration with (clock-wise from top left) Prof Claire Mercer (LSE), Carwyn, examiner Dr Florian Schneider (Leiden University) and examiner Dr Philippa Williams (Queen Mary, University of London)

Dr Laura Antona (2020), “Anatomies and apparatuses of violence: the everyday encounters of migrant domestic workers in Singapore” (PhD thesis passed with no correction)

Post-viva Celebration with (clock-wise from top centre) examiner Dr Katie Walsh (University of Sussex), viva chair Prof Claire Mercer (LSE), Laura and examiner Prof Katie Willis (Royal Holloway, University of London)

Dr Ulises Moreno-Tabarez (2019) “Spectral Latinidad: the work of Latinx migrants and small charities in London” (PhD thesis passed with minor correction)

Post-viva Celebration with Ulises

Dr Yi Jin (2019) “Entrepreneurial managerialism: mobilisation of redistributive mechanisms for entrepreneurial redevelopment of Penghuqu in a Chinese third-front city” (PhD thesis passed with no correction)

Dr Do Young Oh (2018) “From a colonial institution to a neoliberal real estate developer: comparative analysis of universities in the urban process in East Asia” (PhD thesis passed with no correction)

Dr Mara Nogueira (2018) “Who has the right to remain in place? Informality, citizenship and belonging in Belo Horizonte, Brazil” (PhD thesis passed with no correction)

Post-viva Celebration with (clock-wise from the left) examiner Prof James Holston (UC Berkeley), examiner Dr Yasminah Beebeejaun (UCL) and Mara

Dr Yimin Zhao (2017) “The hegemony of urbanisation: questioning the production of space by the state in Beijing’s green belts” (PhD thesis passed with no correction)