Graduation at Royal Holloway, University of London, 2011

Last Friday was graduation day for Geographers at Royal Holloway, University of London. It was great to see three of my former PhD students getting their degrees.  Many congratulations to:

• David Hollow for his thesis Evaluating ICT for Education in Africa
• Charles Howie for his thesis Cooperation and contestation: farmer-state relations in agricultural transformation, An Giang Province, Vietnam
• Uduak Okon  for her thesis ICTs and sustainable community development in the Niger Delta Region, Nigeria

Likewise, it was also good to see so many of our undergraduates – particularly those doing my course on ICT4D – gaining their well deserved degrees.  Three of them – Olly Parsons, Ben Parfitt and Jamie Gregory – are spending time this summer in Uganda undertaking research in support of the Ugunja Community Resource Centre.  To follow them, check out

• Their blog – http://ugunja.wordpress.com/
• On Twitter – http://twitter.com/#!/UgunjaResearch

Many congratulations to all of our graduates!

Royal Holloway, University of London in the snow, 9th January 2010

When I first arrived in the mid-1980s at Royal Holloway, University of London, I could not decide whether I actually liked the Founder’s Building, named after the College’s Founder Thomas Holloway.  It was certainly impressive, but it took a long time before its architectural qualities began to influence me for the better – now, after all these years, familiarity has led to friendship! Designed by the architect William Crossland, the Founder’s Building was inspired in part by the Château de Chambord in the Loire.

The unusual amount of snow that fell in the early days of January 2010 shows the building at its very best.  I hope these photographs illustrate why I have indeed come to admire those who conceived and constructed this impressive university building.

Please click on the above thumbnails for larger images