Staff win at EUSA Student Awards

The School was delighted to learn that Sarah Thomson, PhD History candidate, was nominated by other PhD tutors:

"Sarah underwent some truly incredible challenges this year, all of which she faced head-on and managed to overcome while working towards completing her PhD. Firstly, she had to return to Scotland from an amazing fellowship in DC several months early due to Covid, and during lockdown she underwent major emergency surgery.

'Following this, she learned that she had cancer and underwent months of chemotherapy, all while still conducting her PhD research and teaching undergraduate history classes. Despite literally teaching classes the day after chemotherapy sessions, she still received glowing student feedback and was able to meaningfully contribute to Edinburgh’s intellectual and social community by regularly attending and organizing events.

'Her resilience and ability to remain positive despite such life-altering circumstances has really inspired me (and many others!) and shown what a tremendous person she is. She was also a wonderful friend to myself and so many other people at UoE, all of whom are extraordinarily lucky to have her in their lives. Sarah deserves all the admiration and recognition in the world."

Sarah said, "I was really touched to find out I'd been nominated for this award, and it came as a complete surprise! 2020 was a tough year, but being able to keep teaching and being part of the HCA community (albeit via Zoom!) provided such a welcome distraction from everything that was going on. I'm incredibly grateful to my supervisors and to my fellow HCA PhDs, as the past year would have been infinitely harder without their unfailing support and encouragement."

Everyone at the School send their congratulations to Sarah on this very well-deserved award.