I would like to share this moment of joy with my thesis supervisors, family members and friends that I have now officially graduated with a PhD, Information Systems, from the Information Systems School, Science and Engineering Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The graduation ceremony was held at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane on 24 July 2013. I am very proud to be the first student from Bhutan to graduate with a PhD from QUT (I was then the first student from Bhutan to graduate from QUT with a Master degree (master of IT) or long-term degree in December 2005).
Although my family could not join me, I was indeed very happy to see my supervisors and friends attending and joining me on this important occasion in my life. PhD is the highest qualification one can achieve and its graduation ceremony adds value to it.
Thank you to my PhD supervisors Associate Professor Dian Tjondronegoro and Professor Sylvia Edwards, and my work (IT Helpdesk) manager Nicky McCallister for attending my graduation ceremony. It was great to see you all at the function. I also like to expresses my gratitude to my friends: Sonam Choki, Sonam Choiden and Namgay Dorji for attending and accompanying me to my graduation ceremony (and rest of the evening). My fellow PhD team friends, Dr Wei Song, Dr Ivan Himawan, Tony Wang, Desmon Koh, and Prithwi Raj, thank you for joining me at the celebration function. It was nice to see you all at the function.
My PhD journey at QUT has been a long journey. I started my study on 9 March 2009 with Professor Amanda Spink as my principal supervisor and Professor Helen Partridge as associate supervisor. There were ups and downs. Professor Amanda has to leave QUT at the end of 2010. Luckily Associate Professor Dian Tjondronegoro has kindly accepted my request to be my principal supervisor. Since then I published over 7 scholarly papers in international conferences and journal, including a journal paper for the Journal of American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST) in 2013. JASIST, with an ERA ranking of A* (ERA 2010), is a fully refereed journal that publishes reports of research and development in a wide range of subjects and applications in information science and technology.
Currently, there are more than 30 students from Bhutan studying at QUT, of which 18 of them are PhD students that makes the highest current PhD candidates from Bhutan studying in any university in the World. Of the 18 PhD candidates, 9 of them are full time students while the remaining candidates are enrolled on a mixed-mode model where they come to QUT to do research for three months every year and then work from their home university the rest of the year.
I have lots of experience to share to the World and to my fellow PhD candidates. Given the time I look forward to writing a chapter about the journey, including experiences and outcomes, issues and challenges.
Lastly, thank you to my wife Lhamo, family members and friends for your support throughtout my PhD journey. Without your support this moment of joy would not have happended.