In this month’s newsletter, we would like to introduce PhD student, Thomas Jupe from the College of College of Business, Government and Law.

His recently submitted thesis, “State Responsibility for Genocide and the Lens of State Crime: An Interdisciplinary Case Study of the Rohingya of Myanmar” received outstanding results from the examiners.

We asked Thomas to share what led him to a PhD and what has been one of the best parts of the journey.

Tell us about yourself.

I’m a retired ski lift operator trying to make my way in the academic space.

What was your research about in 1-2 sentences? *

State responsibility for criminal acts such as genocide. Basically, understanding that countries, public officials and governments can cause harm, even if it comes across as legitimate.

What led you to undertake a PhD? What inspired or motivated you?

I’ve always had an interest in writing and I really hope to make a career out of it. The idea of putting everything I had into a single project really excited me.

What was been one of the hardest parts of the journey?

Being self-funded without a scholarship, I found the financial aspects most challenging. Luckily though, there is a huge support network at Flinders that allowed me to keep studying. My incredibly supportive supervisors and some great people at the Flinders finance and legal departments helped find me some work to keep me afloat throughout my candidature.