Student Robyn Tainty, who spent the final months of her life campaigning for greater awareness about organ donation, will be honoured today (Friday) in a special posthumous graduation ceremony.
Robyn, who died aged 24 in the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Unit at Southampton Hospital in September 2007, had battled all her life against the debilitating effects of the lung disease.
She had been waiting for two-and-a-half years for a life-saving double lung transplant and had been putting the finishing touches to her Gender Studies MA thesis in hospital when her condition worsened.
The University decided to honour Robyn's outstanding academic work and her extraordinary personal achievements by awarding her degree posthumously. She has been awarded a Masters degree with distinction - the highest mark possible - for her research into women and binge drinking.
Her parents, Steve Large and Rae Stephenson, will take Robyn's place in the graduation ceremony, collecting her certificate and shaking hands with the Chancellor, Lord Attenborough.
Steve said: “For Robyn, academic life was not just about study, and at school and university she lived life to the full. She had a wide range of friends and interests, and revelled in the independence of student life.”
Before her final illness, Robyn had been preparing to start research at Sussex for a doctorate.
Director of Gender Studies, Dr Alison Phipps, said: “Robyn was an outstanding student and a real intellectual in the making. She will be much missed by her tutors and colleagues, and I am delighted that the University is able to recognise her considerable academic and personal achievements at the graduation ceremony. Personally, I feel very privileged to have known her.”