Student’s Master’s thesis converted to PhD

DR MICHAEL Barnes has managed to “hit two birds with one stone”.

He will walk away with two qualifications after his Master’s thesis was converted into a PhD qualification.

Barnes, a University of Pretoria Master’s student, received a pleasant surprise after submitting his dissertation for external examination, only for it to be converted into a PhD.

His dissertation, focusing on atmospheric dynamics, was, according to an international examiner from Oxford University, “a truly outstanding and exceptional piece of work”.

Barnes said the thesis studied the dynamics of upper tropospheric weather systems called cut-off lows, analysing the properties of these weather systems that extend to the surface compared to those that do not.

He juggled his studies and his job as a research scientist in the SA Weather

Service’s marine research unit, where he is involved in the development of numerical models and associated forecast products and services.

Barnes said getting the job done was no easy feat: “At the time of completing my Master’s, I was working full time and found it exceptionally challenging. Working and studying at the same time is no joke because finding a work-study-life balance is not easy.”

Barnes believed perseverance was key to making it, but he also had a friend from undergraduate studies who began and completed his course alongside him. “Finding a friend who is on the same path can also help.”

Dr Thando Ndarana, BSc Meteorology programme co-ordinator and senior lecturer and Barnes’s superviser alongside Professor Willem Landman of the department of geography, geoinformatics and meteorology in the faculty of natural and agricultural sciences, said they were impressed by his work ethic.