Cambridge's Dr Ally Louks, who was trolled for her 'politics of smell' PhD thesis, graduates
Dr Ally Louks' X post, which made her a subject of massive trolling for her thesis subject, has garnered 126.9 million views so far.
Cambridge University’s Dr Ally Louks, who was heavily trolled for her PhD thesis regarding the politics of smell in English literature last year, has finally graduated.
Dr Louks took to her X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday to share a photo of her in an academic regalia with the caption, “I graduated today! I can honestly say that doing a PhD was the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I suppose I’m really PhDone now.”
Reacting to Dr Ally Louks’ achievement, many congratulated her for graduating on social media. Last year on November 28, Dr Ally shared that she had passed her viva without any corrections and her thesis was titled “Olfactory Ethics: The politics of smell in modern and contemporary prose”.
“Congratulations Dr. Ally and thank you for changing the game of scents and smells as we know it. your work will live on forever!” said one user reacting to her graduation post.
“Not only did you graduate, but your PhD has been one of the most influential works of the decade: record breaking most researched PhD AND actively pushing the envelope on how we interact with the world around us? YOU will go down in history!!” said another.
Dr Ally Louks' post, which made her a subject of massive trolling for her thesis subject, has garnered 126.9 million views so far. “Thrilled to say I passed my viva with no corrections and am officially PhDone,” she had captioned the post, which has 252k likes and has been reposted some 22 thousand times.
Cambridge University in support of Dr Ally Louks
Dr Louks’ alma mater, Cambridge University, where she also taught English literature, came in support of her a week after she was massively trolled.
“Dr Louks, we support you. Last week, Cambridge PhD student @allylouks published this photo on X to celebrate passing her viva with no corrections. Her tweet went viral, attracting over 100 million views. But the attention that Ally's achievement received turned to harassment and misogyny when trolls attacked Ally's PhD topic, her education, her achievement, and her gender,” the post by Cambridge University read.
“Curious about Dr Louks' topic? 'Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose' studies how literature registers the importance of olfactory discourse - the language of smell and the olfactory imagination it creates - in structuring our social world. Congratulations, Dr Louks, on passing your viva with no corrections!” it added.
