Student, 76, 完全にするs his PhD after 50 years
A student who started a PhD in 1970 has finally 卒業生（する）d ? more than 50 years later.
Dr Nick Axten, 76, said he needed “a long hard think” over the 介入するing １０年間s.
In 1970 Dr Axten received a prestigious Fulbright scholarship for a PhD in mathematical sociology at the University of Pittsburgh in the US. But after five years he returned to the UK with the PhD unfinished.
Dr Nick Axten has finally 完全にするd his PhD after starting it more than 50 years ago (University of Bristol/PA)
Today the University of Bristol conferred him a Doctor of Philosophy in 前線 of his wife Claire Axten and 11-year-old granddaughter Freya.
Dr Axten said: “What I was trying to do in the 早期に 70s was exceptionally difficult.
“Some problems are so 広大な／多数の／重要な it takes the best part of a lifetime to get your 長，率いる around them. They need a long hard think. This one has taken me 50 years.”
Dr Axten’s 研究, which he hopes to publish, builds on the ideas he was working on in the US five １０年間s ago.
It is a new theory for understanding human behaviour based on the values each person 持つ／拘留するs, which he believes has the 可能性のある to change the 見解（をとる） of behavioural psychology.
When he started his undergraduate degree in 物陰／風下d in 1967, men wore their hair long and women were wearing miniskirts.
Nick Axten was an undergraduate at the University of 物陰／風下d in the late 1960s at the time of greast social change (Nick Axten/PA)
Smoking inside university buildings was the norm and personal computers were still sci-fi.
“It was still flower 力／強力にする and there was a 革命の feel. It was the time of the Vietnam War, Paris, Prague and student sit-ins,” he 解任するd.
“Jack Straw was 大統領，／社長 of the students’ union in 物陰／風下d. Sociology and psychology were suddenly にわか景気 支配するs. I went to 熟考する／考慮する them because I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to understand people.
“I have loved be ing a student again at Bristol University.
“All of the other philosophy 卒業生（する） students were around 23 but they 受託するd me as one of their own.
“They are clever people 十分な of ideas and I loved talking with them ? 特に at the pub in the afternoon.
“Doing a PhD is a lot of hard work, but it’s been brilliant.”
Dr Axten （機の）カム to the University of Bristol in 2016 to do an MA in Philosophy, 老年の 69. He then 熟考する／考慮するd for a PhD in Philosophy at the same university, finishing in 2022 老年の 75.
His University of Bristol 監督者, Professor Samir Okasha, said: “Nick was an incredibly enthusiastic, energetic and committed student during his time here.
“It’s fantastic to see him 卒業生（する） half a century after he started his 初めの PhD.”
During a 変化させるd career Dr Axten lived all over the UK and was creator and 原則 author of the school teaching programme Oxford 最初の／主要な Science.
He lives in 井戸／弁護士席s, Somerset with his wife, is father to two children and has four grandchildren.
