Newly-graduated "Doctor" Nick Axten said that before obtaining his doctoral dissertation, it took him a "long hard think." Unlike most candidates, it took Axten five decades before the 76-year-old student finally graduated with a Ph.D. in mathematical sociology at the University of Bristol. 

It all started in 1970, the year he received a full scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh. After five years, he returned to the UK with an unfinished Ph.D. “What I was trying to do in the early 70s was exceptionally difficult,” said Axten. “Some problems are so great it takes the best part of a lifetime to get your head around them.”

Seven years ago at Bristol, he restarted the process with the aim of finishing a Masters in the Arts, before carrying on to a Ph.D. in Philosophy, finishing in 2022 aged 75. A year later, he received his Doctorate in front of his wife and 11-year-old granddaughter. 

Axten's theory 

His research builds on the ideas that he worked on in the US five decades ago. It is a new theory to understand human behavior based on the values of individual people. Axten believes it could change the general view of behavioral psychology. 

He explained that “sociology and psychology were suddenly boom subjects. I went to study them because I wanted to understand people.”

“I have loved being a student again at Bristol University. All of the other philosophy graduate students were around 23 but they accepted me as one of their own.”

“Nick was an incredibly enthusiastic, energetic, and committed student during his time here,” said his University of Bristol supervisor, Professor Samir Okasha. “It’s fantastic to see him graduate half a century after he started his original Ph.D.”

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