Congratulations to Emanuela Di Martino who became the first of the Throughflow Early Stage Researchers to be awarded her doctorate when she successfully defended her thesis on 'Cenozoic bryozoans from Borneo' at Utrecht University on 26 February 2014. In front of a public audience including members of her family from Sicily and several Throughflow researchers, Emanuela was questioned by six examiners for exactly forty-five minutes before the procter entered the hall, banged her staff on the ground and declared the examination over. After a short deliberation, the chairman of the examination board returned to announce the good news and the celebrations began. A formal reception at the university was followed by a wonderful buffet dinner at, appropriately, an Indonesian restaurant, enlivened by a special quiz devised for Emanuela by Nadia Santodomingo. The prize? A MacBook.