On Monday, James Clarke defended his PhD thesis titled “Laboratory and Numerical Experiments to Infer the Effects of Fluids on Volcano Seismicity.” The examiner and other attendees were impressed by the clear introductory presentation and the excellent handling of the questions from the examiners. James passed with flying colours! His advisers Ludmila Adam and Kasper van Wijk are very proud of the research James has been able to do over these past years. The three of them would like to thank Dr. Joel Sarout and his team in the Rock Properties group at CSIRO for hosting James for his important measurements on The relation between viscosity and acoustic emissions as a laboratory analogue for volcano seismicity. They also thank the New Zealand Earthquake Commission, and the Dodd Walls Centre for financial support to James during his thesis. Mila, Kasper and the rest of the PALs will miss having James around, but wish him all the best in the next phases of his career.