By Freddie Cocker
When I was thinking about ideas to mark the 300th episode of The Just Checking In Podcast, I had a couple of ideas for guests but unfortunately, they didn’t work out.
As I was mulling it over, I had an inkling to get in touch with someone who had had supported me during a pretty tumultuous period of my life, but also one of the best periods of my life.
Before I tell that story, I’ll provide you with a bit of context first.
I studied at the University of Sussex from 2012-2015, completing a Bachelor of Arts in Politics. I often joke that Sussex was such a political university that EVERYONE thought they studied politics there.
Ironically the only people who didn’t was the small group of around 40 of us who actually studied it, and when we weren’t studying, we didn’t have a huge appetite to discuss the niche musings of Karl Marx or Emmanuel Kant for pleasure outside of the seminar room, even if I was a bit of a ‘politics nause’ (someone who posted their political views a lot, probably annoying a lot of people) on Facebook.
As we entered third year, we all had to pick our choice of modules for our final academic year. In order to do this, we all had to log on one particular morning at a particular time and select from a long-list of modules.
The year is 2014, and university websites weren’t as sophisticated as they are now. So when 250+ students all logged on at that time, it inevitably crashed for many. Once it had come back online, many of the popular modules were full.
Now, in my case, I may have logged on slightly later than the time the modules opened, and not entirely sober from a night out the night before (but not too late).
However, akin to trying to secure tickets for Glastonbury, I logged on to discover the site had crashed and then, when I tried to secure my choices, almost all of my preferred modules were gone, leaving me with subjects I did not want to do. Sadly, I had no choice, so I selected a few and went about my day.
I may have also vented my frustration at this on Twitter, like a naïve seal-pup of a 20-year-old on the autism spectrum with very little self-awareness.
In the coming weeks, I went on a one-man all out war on my politics department bureaucrats, fighting my case and basically being an absolute pain in the arse in order to change my modules and get my way.
Long story short, I didn’t get all of my first choice modules but one of them I was able to get onto was called Democracy and Inequality, and was run by the woman this article is dedicated to, Dr Sabina Avdagic.
After expressing my deep interest in the module, Sabina agreed to meet with me to discuss with her and after convincing her I was passionate about the module, she agreed to take me onto it.
She also let me on some of the behind-the-scenes discussions in the department about my situation, which woke me up to the fact that not everyone has got your best interests at heart as a student! It was an important learning and one I’ve kept close to me since.
That decision to join that module would be one that shaped the rest of my academic year, largely because of one of two 8,000 word dissertations I would write, and the topic I chose for this module.
As someone born, raised and have lived in north-east London my entire life, I had seen so many changes take place in my area, a lot for better, some for worse. I wanted to write about it and the concept of ‘gentrification’.
Without diving into a retelling of this concept, I decided to write my dissertation on the impact of gentrification of East London, focusing on four of the regions boroughs: Waltham Forest, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney. Sadly, I did not have enough time or resources to include my own borough of Redbridge within the dissertation’s parameters.
A couple of months into the module, we had a seminar one week where we had to all go round as a class and state what our dissertation subjects would be.
Due to the subject matter of the course and some of the political leanings of my classmates, many dissertations focused on variants of ‘The 1%’ and all the debate about this subject in economics and politics since the 1960s.
One of my classmates and good friend Gerry Skinner even prefaced his turn to speak by saying ‘Sorry Sabina, but my dissertation is also on the 1%’, which still makes me smile to this day.
When I discussed my dissertation with Sabina, she was hugely supportive of it, and even told me that due to the lack of academic research on gentrification at that time, there was a strong chance that I could get it published.
This gave me so much confidence in my ability, and strengthened my desire to write a great piece of work for myself, and to repay the faith she had placed in me.
In my usual organised self, I started work on my dissertation in November 2014, several months before anyone else had on theirs. This was A) because of how my brain works and how it needs to prepare for everything well in advance B) because one of my biggest triggers is rushing (even though I wasn’t aware of it back then) and C) because of the focus and clarity of thought I had on what I wanted to write about.
In the end, sadly I didn’t achieve a first in this dissertation. I got 68, a 2:1 and I was told by another of my politics professors why I was marked down the two marks from a first I had originally received. That reason I found spurious at best and classist at worst as the reasons were due to the way I transcribed my interviews with people using their East London colloquialisms, and I vehemently disagreed with it, but the past is the past!
Regardless, Sabina was a huge support to me throughout that process.
In this academic year, it’s also important to state that in the winter of 2014, I had the mental breakdown which culminated in a mental breakdown, an episode of psychosis and coming close to taking my own life.
In addition, in January of 2015, during the process researching my dissertation, my dad had a serious stroke, which put him in the ICU for several months. At the time, I didn’t want to request additional time because I didn’t want to use it as an excuse, even though it’s a pretty legitimate one to use. However, I am sure if I had done so, Sabina would have been very accommodating of me.
The last time I saw Sabina was at our graduation ceremony. She was busy mingling with other academic staff and it was a short conversation. She congratulated me on my 2:1 and said I was a great candidate for further study, meaning a Masters, which was a nice flourish to a memorable and happy day for all of my peers.
Fast forward to 2025, and one day I thought I’d get back in touch with Sabina to offer my thanks to her for her support during that time, give her context about what I was going through that year and how her support and belief gave me the confidence to achieve what I achieved.
However, I was heartbroken to discover when I tried to locate her email online that Sabina had died suddenly on 13th January 2024 and I found her obituary on the university’s website instead.
At the time I was studying with her, she was pregnant with one of her daughters, who are now teenagers, and I know they will be just as supportive and as fierce characters as Sabina was.
In her obituary on the Sussex University website, they state that in July 2024, a special day of events was held to celebrate Sabina’s life and achievements.
The research common room in the politics building was renamed the ‘Sabina Avdagic Room’ and a plaque was unveiled in honour of her memory.
There was also an academic symposium and a ceremony to mark the planting of a mimosa tree in Sabina’s memory, in the terrace area of the building.
The message of this article I’d want you the reader to take away is this: check in with that loved one or special person in your life whilst you still can.
Make the phone call, send the text, send the email, reach in and tell them what they mean to you. If you can, don’t put it off, because you never know when it might be the last opportunity you get to do it.
Thank you Sabina, your legacy at Sussex lives on in all of the students you taught like me, and I’m grateful for everything you gave us.
