Married couple graduate hand-in-hand in 'magical moment' News

Dr Katherine and Matthew Fisher, who both work at London Met, graduated with Postgraduate Certificates at a ceremony in the Barbican

Date: July 21 2026

A married couple of academics have spoken of the “magical moment” when they graduated hand-in-hand at the same ceremony in London. 

Dr Katherine and Matthew Fisher, who both work at London Metropolitan University, completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 

The pair have worked at the University for more than four years. Katherine, 34, lectures in the School of Human Sciences (SHSC) and Matthew, 33, will be a lecturer from August, having recently worked as an academic mentor. 

The couple, who were both the first in their families to attend university, were part of thousands to graduate from London Met ceremonies at the Barbican Centre on 20-21 July. 

They met while studying for their undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Oxford University in 2011. Already sharing the same surname, the couple were paired together in the laboratory and became best friends.  

Matthew, from Oxford, and Katherine, from Essex, have now been together for eight years and live in northwest London. 

“Matthew and me are soulmates, really,” said Katherine. “We think on a very similar wavelength. Before we got together, we were friends for seven years before that. And we just basically fell in love as best friends.” 

The Fishers were married in an intimate wedding last year. The SHSC department threw a party for them and contributed gifts and donations towards their honeymoon. 

Matthew said that working alongside his wife at London Met has been a great experience. 

“You can bounce ideas off each other and have your best supporter and intellectual equal by your side. Working alongside your best friend is great.” 

Katherine said working together is made particularly easy because they both care deeply about education.  

“We're both passionate about teaching, about learning development, and about seeing the students thrive and flourish at London Met. We have the same core values really, so it's not like a job to us in a way. It's our livelihood and it's our lives.” 

Taking the same course – though one year apart – allowed the couple to regularly work together on teaching projects and they both recently presented at a teaching and learning conference on a module they codesigned together. 

Katherine said: “We both brainstormed ideas together, mind mapped ideas. We both encouraged each other. We act as sounding boards to each other and we've used the ideas together in our teaching.” 

Katherine was due to graduate from the two-year course last year before her grandfather sadly passed away. 

“I was primarily raised by my grandparents when I was younger, so he was effectively a father and a hero to me. He passed away when I was due to graduate last year, so we delayed it by a year.” 

It was a doubly special day for the couple because they never had the chance to graduate together at Oxford as they attended different colleges. 

“It was really special,” said Katherine of the London Met ceremony. “I wanted to walk the whole length [of the stage] with him, but we didn't think that was quite appropriate, so I waited for him after I shook hands with the dean, and then we walked hand-in-hand, the last part of the runway together. It was a magical moment.”