The Classification Society would like to congratulate Dr. Sphiwe Skhosana (University of Pretoria), the winner of the 2025 Classification Society Distinguished Dissertation Award! Dr. Skhosana received a Ph.D. from the University of Pretoria in 2024. Dr. Skhosana will present the work from the Ph.D. thesis, "Essays on estimation strategies addressing label-switching in Gaussian mixtures of semi- and non-parametric regressions" in the annual Distinguished Dissertation Award Session at the 2026 Classification Society Annual Meeting.

The Classification Society also congratulates Dr. Belen Pulido and Dr. Kat Clark, who were honourable mentions in the 2025 Distinguished Dissertation Award competition. Dr. Pulido received a Ph.D from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in 2024. Dr. Pulido's thesis is titled "Functional Techniques via Multivariate Methodologies". Dr. Clark received a Ph.D from McMaster University in 2024. Dr. Clark's thesis is titled "Extensions to the OCLUST Algorithm".