Defending your PhD during a lock down

Posted on Feb 07, 2021 Thoughts

After many years of working on your topic, finally the day arrives for defending your PhD thesis. Most candidates eagerly anticipate that day, some with more nerves than others, but at the end of it there is a moment of relief, excitement and the satisfaction of achieving a mile stone.

The day for the public defence for the thesis of Lenin Medeiros was planned in September 2020. The committee had been reading his thesis and came prepared with a variety of questions. The only difference was that this public defence was conducted online via Zoom and streamed to friends and family via Youtube. The candidate did really well by giving in-depth replies resulting in a good discussion with the committee members. The procedures were followed, the beadle and chair did all their formalities and the candidate did receive his doctorate degree.

Not complete

Seeing the screenshot that I took of the committee during the defence, it just came to mind that there is a missing dimension in online defence ceremonies. After all formalities were completed there was time to congratulate the candidate. After that the Zoom meeting ended, the live stream was turned off and we continued our daily activities.

I do look forward to the time that after the formalities the committee walks to the reception to congratulate the candidate, to see the relief and to be part of that excitement and satisfaction of achieving an important mile stone.