PhD defence during the COVID-19 lockdown
The lockdown has forced the tradition bound PhD defences into the digital world. Last Friday, the defence of Kristoffer Niss of the Brunak Group was transmitted live to everyone with an interest
The show must go on - even during the COVID-19 lockdown. Last Friday, Kristoffer Niss of the Brunak Group defended his PhD thesis “Networks and systems of intestinal cells” in front of his committee, family, friends and fellow Brunak group members using the GoTo Meeting platform. Despite its digital form, the defence was carried out in regular fashion with a presentation of the work, questions from the committee and questions from the audience.
Although the defence did not have the grandeur of a regular one, Kristoffer Niss thinks that it had its benefits: “I think more people stayed for the questions round by the committee because of the defence’s digital form. It allowed people to listen in when they found something interesting, while they could also zoom-out and work a bit on the sideline. I am just so happy that people took the time to log on and listen. It meant a lot.”
If you want to join one of SUND’s many virtual PhD defences, please take a look at the SUND PhD calendar: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/calendar/.