Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The "opponent" and Swedish PhD examinations

Apologies for a lack of recent posts - I have just returned from being an "opponent" for a PhD in Lulea, Sweden. The Swedish PhD examination system is unique and has considerable merits over the UK system that can leave candidates with a feeling of anti-climax after the small 3 person viva voce. This is certainly not the case with the Swedish theatrical approach to the event.

See HERE for details on what the system entails.

The dissertation was called "The Economics of Power Generation and Climate Policy" by Fredrick Pettersson. I am sure it is available somewhere online.

I can certainly recommend visiting the capital of Swedish Lapland. A beautiful and hospitable place. The post examination party certainly lived up to expectations. My ability to catch a flight home in the morning with little ill effect is testimony to the quality of the government supplied beverages. The event was still going strong when I eventually retired around 3am (after a 6.30 start). My thanks to all attendees.

For those interested you can see some photographs of Lulea HERE.

Another observation is that it takes a lot longer to de-ice a plane than a car windscreen although on the last day the temperature was a positively balmy zero.

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