First online UvA PhD defence successfully completed

Zina Lekniute during her PhD defense - The UvA's first ever online PhD defence ceremony took place on Thursday, 26 March, and went well. Zina Lekniute successfully defended her thesis on the consequences of underfunding of American pension funds. Lekniute had mixed feelings about having to do her defence online. 'On the one hand, I am happy that my defence could continue and I now have my doctorate, but on the other hand, it was a very strange experience because of the difficult situation we are in now and the fact that I had to do it without family, friends and colleagues around me. I missed that support.' Supervisor Roel Beetsma was satisfied with how it went: 'Of course it was different than normal, but it went well. With defences, we always follow a strict scenario. That scenario, with questions from the members of the Doctorate Committee and answers by the doctoral candidate, can be applied just the same online.