Doctoral conferment ceremony
– Honoured doctors! It was finally time for the delayed doctoral conferment ceremony, where both doctors, honorary doctors and award winners were honoured and celebrated for their hard work. It was very much a long-awaited ceremony. The pandemic put paid to the ceremony, but a year and a half later than planned, it could finally take place. First and foremost, the ceremony focuses on all new doctors who defended their theses during the period 2019–2020. About 130 of the recipients of the doctors’ degrees were guided across the stage by the faculty's supervisor, speaking mellifluous Latin. The ten honorary doctors received their insignia and were also guided across the stage to receive accolades from the audience. In addition, a number of award winners were honoured: one of them was Carl Bennet, who received the university's finest distinction: Socci et Amici. Completing a doctoral dissertation is a milestone in life, said Vice-Chancellor Eva Wiberg, who invited the audience to take a journey through time. – Let us imagine that today is October 16, 2020, i.e. a year and a half ago. That was precisely the date that had been planned if the pandemic had not intervened. A lot has probably happened since then, some of you have perhaps moved away and found new jobs, maybe even had children. Still, you have taken the trouble to participate in this little journey through time. Why? I believe that the pandemic, despite all the misery, has taught us an important lesson: the realization that it is important to come together and to celebrate. A doctoral conferment ceremony is not just any old
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ceremony. It is solemn and intended to honour those involved. It is a two and a half hour extravaganza, where everything is rehearsed down to the tiniest detail. The audience sat quietly and only a few cheers were heard when the doctors lined up on stage. The musical numbers were performed by students from the Academy of Music and Drama, and provided a much-needed interlude and a very pleasant backdrop. After filing out to the music of Bernhard Crusell, guests mingled with champagne and canapés before the congress hall was ready to receive 700 guests who enjoyed a three-course menu with well-chosen wines. One speech succeeded another, but the most entertaining was probably by the actor David Dencik, an honorary doctor of the Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts.
– In my profession, I go to many festive award cere-
monies, but most of the time I come home empty-handed, but not today. I'm just a guest of the scientific community, but today, strangely enough, I feel a little at home in this dress suit with a hat and a gold ring. This whole event is extremely eccentric, but today we have reason to celebrate, he said and called for a toast to all the “glamorous” doctors who put in so much hard work. – Dixi.
Text: Allan Eriksson Photo: Johan Wingborg
