Dear all,

2022 has been a particularly busy year for our PhD coordinator Irene Hjelmaas and Christina Flornes with a total of 41 PhDs originating from K2, which must be possibly record-breaking. In order to be able to carry out so many disputations, we are dependent on all associate professors and professors taking on the task as custos from time to time, and it is very nice to get help from our professors emeritus / emerita for it – it is almost impossible to beat the number of disputations Birgitta Åsjö has been custos for this year, thank you!

But back to the task as custos: Custos means guardian or orderly man in Latin, and as custos you are stand in for Dean Per Bakke and act on behalf of the faculty. You lead the way when the committee and the candidate march in and out of the auditorium in the prescribed order of trial lecture and public defence, that is, there is something very solemn about this task, especially when you are wearing your cloak for the defence. But it is a very nice task to lead the next generation of researchers through trial lecture and public defence and learn about what kind of research is taking place at K2.

It is of course also exciting to just listen to, and here everyone is welcome to join. We try to advertise all trial lectures and disputations from K2 in K2nytt, and a full overview from UiB can be found on the website (https://www.uib.no/nye-doktorgrader).

Have a great weekend!