The opponent prepares

The main reason why I have come to Finland this week is to serve as the "opponent" at a public PhD defence tomorrow. The process is explained here. I have spent much of today preparing my speech at the start of the exam, and my questions for the candidate. In this photograph you can see my marked up copy of the thesis, and a newspaper report about the candidate's work (photographed on the left).

I also gave a seminar this morning, and had a long chat with a Masters student who is seeking advice on undertaking doctoral studies in the UK.

Tonight it is the examiners' dinner. Between now and then, however, it's back to e-mail shovelling :-(

Exercise today: walked to work (although it has to be admitted that the walk in Turku is somewhat shorter than the one in Edinburgh).