Sixty-four doctoral candidates, whose doctoral defence took place at the University of Iceland from 1st December 2014 to 1st December 2015, received the University’s gold medal at the Ceremony for graduated Doctors. The ceremony took place at the University 1 December. The doctors have graduated from all of the University’s five schools and have contributed greatly to research and innovation within the University.
This is the fifth time a ceremony of this kind takes place; a tradition launched on the University of Iceland centennial in 2011. The ceremony reflects the emphasis placed on strengthening graduate studies in recent years; a keystone of the University’s policy since 2006. The current policy, 2011 – 2016, aims for 60 – 70 doctoral defences annually, which is comparable to neighbouring countries. This is the second consecutive year the University reaches this goal; for comparison 32 doctoral candidates graduated in 2009. Furthermore, this year the University held its 500th doctoral defence since its foundation in 1911.
The University of Iceland’s success in the field of research and innovation has increased significantly in line with increased emphasis on graduate studies; particularly due to the contribution of doctoral students and their supervisors. This is reflected by the number of publications in world renowned scientific journals and in the University’s place on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings where it has been ranked among the 300 best universities in the world for the past five years.
Doctors graduated from the University of Iceland during the period of 1 December 2013 to 1 December 2014 were invited to the ceremony to receive the University’s gold medal. The Doctoral Graduates receiving their gold medal this year were 64 in total, 29 men and 35 women. Approximately one third of the graduates were international students from 14 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa.
Mr. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, the President of Iceland and Illugi Gunnarsson, Minister of Education, Science and Culture addressed the doctoral graduates on this occasion. The graduate Óskar Sindri Gíslason, PhD in Biology, spoke on behalf of the post docs.
The University is extremely proud of this group of doctoral graduates and sincerely congratulates them on their PhD degrees and wishes them well in the future in all their endeavours.