PhD defense of Shuai Wang at VU Amsterdam. They really have a rather "traditional" procedure :wink: The picture was taken after the investiture of the newly promoted PhD in front of the bust of the founder of VU. FYI: the head of the committee is the professor with the chain around his neck. Only full professors are allowed to wear gown and hat. The candidate chose to wear traditional formal Mongolian clothing (traditional local clothing from your home country - besides wearing a black formal attire - is recommended in the official dresscode for the candidate). Probably you will recognize Frank van Harmelen (the official supervisor), Aidan Hogan (besides me the other external reviewer), Jacco van Ossenbruggen (the forth professor), Wouter Beek and Illaria Tidi (external reviewers but not full professors), and Peter Bloem (the direct day-to-day supervisor, being an assistant professor). There are two guys in white tie cutaways in the back, who are the "paranymphs" (aka assistants) of the PhD candidate (in old times, they were allowed to wear a sword, and to defend the candidate against (sword) attacks of the opponent professors, which might occur in heavy academic dispute :wink: )