The IGP Day (previously known as PhD Seminar) convened Tuesday 7th of November at Studentersamfundet. The agenda included multiple keynotes, technical presentations, and social activities. PhD candidates got to present their research, show posters with their work, and receive valuable feedback from their peers and professionals.
Professor Tor Berge Gjersvik from the department started the day of with a motivating talk entitled IGP – the past, present and the future. He outlined achievements of the IGP professors and stressed the importance of working towards uniting the department. Another key-note speaker, a PhD graduate at the department, Krzysztof Jan Zieba, covered potential commercialization of PhD ideas following his own example. Marleen Laschet, a professional presentation coach, gave a keynote speech on giving memorable presentations.
This year, the technical PhD speakers had attended a speaker-coaching workshop prior to the seminar together with Marleen Laschet (TEDx speaker coach). This clearly had a positive effect, as all presenters seemed confident on stage and were able to explain their research in a clear and engaging form, managing to convey their ideas to listeners of completely different field. After each presentation, an evaluation panel gave constructive feedback to the speaker, often including general tips on how to improve the presentation further. Filipe Borges was voted for the best technical presentation, and Zeudia Pastore came at the second place. Anette Utgården Granseth was the winner of the best poster.
Besides the technical content, the participants were engaged in the group activity. There were three stations this year: earth surface history (plate tectonics) – arrange the time snaps in chronological order; a memory quiz; and a group picture round. The picture round was the most fun station to watch, as a group was supposed to take a picture related to petroleum or geology using their own bodies. Every group member needed to be in the picture to get it approved. This resulted in highly amusing photos and a lot of laughter during the event.
After the technical part of the program, the committee arranged a social program at Klubben (Samfundet), which consisted of a group quiz and a performance by an in-house IGP band ( “Doctors of Rock”). The band consisted of: Mario Morales (vocals), Ben Snook (bass), Aleksandra Lang (piano), Kristian Drivenes (guitar) and Øystein Gjermshusengen (drums). They played five songs creating a great atmosphere and loosening people up after a day loaded with technical talks. After the social gathering, around 20 people went to Lyche for dinner to continue the conversations. Overall, a good day with new, shared memories, improved presentation skills and lots of fun. We hope the people got to know IGP a bit better, and we are looking forward to the next seminar. See you there!
The eight technical presenters this year! More photos from the day can be seen here.
The IGP Day committee
Xiyang, Daniel, Alberto, Isak, Bahador, Geertje, Anette, Mario, Yuriy and Reidun
