Student Seminar November 2024 — Serving as Chairman in My Final Year

The student seminar in November 2024 was the fifth and final one I attended — spanning all the way from my first year as a Master’s student to my third year as a PhD student.

A New Role: Chairman, Timekeeper, or Mic Runner

At this stage, as a third-year PhD student, I was no longer required to present. My role shifted to chairman, timekeeper, or mic runner — rotating with other third-year PhD students at each session change.

Being chairman wasn’t too hard. The main job was listening carefully to each presentation, then asking questions about anything unclear. Since the seminar draws students from a wide range of research fields, it’s completely normal for basic, fundamental questions to come up often — not everyone understands every technique.

The Most Relaxed Seminar Yet

Overall, this last seminar felt the most relaxed of all the ones I’d attended — not because the role wasn’t important, but because the pressure to “show results” was gone.

At the same time, this period came with a different challenge. As third-year PhD students planning to graduate the following March, we were already deep into preparing for the first doctoral defense, which had to happen before the end of December.