Rodrigo Gonzalez Quaglia reflects on his PhD trajectory at the UG and UNAM in Mexico

In this post, Rodrigo Gonzalez Quaglia, a recent PhD graduate of the VSI, reflects on his PhD trajectory at the University of Groningen and UNAM in Mexico, sharing his experiences on completing a double doctorate and comparing the defence traditions of the two institutions.

Rodrigo's story

I am writing this a week after officially concluding my double doctorate degree between UNAM in Mexico and UG in the Netherlands. Throughout the past 4 years, I studied the early universe, particularly the inflation epoch, through several diverse frameworks and pathways. I particularly enjoyed this approach as it allowed me to explore this period in the history of the universe through several different approaches obtaining a broader scientific perspective. I carried on this project under the amazing and supporting supervision of Dr. Gabriel German at UNAM and Prof. Diederik Roest from VSI at Groningen. I wholeheartedly thank them both for all the conversations, discussions, and most importantly for their support.

A couple of words on the PhD defences across the Netherlands and Mexico. In my opinion, the Dutch defence is more like a ceremony where you are questioned, without a presentation, by several members of the committee. It feels more like a discussion among peers rather than an actual examination. On the contrary, the Mexican defence is of the traditional style, an hour-long presentation followed by hours of questions to test whether you really understand the research you carried on. Both of these are unique experiences that we live once in a lifetime, I was lucky enough to live it twice.

Coming next, I will be moving to Tokyo for my postdoc at the Kavli IPMU of the University of Tokyo.