Long after finishing hist contract in the lab — and quite some time after submitting his thesis — Thomas finally defended his PhD thesis on the impact of uncertainty and surprise on brain states and decision-making in the beautiful Agnietenkapel of the University of Amsterdam (UvA).
The event had to be postponed substantially, due to the pandemic and the recent birth of Thomas’ second son. Even though Thomas has now been out of academia for over a year (working as a data analyst and quantitative advisor for the city of Amsterdam), he defended his thesis very well, being on top of all the nitty-gritty methods details as well as the big picture implications. The entire committee was impressed.
This event also marks the end of the affiliation of the Donner lab with UvA, after almost 13 years! It was great to be back at UvA for the first time since the start of the pandemic for this, and knowing that this would be the last student from our lab to defend his work there made it very nostalgic, indeed. Many very good memories remain.
Congratulations from the entire lab and best of luck, Thomas!