Barcelona and Padua
In June 2002 the research at the NIAS was finished and the data collection of the ESS was going on. We were free again and could go to our new flat in Barcelona. We were planning to stay there for most of the summer and possibly longer because we had no task to do in the Netherlands. Irmtraud had taken care that the furniture we had bought, fitted very well to the house. We also spent some time to make the apartment our home with the decorations we had taken with us from Tenerife. We enjoyed the new place.
This new place had much more possibilities then the flat in Tenerife and now we also lived in a town where we met our old friends also during the holidays. Joan Manuel Batista who was professor at the business school, ESADE, spoke with me about the possibility to teach a course at ESADE. I liked to teach and it would provide me with some new contacts in a different world.
Applying for a ICREA grant
Even more interesting was the idea to apply for a position in the context of the ICREA program. This program was announced as a Catalan Center of Excellence which provided positions for highly qualified professors from all over the world to settle in Cataluña and work there in any university of their choice. If we succeeded, it would be a great honor for ESADE and an attractive way to make myself independent of the University of Amsterdam. Given that we both liked this idea, we spent a lot of time together to formulate an application for an ICREA position for me.
Applying for a ICREA grant
Even more interesting was the idea to apply for a position in the context of the ICREA program. This program was announced as a Catalan Center of Excellence which provided positions for highly qualified professors from all over the world to settle in Cataluña and work there in any university of their choice. If we succeeded, it would be a great honor for ESADE and an attractive way to make myself independent of the University of Amsterdam. Given that we both liked this idea, we spent a lot of time together to formulate an application for an ICREA position for me.
Summer feasts in Barcelona
Having done that we went again around in the town to explore the way of life. Last year we enjoyed the Fiesta de Gracia, therefore we went there again. It is incredible how much work and time people put into this event: they created new buildings in their streets, decorated the buildings and organized activities for the people in their street and visitors. |
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The PhD of Cristiana in Padua
In the autumn Willem was invited to the PhD debate of Cristiana Martini who had been studying with him some years before in Amsterdam. She wanted to go away from the standard academic process in Italy, guided by the professor of the department, and to explore her own way. She had considered a methodological issue: Is it possible to detect during the performance of a questionnaire whether wrong or unusual answers were given? Her boss suggested that this was not possible. With this problem she came to me and we thought that it was interesting to study this problem. That was what she did in Amsterdam and later she wrote her dissertation about this topic.
In the autumn Willem was invited to the PhD debate of Cristiana Martini who had been studying with him some years before in Amsterdam. She wanted to go away from the standard academic process in Italy, guided by the professor of the department, and to explore her own way. She had considered a methodological issue: Is it possible to detect during the performance of a questionnaire whether wrong or unusual answers were given? Her boss suggested that this was not possible. With this problem she came to me and we thought that it was interesting to study this problem. That was what she did in Amsterdam and later she wrote her dissertation about this topic.
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This process was not easy. Sometimes she was quite desperate but occasionally she saw the light. There were times that she was crying and times that we laughed a lot together. For the defense of her dissertation I was invited. We made an appointment that we would meet in Venice and would go to Padua together. To get to know her, this video captures our meeting in Venice where she showed me how the people centuries ago sold their fish.
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In Padua a student who got a Master degree had to go through a kind of Public presentation of the thesis. The candidate had to read some declarations which friends had formulated and decorated. I enjoyed these events very much after the boring PhD event. Therefore I made a video of such happenings.
In contrast with this event, the defense of a PhD-thesis is not a public event. Some scientists come together to ask questions about the thesis and the candidate has to answer them. Cristiana defended her thesis well and got her degree.
I suggested Cristiana, already before this event to continue with her research going abroad to get more statistical knowledge and experience and then come back to Italy with some more publications. In that way she would be more independent in her choice what to do at the university. This was what I had done and also Albert Satorra but she decided otherwise being afraid not to get a good position at a university in Italy. Fortunately she later got a position at the university of Modena and is still publishing her research.
About Padua a lot more could be said because it is a beautiful town but we leave that for another occasion.
I suggested Cristiana, already before this event to continue with her research going abroad to get more statistical knowledge and experience and then come back to Italy with some more publications. In that way she would be more independent in her choice what to do at the university. This was what I had done and also Albert Satorra but she decided otherwise being afraid not to get a good position at a university in Italy. Fortunately she later got a position at the university of Modena and is still publishing her research.
About Padua a lot more could be said because it is a beautiful town but we leave that for another occasion.