The Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science recently delivered its first ever joint PhDs with two Belgian universities, namely Ghent University and KU Leuven.

The joint PhDs were awarded to Dr Carel van der Merwe, senior lecturer in Financial Risk Management in the department, and Dr Sven Buitendag of Capitec Bank.

This brings to four the number of joint PhDs delivered by the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. A joint doctoral degree is made possible through a contract of cooperation between the doctoral researcher, the PhD supervisors (at least one at each university) and the respective institutions.

Van der Merwe received his joint doctorate in Mathematical Statistics at SU and in Economics at Ghent University. His public PhD defence was held in Ghent on 14 January 2020. His supervisors were Professors Tertius de Wet (SU), as well as Koen Inghelbrecht and co-supervisor Michèle Vanmaele of Ghent University.

“As part of the joint PhD you are required to spend at least six months at the partner university. I went to Ghent on four occasions. The first was two three-month visits where I worked on my PhD and the last two was part of my private and public defences. The part I liked most was to experience an international university and to work with other PhD students at the department in Ghent," he said.

Van der Merwe's thesis focused on visualisation techniques within the finance space and on credit spreads.

“My supervisors and examiners had a significant influence on the success and quality of the overall thesis and I am also thankful for the university, faculty, and department for their support during the joint PhD, both with funding and time."

Buitendag, who worked as a data scientist before joining Capitec, received his joint doctorate in Mathematical Statistics at SU and in Mathematics at KU Leuven. His PhD defence was held in Stellenbosch on 11 February 2020. His supervisors were Professors Tertius de Wet (SU) and Jan Beirlant (KU Leuven).

“The joint PhD exposed me to the dynamics of world-leading research institutions and researchers, which contributed a great deal to my mentality, academic skillset and the quality of research that I got involved with and produced," said Buitendag.

He attributed the success of his studies to his supervisors, who “made all of this possible and provided direction and guidance along my academic journey".

De Wet, an emeritus professor and former chair of the department, had the following to say of the two researchers he supervised, “Carel and Sven are outstanding students, both academically and in the way they could handle their new environments. They were, and still are, extremely good ambassadors for our department, faculty and university. The feedback from the supervisors at both institutions was that they were very impressed by the quality of both of them. They certainly created a very positive impression of the quality of our training and of our students."

He added that the experience of being exposed to a different environment, a different academic style and thinking, is extremely valuable to a young professional.

“It is a wonderful way of starting to build an international network of cooperation. Personally, I very strongly support such joint degrees."

Prof Paul Mostert, chair of the department, said it was very important that the department extended its international standing, especially with PhD research.

“These partnerships have resulted in a network of international collaborators that can benefit the teaching and research of the department. To have two students, one a permanent academic, obtaining their dual PhD degrees from two different Belgian universities is a remarkable achievement. Awarding such degrees under these dual agreements is a first for the department and hopefully a start for many more in the future."

According to Mostert, the department currently has another joint PhD candidate, Luca Steyn, enrolled with Ghent University.

By March 2020, SU had awarded 39 joint PhD degrees of which most (seven) in collaboration with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. A total of 31 candidates are currently enrolled for joint PhD degrees at SU.

• Photos supplied.
  
  
• First photo: Dr Sven Buitendag's PhD defence was held in Stellenbosch on 11 February 2020. With him on the photo are his supervisors, Professors Jan Beirlant of KU Leuven (left) and Tertius de Wet of Stellenbosch University (right).
  
  
• Second photo: Dr Carel van der Merwe's PhD defence was held in Ghent, Belgium on 14 January 2020. With Dr Van der Merwe (in the centre) are (f.l.t.r.) Professors Jan Annaert (Antwerp University), Prof Michèle Vanmaele (co-supervisor, Ghent University), Koen Inghelbrecht (supervisor, Ghent Universiteit), and Patrick van Kenhove (Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University). Dr Van der Merwe's supervisor from Stellenbosch, Prof Tertius de Wet, was unable to attend the event.