Doctoral Conferment speech by Mairi Savage, Karolinska Institutet 2022 04 29 скачать в хорошем качестве

Doctoral Conferment speech by Mairi Savage, Karolinska Institutet 2022 04 29

This speech was delivered at the dinner following the Karolinska Institutet Doctoral Conferment Ceremony in the City Hall of Stockholm, Sweden on the 29th of April, 2022. Transcript with references Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, President, Honorary Doctors, and new fellow Doctors, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. So, this is the room where it happens![1] Look around, look around.[2] Take it in. How lucky we are to be alive right now![2] In research, we stand on the shoulders of giants. In my speech tonight, I’m standing on the shoulders of giants from music, film, and poetry. For they inspired me in times when I couldn’t inspire myself.[3] I invite you to listen and see if you can make out my reference list. My dear fellow doctors, we are far from the shallow now![4] People want to hear what we have to say. We’ve been writing day and night, like we are running out of time.[5] And not for the purpose of revolution but revelation.[2] At times, the sharpest words have cut us down.[6] The reviewers have said “It all sounds crazy, and we’ve lost our minds!”[7] But we keep calm and carry on. For we have a million dreams for the world we’re gonna make.[7] We might have started our PhD journeys as an ambition essential for our yet unrealized lives only to discover that our true vocation of being a researcher calls us out beyond ourselves, breaks our hearts in the process and then humbles, simplifies and enlightens us.[8] As we now have our eyes on the future, remember that history has its eyes on us.[9] Never assume you are the smartest in the room. That attitude may be your doom![5] So, don’t throw away your shot![10] This is not a moment, it’s a movement where the greatest legacy of our work is not to instil ambition locked up in ivory towers but to pass on a sense of sheer privilege of having found a road, a way to follow, and then having been allowed to walk it, often with others, with all its difficulties and minor triumphs.[8,10] Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die.[11] And put down the weight of your aloneness.[12] And lift your gaze not to what stands between us but what stands before us.[9] For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.[9] On behalf of my fellow doctors, and in the spirit of the hats we received today, let us raise our glasses to freedom![13] Reference list: 1. Miranda, Lin Manuel. (2015). “The Room Where It Happens”. Hamilton: An American Musical. 2. Miranda, Lin Manuel. (2015). “The Schuyler Sisters”. Hamilton: An American Musical. 3. Lady Gaga, Nilan, M. Jr., Monson, N., DJ White Shadow, Michaels, J. and Tranter, J. (2018). “Heal Me”. A Star Is Born (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). 4. Lady Gaga, Wyatt, A., Rossomando, A. and Ronson, M. (2018). “Shallow”. A Star Is Born (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). 5. Miranda, Lin Manuel. (2015). “Non-Stop”. Hamilton: An American Musical. 6. Paul, J. & Pasek, B. (2017). “This Is Me”. The Greatest Showman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). 7. Paul, J. & Pasek, B. (2017). “A Million Dreams”. The Greatest Showman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). 8. Whyte, David. 2019. Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words. Edinburgh, Great Britain: Canongate Books Ltd, Paul, p.8-12. 9. “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman, 2021. 10. Miranda, L., M., Johnson, A., Kejuan Waliek Muchita, Harvey, O., Jr., Troutman, R., Wallace, C. (2015). “My Shot”. Hamilton: An American Musical. 11. Isbell, J. (2018). “Maybe It’s Time”. A Star Is Born (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). 12. Whyte, David. (2012). “Everything is Waiting for You” in River Flow: New & Selected Poems. Many Rivers Press, Langley, Washington. 13. Miranda, Lin Manuel. (2015). “The Story of Tonight”. Hamilton: An American Musical.