As I made my way into Room D0:07 at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), it was clear that the young Madagascan whose Doctoral dissertation in Marine Biology was up for public defense, showed not a single drop of anxiety. He appeared to be in his natural habitat, like a fish in water, although there was nothing fishy about the moment.
You see, Hajaniaina Andrianavalonarivo Ratsimbazafy, affectionately know as Haj, defended his PhD thesis: A spatial arrangement and governance system for the future Malagasy network of Marine Protected Areas.
To the untrained ear and un-enquiring mind this may sound like a disease to be cured of but it is truly common sense stuff and deeply important. Governments depend (or should depend) on this kind of research for the deployment of sustainable solutions as they try to manage resources often debilitated by ignorance, corruption- all so unnecessarily entangled in this sphere described as Marine Protected Areas.
Haj presented his case through a series of slides all the way from the basis of his research to the major recommendations. There is hardly a fun way to do this sort of thing. The raw data alone can play games with your mind. You may even feel that you like this man enough to let him talk in your sleep. On the other hand, you could take notes and make the moments count. I tried hard to do the latter and learnt a great deal. I took the example of a lot of other folks there.
My biggest take-away was the man’s calm. Although he confessed to me later that he was as nervous as shrimp at a national shrimp eating festival, it did not show, at all. The 6-member jury had titles before their names that could turn introducing them into a dissertation of its own. Everyone’s eyes were glued on him. This was hostile stuff. Yet, he floated through it all, including the barrage of questions and insinuations, sprinkling refreshing drops of humour into the presentation at delicate moments and beaming with an infectious smile.
There’s a place for calm and humanity in this world. Haj displayed both – all echoed by the sincerest remarks from colleagues, professors, students and so authentically captured in the affirmation by the chairman, Prof. Dr. Franky Bossuyt: ‘We need more people like you in this world’.
It was the same Prof who returned after a break in the proceedings and confirmed that Hajaniaina Andrianavalonarivo Ratsimbazafy successfully defended his thesis at the VUB Sciences & BioEngineering Sciences faculty.
Learning Ideas for Life 
In common with his cool handling of the questions, some of which were clearly outside his remit, Haj had seen to it that a true record would be kept of the event by appointing an obviously professional photographer to record for posterity the important events of Haj’s thesis defence.