Post PhD defense word of gratitude

First of all, I would like to express my profound gratitude to all the attendees who graced my public PhD. defense with their presence on the 6th of Jan, 2023 at KU Leuven M-Group . I truly feel elated that almost four years of painstaking research work finally came to fruition with the public defense of my doctoral dissertation. ????????????????????????????????????????

?No success, however, is an individual accomplishment. I, therefore, find it obligatory to thank all the people who played an important role in the successful completion of my PhD. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Davy Pissoort for his able guidance and supervision throughout the course of this PhD. I thank also?my co-supervisors Dr. Dries Vanoost and Prof. Guy Vandenbosch for their valuable inputs and feedback at key stages of the research process. Furthermore, I would like to extend my gratitude to the members of the examination committee - Prof. Anne Roc'h , Dr. Alastair Ruddle , Prof. Paul Leroux , Prof. Jeroen Boydens who thoroughly reviewed the PhD manuscript and provided valuable suggestions and feedback which helped immensely in improving the quality of the dissertation.?

I wouldn't have had this opportunity to conduct this research work, had it not been for the Marie Curie scholarship funded by the European Commission commission. I would like to thank the European Commission for funding innovative doctoral training networks like the MSCA Safer Autonomous Systems (SAS) project, which provide the perfect platform for aspiring students to kickstart their professional research careers.?Notable mentions are also Prof. Dr. John F. Dawson and Eng. Ehab El Amam under the supervision of whom I carried out my two secondments at the 英国约克大学 in the United Kingdom and at RH Marine in the Netherlands, respectively. Special thanks are also due to my M-Group colleagues Aleksandr Ovechkin , Hasan Habib , Jonas Lannoo , Pavithrakrishnan Radhakrishnan, Ph.D. , Venu Babu Thati, Ph.D. , Bozheng Pang , Kristof T'Jonck , Pejman Memar , Mohammad Kameli , Chandrakanth R Kancharla , Dejana Ugrenovic Dakic , Vikas Ghatge , Brian Leeman , Laure Buysse , Ludovic Espeel , Stephane Stroobant , Sanketh Ramachandra , Zhao C. , Xinting X. , Zifeng Gong , Philip Desenfans , and others for their cooperation and amicable company throughout the course of my PhD journey. Furthermore, I would also like to thank all my MSCA SAS colleagues - especially Orian Dheu who was physically present here - who played an integral part in the success of the project and were always there to offer help.?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

?Finally, I fall short of words to thank my family, who always encouraged and supported me in my scholarly pursuits. I'm grateful to my parents, who knew the power of knowledge and never compromised on my education and that of my siblings. I would also like to thank my elder brothers Asad Tirmizi and Ammar Tirmizi - both of them being engineers- served as the ideal role models during my pursuit in this academic field.