Other News
In Memoriam: Filip Brkovic
Thursday 28 January, 2016
The Department has received some exceptionally sad news this morning. Filip Brkovic, one of our very recently completed GEM School PhD students, died last night in Brussels. He had been in hospital there for the last week with viral myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart muscle brought about by an as yet unidentified viral condition. Unfortunately last night he succumbed to heart failure.
Filip passed his PhD viva in the week before Christmas, receiving high praise from his examiners for the high quality of his underlying argument and for the passion and eloquence with which he defended his thesis. He will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him. He was, above all, a genuinely good guy, a loyal friend on whom so many members of our PhD community relied to help them through their bad days. He was always the first person on hand with a pep talk to allow others to focus on the positive side of even the worst news. All of his friends within the Department will now need to channel this approach that came so naturally to Filip if they are to help each other to come to terms with his death.
The Department will do all that it can to support all of Filip’s friends during this desperately sad time. Our thoughts are particularly with his wife, Katarina, who is of course also one of our GEM School PhD students, and their young son Mihailo. Filip’s GEM School colleagues are already discussing the possibility of putting together a book of memories for Katarina and Mihailo, and further information about this will be passed around the Department in due course. We also intend to name an annual PhD Prize in honour of his memory.
Nick and Jackie