As of this academic year, all Doctoral Committee members will have to wear a gown during the doctoral ceremony in which a doctoral candidate defends their dissertation. Before this, only professors could do so. TU Delft is the only university in the Netherlands to make this ceremonial dress mandatory.

He is probably the oldest PhD student at TU Delft ever. Hans van Duivendijk was 89 when he defended his PhD thesis on the ongoing battle against water on 17 June. As an engineer, he was able to use simple means to build complex water management systems in countries such as Bangladesh, Ghana and Nigeria.