That’s the standard opening at research defense events and you don’t have to worry too much about its meaning. The panel chair is signalling the start of your presentation. Think of it as a warming-up exercise. State your research topic clearly and explain the background. If you have a special reason why you chose this topic you can start with that. For example; you studied a particular migrant group. Do you belong to this migrant population or do you know someone who does? Why did you study this segment? Then you move on to your research method. The panel members will probably interrupt to ask you why you preferred this method over other available methods. Do you know what to say? There’ll be other questions too and you won’t be able to go on for hours. This practice doesn’t take more than an hour and you’ll have to say as much as possible as quickly as possible.