This year, 9 PhD students from various areas (human sciences, health sciences, sciences and technologies) took part in the UCL final of the international french-speaking contest ‘Ma thèse en 180 secondes’. Two researcher from the ISV, Timothée Laloux (FYMO) and Martin Delguste (nBio) were among them.
How does it work ? Each PhD student presents a clear and convincing speech about his thesis research in 3 minutes to a broad public, with only one slide.
The preparation to this event started in February under the supervision of a dynamic team composed of Géraldine Marique (ADRE) and Audrey Binet (AREC) who coordinate the contest at the UCL, a professional speaking coach (Sophie Dussart) and the chair of the day (Pierre Escoyez).
Martin and Thimothée rapidly realized that is takes more time to prepare a 3-minute speech than a 20-minute one ! Every word counts, and each sentence has to be efficiently prepared to deliver enough and clear information to the public. Also, when working in a field not-known by a great part of the public (nanotechnologies, cellular and molecular biology… ), every word that we use every day has to be well explained to make the presentation understandable.
From all the high-quality presentations that were made during the final, Martin was among the 4 PhD students selected by the jury to participate in the inter-university Belgian final that will take place in Brussels on the 24th of May. Martin also got the prize from the public votes, that probably enjoyed the fact that he compared his research to a Cluedo game !
Martin and Thimothée would like to thank all the ISV members that came to support them during the final, and see you in Brussels in May !