A l'UM la science [S02-ep20]: The "My thesis in 180 seconds" competition

[Podcast] - Published on April 7, 2023 in Doctoral training and hdr, Science-Society

This week in A l'UM la science, Pauline Bron, Julie Bas and Julie Cailler, all three winners of the Ma thèse en 180 secondes regional final, tell us about their experience in this science popularization competition.

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And today I'd like to invite you to play Question for a Champion.

I'm... Top!

I am a competition born in 2008 in Quennsland, Australia, I...
A kangaroo contest!
No... No, it's not that, I'm taking over. In 2012, my concept was picked up in Canada before being...
A Poutine contest!
Not yet... Before being taken over in 2013 by the Université de Lorraine...
The quiche...
Not quiche lorraine! In 2014, the competition was extended to France, and took on an international dimension with the creation of a grand French-speaking final bringing together Canada, Belgium, France and Morocco. In 2015, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Tunisia and Cameroon joined the competition, followed in 2016 by Benin, Indonesia and Switzerland...
A bank competition!
No! As an international popular science competition open to French-speaking PhD students from all over the world, the exercise I propose to candidates consists in presenting their work in French to a lay and diverse audience in the form of a clear, concise yet convincing presentation supported by a single slide.
... A slide contest?
Often approached from a humorous angle, using references to popular culture and a variety of metaphors, I prepare future researchers for public speaking by training them with a coach provided by the doctoral colleges organizing the regional finals. I take my name from the time limit imposed on each candidate to summarize his or her thesis in 180 seconds je suis-je suis...
My thesis in 180 seconds!
Yes!

As you can imagine, we're here today to welcome the candidates from the University of Montpellier, winners - because there are only girls - of the regional final of this competition, held in Nîmes on March 17.

Julie Bas is a doctoral student at the IGF, Montpellier's Institute of Functional Genomics, and was awarded^2nd prize by the jury.

Julie Cailler is a doctoral student at LIRMM, Montpellier's computer science, robotics and microelectronics laboratory. She was awarded^3rd prize by the jury.

Pauline Bron is a doctoral student at ICGM (Institut Charles Gerhardt) in Montpellier, France, and won the People's Choice Award and the right to take part in the national semi-final held in Paris on March 28.

We spend the next 30 minutes with her, while my own 3 minutes are up.

And the jury's ^1st prize in all this? It was awarded to Flo Sordes, a doctoral student at the University of Nîmes, whom we salute and congratulate.

At UM la science you've got the program, here we go!

Coproduction: Divergence FM / Université de Montpellier
Animation: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interviews: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Production: Bruno Bertrand / Tom Chevalier

Listen to the program "A l'UM la science" on Divergence FM 93.9