The laurels of Mathilde Guérin(ix)
It was with a story about druids, Romans, and Gauls that Mathilde Guérin, a doctoral student atthe École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie, won the laurels—not of Caesar, but of victory—in the regional competition Ma Thèse en 180 Secondes(My Thesis in 180 Seconds). On June 10, she will take part in the national final in Paris, with the whole village of die-hard Montpellier fans behind her.
The year is 2021 AD. All of Gaul is occupied by the coronavirus. All? No! A team of diehard PhD students is still resisting the invader and participating, remotely, in the regional final of the major science communication competition "My Thesis in 180 Seconds." As the 19 candidates take turns in this closed-door battle of the chefs , a young woman dressed in white and red makes her entrance: "Oh, what a pain! Maybe Pronostix was right when he said to me, 'Listen, young druid, working on extensive, deep, or chronic wounds is going to be complicated! You're wasting your time, you just want to impress the crowd at the contest with my remedy in 180 seconds!'"
What Pronostix clearly hadn't predicted was that Mathilde Guérin(-ix), enrolled at the Balard Chemical Sciences doctoral school, would charm the jury with her performance straight out of an Asterix comic book, "except that my Romans are bacteria trying to invade the village of Open-Wound-That-Hurts-Malix." The tone is set! Enrolled in a doctoral program atthe École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier, the apprentice druidess has been pursuing her Idéfix for almost two years: fighting bacterial resistance by designing a smart bandage composed of hybrid particles capable of helping wounds heal and preventing secondary infections. A real alternative to antibiotics "because antibiotics aren't automatic, talk to your druid," Mathilde jokes during her presentation.
Mathilde's Tour of Gaul
In 2019, the young woman from Normandy, a distant cousin of Olaf Grossebaf, settled in Montpellier after graduating with an engineering degree in Strasbourg. Her domain of the gods? Chemistry "since adolescence" and biology "because the human body and everything that goes on inside it fascinates me." Mathilde Guérin quickly knew what she was looking for: "A thesis topic that would allow me to combine my two passions and that could be applied to health." "The Max Mousseron Institute of Biomolecules in Montpellier and Cirimat in Toulouse offered her this opportunity as part of a thesis funded bythe Carnot Balard Cirimat Chemistry Institute.
Mathilde had been planning to participate in My Thesis in 180 Seconds for a long time, ever since she was a student in a physics and chemistry preparatory class in Le Havre and was already planning her thesis. "It's true that I've been thinking about this competition for a long time. I like to set myself challenges, I like to explain things in simple terms, I do it all the time with my family and friends because I want to share what I do. It's also an opportunity to show the general public and young students the world of research... and why not spark their curiosity and, who knows, maybe even inspire a career choice." Before this first experience, Mathilde had successfully tried her hand at the "My Thesis in 400 Words" competition organized by the University of Perpignan, where she also won the jury prize.
The secret of the magic potion
While waiting for the national final on June 10, for which Mathilde Guerin has qualified, she is polishing her text, working on her diction, and applying the advice she received during the three days of training provided by the doctoral college last March: "We learned how to improve our oral skills, the importance of pauses, slides, and text consistency. I changed my script at least fifteen times... We meet doctoral students from other disciplines and realize that popularization is not the same whether you're studying quantum physics or the humanities. And beyond the competition, it's a very good experience for our future careers."
The young chemist naturally envisages a career in research, whether in the private or public sector, "as long as the approach is multidisciplinary and applies to the medical field." And when we ask her, as we are about to leave, what the secret is to such enthusiasm and energy, she replies with Bonemine: "You mean my magic potion? Ballet and the violin, which I've been studying at the conservatory since I was four." Enough to overshadow the bard Cacofonix at the next victory banquet scheduled for June 10!
My thesis in 180 seconds (MT180)
Organized each year by the CNRS in partnership with university presidents, "My Thesis in 180 Seconds" invites doctoral students to present their research topic in French and in simple terms to a diverse audience of non-specialists. Each doctoral student has three minutes to give a clear, concise, and convincing presentation on their research project. This must be done with the support of a single slide! This competition is inspired by Three Minute Thesis (3MT®), designed at the University of Queensland in Australia. The concept was adopted in 2012 in Quebec by the Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas), which wanted to extend it to 20 French-speaking countries.