UM atUM [S01-ep21]: From the MT 180 Competition to the ARCAD Center
This week on *AUM science*, doctoral students Rhofrane Mrabti and Clément Trotobas talk to us about the “My Thesis in 180 Seconds” competition, which they won. In the second half of the program, Paule Térès (CIRAD), a researcher at the Agap laboratory, introduces us to Arcad, France’s first “bank” for the conservation of cultivated plants.
“Like a long-distance runner, a doctoral student must go the distance, but unlike a marathon runner, no one has drawn a finish line for them.” Thus began Héloïse Lhérété’s article titled *The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Doctoral Student*. Endurance, perseverance, and patience are indeed some of the qualities needed to be among the 70,000 students currently enrolled in doctoral programs in France and to see it through for the required three years.
Three years to research, explore, delve into, and analyze your topic. Three years—that’s 1,095 days or 26,280 hours—which a unique competition challenges you to summarize in… three minutes. A marathon suddenly turned into a sprint: that’s the challenge we’re discussing today as we take a look back at the MT180 competition, “My Thesis in 180 Seconds.”
Just 180 short seconds—and not a single one more—to capture the attention of a completely uninitiated audience and try to summarize a body of work that could take a lifetime to complete. 180 seconds, just like the 180 beats per minute of the contestants’ hearts as they take the stage. Above all, 180 seconds to share a passion and earn the recognition that everyone deserves a thousand times over.
Our guests are doctoral students at the University of Montpellier, and they participated in the regional finals of this competition, which were held in Montpellier. This time, they’ll have more than three minutes to tell us about that experience. Rhofrane Mrabti won the Audience Choice Award for the 2022 edition, while Clément Trotobas took second place as chosen by the jury.
In the second half of the program, we’ll introduce you to the Agropolis Resource Center for Crop Conservation, Adaptation, and Diversity —or Arcad, as it’s known to those in the know. As France’s first “bank” for the conservation of cultivated plants, Arcad houses nearly 50,000 samples. Grapes, corn, sorghum, rice, millet, cotton, fonio, peanuts, cacao, coffee… thousands of seeds are accessible thanks to a robotic storage system unique in Europe and, above all, thanks to Paule Térès, the director of the GAMET Biological Resource Center—which stands for“Seeds Adapted to Mediterranean and Tropical Conditions”—who manages this one-of-a-kind collection.
AtUM , you’ve got the schedule—let’s get started!
Production: Universityof Montpellier/Divergence FM
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: AlinePériault/Lucie Lecherbonnier
Reporting and editing: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Director: Anna Demeulandre
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