Ma thèse en 180 secondes: a final between research and eloquence

Since 2014, the national and international contest spoken in French Ma Thèse en 180 Secondes (My thesis in 180 seconds) puts the highlights on doctoral students to present their research topic “in French and in simple terms” before an audience of non-specialists. Every student has 3 minutes to present “a clear, short, yet compelling presentation” of her/his research topic, that is often not easy to grasp when you first read the title! In France, the contest is both an exercise of “research and eloquence”, according to France Info, the radio relaying the event, and is organised by France Universités, the conference of University Presidents and the CNRS, the National Centre of Scientific Research. For the final, the contest has benefitted from the support of the University and City of Nice.

Three prizes of the jury and a Prize of excellence

After the presentation from each candidate, who had already passed the regional trials, Wendy Le Mouëllic won the first Prize of the jury. As France Universités explains, she managed to “convince the audience with the original presentation of her thesis topic” about the “characterising the pathways of sulphur acquisition and cysteine biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis during infection”. She studied at the University of Toulouse (Institute of pharmacology and structural biology) and managed to represent France during the international final of the contest that will be held on 21 November in Abidjan.

The second Prize of the jury went to Mélyne Baudin-Marie, from Nantes Université (Fculty of science) for her thesis “Synthesis of multivalent enzyme inhibitors of sialidases for the treatment of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)”.

And the 3rd prize went to Elie Kadoche, doctoral student from the Institut Polytechnique of Paris (Department of the Information Processing and Communication Laboratory) for his thesis entitled “Development of control algorithms based on multi-agent reinforcement learning for the optimisation of large-scale wind farms”.

Prizes that open doors

Two additional prizes were granted. The Prize of the Public went to Aïcha Loïal from the Université des Antilles (Institut Pasteur de Guadeloupe), for her thesis entitled “Understanding the behavioural plasticity of Aedes aegypti populations to improve vector surveillance and control”.

Lastly, the Prize of High Schools went to Seyta Ley-Ngardigal, a doctoral student at the University of Bordeaux (Inserm Unit 1211), for her thesis on the “Molecular mechanisms of the toxicity of glycaemic overload on the skin”.

And France Info adds that for the winners such an event is “often a means of showcasing their research”. A competition that opens doors, say the same participants.