The My Thesis Summed Up in 180 Seconds ("Ma Thèse en 180 secondes") contest lets doctorate students explain their research in simple words for the general public. They only have three minutes, not a second longer, to explain their thesis! It is a unique opportunity for them to enhance their communication skills and to share their research in a public forum.
The MT180 competition enables doctoral students to present their research topic, in French and in simple terms, to a diverse audience. Each doctoral student must give a clear, concise yet convincing presentation of his or her research project in just three minutes.
The aim of the My Thesis in 180 seconds competition is to highlight the value of doctoral studies and research, to showcase the ability of doctoral students to popularize research work, and to raise awareness of the importance of science-society dialogue.
Dates reminder for MT180 2024
- Open rehearsal for candidates from the University of Orléans: March 14, 2024
- Regional final: March 20, 2024, University of Tours
- National semi-final: March 29, 2024, Paris
- The national final: June 5, 2024 in Nice
- The international final will take place in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (week of November 18, 2024, date to be confirmed).
This year, the regional final of the Ma thèse en 180 secondes competition took place in Tours, Salle Thélème on March 20, 2024.
During this regional final, the votes of the public on the one hand, and a jury made up of teachers, researchers and scientific mediation professionals on the other, designated the 2 candidates who will represent the Centre Val de Loire Region.
Looking back on the Regional Final held on 20/03/2024
Following the regional final ( University of Orléans, INSA CVL and University of Tours) of the My thesis in 180 seconds (MT180) competition, which took place on Wednesday 20 March 2024 in Tours, the jury awarded the following prizes:
1st Prize:
2nd Prize:
Audience Prize:
Watch the whole contest with the video below
Prize-giving ceremony:
First prize was awarded to Clara Blanchard, a student at the Laboratory of Physics and Chemistry of the Environment and Space (LPC2E), who presented her thesis on the subject: "Detailed characterization of the orbital parameters and eclipses of "black widow" pulsars by their radio timing, and use of this new population of fast pulsars to detect the gravitational wave background."
Second prize went to Benjamin Caux, a doctoral student at ICOA, with the thesis topic: "Development of online combination methods for extraction and separation by supercritical fluids for clinical and therapeutic applications".
The People's Choice Award went to Alix Launay, a doctoral student in psychology at the Research Center for Cognition and Learning (CeRCA), University of Tours, for her presentation on the thesis topic: "Integrative approach to the effects of normal and pathological aging on episodic memory: from the laboratory to everyday life".
Clara and Alix will be taking part in the national semi-final in Paris from March 28 to 30.
My Thesis Summed Up in 180 Seconds is an exercise in brevity and popularisation that requires careful preparations, when it comes to the speech but also the way you carry yourself, as well as the visual on PowerPoint. To make it easier, you can take advantage of several half-days of training as a part of the 'E6 Préparation au concours Ma thèse en 180 secondes' course, as well as a day to rehearse your presentation.
To be a participant, the candidates must fullfil the following eligibility requirements:
- Being enrolled in a doctorate programme for the academic year 2021-2022 or having had your thesis viva voce in 2020-2021;
- Getting your presentation approved by your thesis directors and supervisors;
- Having a sufficiently advanced doctoral research project;
- Speaking French.