Alessandro De Simone wins "My Thesis in 180 Seconds" competition

A road trip to Madagascar to learn more about deforestation, a superheroine who improves particle collisions at CERN, optical signals to avoid distress calls from overly taxed computers – the list is long. At the final stage of EPFL’s “My Thesis in 180 Seconds” competition held this evening, the oratorical talents of 14 PhD students managed to turn sober topics into captivating listening for a non-specialist audience. In other words, a fun way for some 600 spectators to expand their knowledge.

Three minutes and not one second more. According to the rules governing this competition, the students have 180 seconds to talk about their research to a decidedly diverse crowd. The criteria were numerous and specific – e.g., elocution, rhythm, fluidity, gestures, clarity, contextualization and use of metaphors – and the bar was high.

Humor and analogies to present the mechanisms of the cellular division in 3 minutes

First prize was won by Alessandro de Simone, a PhD candidate in Pierre Gönczy’s laboratory. His presentation on DNA organizers in stem cells – which he compared to waiters in a restaurant – was delivered with abundant poise and humor. It won over both the jury and the crowd, as he also shared the audience award with Justine Gay-Des-Combes.

The similarities found by Elise Berodier between flowers and building materials earned her second place. Felix Bobbink won third place after using the image of Legos to help the audience understand his work on catalysts for converting CO2. The three winners took home prizes of 1,000, 700 and 400 francs, given by Cisco, along with the chance to participate in the first Swiss finals planned for next spring under the aegis of the Conference of Western Switzerland’s Universities (CUSO). The audience awards handed out at each of the three qualifying rounds went to Elise Berodier, Justine Gay-des-Combes and Rosamaria Cannavo.

Training in public speaking
This edition was the competition’s debut in Switzerland and it was a definite success, as 34 PhD candidates squared off in three qualifying rounds that took place in September. In order to prepare most effectively, the students took part in public-speaking training that same month. The training, which took place over the course of several days and was delivered by two media professionals in cooperation with the Staff Training Service, emphasized practice. Each participant went in front of the camera several times and received constructive criticism from the trainers and their peers. According to the students’ feedback, the training in itself was a real boon for their future career.

This competition was created in Australia several years ago and then run in French in a slightly different form in Quebec. It is now held in numerous countries. Switzerland is expected to compete in the international finals in 2016.