Doctoral students are challenged to explain their research to the general public. The winner will go through to the final round to compete against representatives of other Catalan universities

 For the second year, the Postgraduate and Doctoral School of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili is holding the internal round of the competition “Explain your thesis in 4 minutes”, which is aimed at doctoral students who want the opportunity to explain their research to a non-specialist public. One of the participants in the internal round at the University will be selected to represent the URV at the competition “Present your thesis in 4 minutes” which is held by the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRi).

The internal round will consist of two phases. During the first phase on 10 April, all participating doctoral students will participate in a round of ‘scientific speed dating’. The doctoral students themselves will make up the jury for this knock-out round and will vote for the six best presentations based on the criteria established by the organisers. The six students chosen during the knock out round will then have to explain their theses live before a panel appointed by the Postgraduate and Doctoral School. This phase will take place on 30 April in Tarragona.

During the selection process the three students in first, second and third place will be awarded 750, 500 and 250 euros respectively. The person in first place will be the University’s candidate for the interuniversity competition held by the FCRi in Barcelona in June. The prizes for first, second and third place in the interuniversity round will be 3000, 2000 and 1000 euros respectively.

This initiative challenges doctoral students from any scientific discipline to explain their research in a maximum of 4 minutes to a non-specialist public using simple and easy-to-understand language. If you are interested in taking part, you must be a doctoral student in your second year or above and you must give your presentation in either Catalan, Spanish or English.

For more information, go to http://www.comciencia.urv.cat/tesi-en-4-minuts/

Peu de foto:

Image of the participants from last year, during the first edition of the interuniversity competition.