TESTIMONIALS. “I had a lot of requests,” remembers the winner of “My thesis in 180 seconds” in 2023

We had to be as clear as possible. The 16 finalists of the “My thesis in 180 seconds” competition competed against each other on Wednesday June 5, in Nice and it was Wendy Le Mouëllic, from the University of Toulouse (institute of pharmacology and structural biology) who won.

On stage, these doctoral students had to explain their research project in less than three minutes, on subjects that are often very complex in the eyes of the general public. You must then popularize as much as possible to win this competition and ultimately, it is often a means of popularizing your research.

Last year, Camille Lakhlifi won: “I have the impression of having been part of the Star Academy of doctoral students”, she remembers. The cognitive science specialist presented her work on overconfidence: “Do you have difficulty admitting your mistakes, questioning your opinions or asking for help? You may be suffering from overconfidence. I focus my research in experimental psychology on screening doctors for overconfidence.”simplified the scientist on stage.

To summarize years of research at the Brain Institute in just 180 seconds, this improvisational theater lover still had a few strings to her bow: “We had to find ways and formulations to convey somewhat complex messages in an intelligible way.”

By winning “My thesis in 180 seconds”, doors opened for Camille Lakhlifi. She considers that this “contributed to making known [ses] works” since she received “quite a few requests to talk about it at doctors’ conferences”. “It’s rather a good thing because if I do applied research it’s so that I can then talk about it to those interested”she enthuses.

The winner of the 2024 edition will represent France during the international final in November in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.