The PhD participants in the contest

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7 March 2025

"Your Thesis in 3 Minutes" Unite! Competition

The XI Unite! Dialogue hosted the first edition of this PhD Contest: Condense, Connect, Captivate. Doctoral Students from Across Europe Showcase Cutting-Edge Research

Unite! hosted the first edition of the contest, "Your Thesis in 3 Minutes. Condense, Connect, Captivate" on 26 February as part of the inspiring event "XI Unite! Dialogue—Unite! Students: Our Soul, Our Core" at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-Barcelona Tech (UPC). The competition challenged nearly 20 doctoral students from 9 European universities to condense years of research into a clear, direct, and memorable message—all in just 180 seconds.

The event, organized by the Unite! Doctoral School, aimed to foster accessible and impactful science communication. PhD students from each member university were tasked with presenting their research using no more than two slides, in a way that was easily understandable to the general public.

After impressive and engaging presentations, the winners were announced during the Plenary Conclusion Session on February 28, 2025:

1st place

Nuno Miguel Cabecinhas Gonçalves, PhD Program in Physical Engineering (Universidade de Lisboa)
Thesis Title: Towards the miniaturization of cross-dispersed echelle spectrographs
Supervisors: Alexandre Cabral and Manuel Abreu

2nd place

Patricia Victoria López Gómez, PhD Program in Biomedical Engineering (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya)
Thesis Title: Multifunctional hydrogels for advanced regenerative therapies
Supervisors: Carles Mas Moruno and Nabila Mehwish

3rd place

Nuno Ricardo de Oliveira Jordão, PhD Program in Veterinary Sciences. (Universidade de Lisboa).
Thesis Title: Functional impairment and antigen hindering of E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme pI215L, towards the development of a live attenuated vaccine against the African Swine Fever virus
Supervisor: Fernando António da Costa Ferreira

The winners were presented with their awards during the event’s closing ceremony, with awards given by Konrad Löbcke from the Unite! Secretariat, Josep Maria Font, UPC Rector’s Delegate, and Gaétan Garcia, a member of SURE. The jury, chaired by Elisabet Arnó, Cm9 Coordinator, was composed of representatives from each participating university to ensure equity and diversity in evaluation.

"I am incredibly thankful and excited to have secured second place in such a rewarding experience. Beyond the recognition, I take with me the joy of having shared a stage, conversations over coffee, and laughter with colleagues from across Europe. Science mustn’t remain confined to laboratories or specialized journals. 'Your Thesis in 3 Minutes' reminds us that effectively communicating our research is essential for making a real impact in society. I’m grateful to the organizers, the jury, and my fellow participants for this unique opportunity, and to everyone who believes in the power of science communication. After all, science is not only discovered; it’s told.

Cristina Canal, Director of the UPC Doctoral School, expressed her gratitude to all participants and acknowledged the outstanding level of research and presentations:"I would like to sincerely thank all the doctoral students for their participation and commend them for the high standard of their research and presentations. This contest has truly showcased the immense talent and potential of young researchers across Unite! universities. We are proud to see how effectively they communicated their complex work to a broader audience, demonstrating not only their scientific skills but also their ability to engage and inspire others."

Through this contest, the Unite! alliance aims to emphasize the importance of communicating science in an understandable and relatable manner, highlighting the vital role that PhD students play in shaping the future of research and innovation in Europe.