Antonio Viayna and Roser Pons to represent the UB in the Coimbra Group 3-Minute Thesis and FCRiʼs Thesis in 4 Minutes competitions
Antonio Viayna and Roser Pons will represent the University of Barcelona in the Coimbra Group 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition and in Thesis in 4 Minutes from the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRi). The UB final for these competitions was held yesterday afternoon in the Ramón y Cajal room in the Historical Building. Participants were eight PhD students who, after having passed a previous stage in which their video explained their research, had to show their theses to a jury -formed by research experts from the University of Barcelona- and film it again.
Antonio Viayna and Roser Pons will represent the University of Barcelona in the Coimbra Group 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition and in Thesis in 4 Minutes from the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRi). The UB final for these competitions was held yesterday afternoon in the Ramón y Cajal room in the Historical Building. Participants were eight PhD students who, after having passed a previous stage in which their video explained their research, had to show their theses to a jury -formed by research experts from the University of Barcelona- and film it again.
Coimbra Group
Antonio Viayna, who presented the thesis Searching for the perfect key to close a door. Discovery and design of selective glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase inhibitors against Malaiaʼs disease, was awarded the UB prize -an iPad- and will take part in the European finals of the Coimbra Groupʼs 3MT. The second selected participant of the UB, Carlos Ezquerra, received a 100-euro voucher to spend in FNAC.
Although the Coimbra Group joined the organization of the competition in 2017, the 3MT is quite old already. The University of Queensland (Australia) launched it in 2008, and this competition became a worldwide success, organized by institutions from around the world. The 3MT is an academic competition challenging PhD students, encouraging them to explain the research they carry out and to tell about the importance it has for the community.
Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation
Roser Pons, who showed her thesis El cancer: una question dʼambient, won the UB award -an iPad- and will participate in the “Thesis in 4 Minutes” competition, from the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRi). The second classified participant of the UB, Marta García, was awarded with a 100-euro voucher to spend in FNAC.
FCRI organizes this competition together with twelve Catalan universities and counts on the support from Generalitat de Catalunya. Its aim is to encourage PhD students, from any scientific field, to explain their research during four minutes, using a simple and understandable language for a non-expert audience.