Four minutes, nine great ideas and a group of enthusiasts who have mastered the art of communicating science to perfection – that night in Dijon was nothing short of extraordinary. On 6 November, at the Université de Bourgogne Europe in Dijon (France), science stepped down from its academic pedestal and took to the stage. The final of the FORTHEM Young Researchers Grand Prix transformed the university auditorium into an arena of brilliant ideas, research passion and unparalleled skills in talking about research in a way that everyone could understand.
According to the rules of the competition, each of the nine finalists from nine universities belonging to the FORTHEM Alliance had only four minutes to convince the jury and the audience that their science has power. And although time was running out and emotions were running high, the audience listened spellbound.
‘This is the second year we have organised the international Researcher Grand Prix and the first in which all nine universities from our Alliance are participating. This is a huge success,’ emphasised Jocelyne Gérard, head of the communication strategy for the FORTHEM Alliance. ‘I am not on the jury, but I am glad that the participants will receive professional feedback,’ she added.
‘It is an extremely responsible and difficult task to select one winner from a whole array of young, ambitious scientists ready to talk passionately about their research projects,’ explained Dr Barbara Curyło, Director of the FORTHEM Centre, who was invited to be a member of the competition jury this year. ‘Together with the other jurors, we took into account a number of factors that are important in this type of presentation: not only the overall impression and self-presentation skills, but also the importance and significance of the research and its impact on the development of European research ideas. It was a really interesting experience and a great pleasure,’ concluded Dr Curyło.
The winner of this year’s Researcher Grand Prix was Jun Liu, a Chinese-born micro-biologist representing the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. ‘I feel a bit exhausted, but also incredibly happy,’ she said just after the results were announced. ‘I have been working on my presentation since the beginning of October and throughout the week leading up to the competition final. The two days of rehearsals really helped. The whole event was great – so much positive energy, so much interaction. Science can be cautious and confined to laboratories, but here we proved that it can also be interesting and extremely open to the environment.’
A representative from the University of Opole was also among finalists. Michał Petka, a theologian and doctoral student from the UO Doctoral School, talked about how liturgical vestments can become not only an object of research, but also a vehicle for meanings, emotions and social hierarchies. ‘The Grand Prix trip to Dijon was special for me because I was able to meet PhD students from different countries and disciplines. Such encounters bring new energy and motivation for scholarly work, especially at a later stage of the doctorate,’ said Petka. ‘As a theologian, I am happy to have been able to show that theological research is also relevant outside the Church and can inspire dialogue with other humanities or social sciences.
‘I also saw how much potential the FORTHEM Alliance offers – how much joy and value collaboration between universities can bring. It was my first visit to France, so it was an extra pleasure to get to know Dijon and the Burgundy region,’ he added. ‘I am glad I was able to represent our University and show that we do good science here that we can be proud of,’ he concluded.
The audience also had a say – literally. Using a QR code, the audience in Dijon, as well as viewers from all nine countries represented by FORTHEM Alliance universities, were able to select their favourite. This year’s audience award went to Mihai Ilina, representing the Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu (Romania), who could not hide his excitement. ‘I feel very surprised. It is amazing that so many people voted for me – even from my home town! This competition is a great idea. In four minutes, you have to show four years of work – in a way that everyone can understand. And if you succeed, it means that you really understand what you are doing,’ he said.
The idea for the Researcher Grand Prix originated in Norway – and that is where its creator, Arne M. Larsen, head of communications at the University of Agder, comes from. ‘We have been organising this competition in Norway for years – first regionally, then nationally, with the final in Oslo. Two years ago, I thought: why not extend this idea to the entire FORTHEM? And everyone was for it’, recalls Arne M. Larsen. Last year, the international final took place in Kristiansand, Norway, and this year in Dijon. ‘What fascinates me most is that all the participants are extremely passionate about their research and are able to convey it in just four minutes. I think it is really cool to see how they do it and that I can be part of this venture,’ adds Arne M. Larsen with a smile.
The FORTHEM Young Researchers Grand Prix final was preceded by two days of intensive workshops and rehearsals, during which participants worked with coaches from various member countries of the Alliance, perfecting their presentations and the way they talk about science.
As Jocelyne Gérard emphasises, for FORTHEM, science communication is not a trend but a mission. ‘This is important for scientists, for universities, and for the alliance as a whole, because science becomes meaningful when we know how to share it.’
The Researcher Grand Prix was only part of a larger event – the annual FORTHEM summit, held in the first week of November at the Université de Bourgogne Europe in Dijon. The event was attended by representatives of all the member universities, working together to recap activities to date and to plan for the next funding phase.
’This year’s summit was aimed at working together on the next annual report, especially in the context of the comments we received from the European Commission in the mid-term report,’ explains Aleksandra Krems from the Office for Research and Project Management, UO, head of the Research Innovation Transfer FORTHEM mission. ‘Throughout this time, I attended sessions focusing on impact, reporting on the progress of task packages and collaboration between alliance missions. The agenda was brilliantly planned and the result is a comprehensive progress review and preparation for the new application,’ she adds.
Dr Barbara Curyło, director of the FORTHEM Centre, is as positive about her participation in the summit. ‘The importance of meetings such as the one in Dijon is immense, it is during such meetings that the common achievements are honestly reviewed, and also ways of overcoming the real, but often invisible from the outside, obstacles to integration between the nine universities are sought,’ she emphasises.
The summit included also a meeting of members of one of the FORTHEM working groups (WP4), dedicated to the internationalisation of education, in which the University of Opole was represented by Dr Paweł Andrejczuk, FORTHEM project manager. During a series of meetings, the progress made so far on the development of joint degree programmes and their mutual recognition, or on increasing the number of joint degrees within the FORTHEM Alliance was discussed. In addition, the group’s work on the ‘micro-credentials’, which complement the current offer of Alliance universities, was reviewed and implementation arrangements were made. Arrangements were also made for plans to introduce so-called ‘flexible learning paths’ within the Alliance.
‘We presented lecturers of all partner universities with specific activities and programmes in which they can participate in order to internationalise their own units under FORTHEM activities,’ said Dr Paweł Andrejczuk, a speaker and co-organiser of the event in Dijon.
The University of Opole belongs to the network of European Universities and is part of the FORTHEM Alliance, which also includes the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz (JGU, Germany), the University of Burgundy in Dijon (UBE, France), the University of Jyväskylä (JYU, Finland), the University of Palermo (UniPa, Italy), the University of Valencia (UV, Spain), the University of Latvia in Riga (UL, Latvia), the University of Agder (UiA, Norway) and the Lucian Blaga University (ULBS, Romania).
