The UB chooses its representative in the "Present your thesis in 4 minutes" competition

Raquel Serrano’s research study focuses on the concept of intercomprehension: “the capacity we have to try to understand languages that may seem unfamiliar to us, but which we can explore on the basis of the links they have with languages we already know”, explains the PhD student. “If I say in Italian ‘Dobbiamo amare le lingue’, this sentence has a fairly simple structure and fairly transparent words, which are very similar in Catalan and Spanish, for example”, she continues. Serrano wants to show how this capacity for intercomprehension “is a springboard, a space to launch us into studying other languages”. For this reason, Serrano is working on an experience he has designed for high school students.

The finalist in the UB’s internal competition was Joan Conejos, from the PhD programme in Organic Chemistry.

The Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation organises the competition “Present your thesis in 4 minutes” together with twelve Catalan universities and with the support of the Government of Catalonia. The aim is for doctoral students, from any scientific discipline, to explain their research in a maximum of four minutes, and the challenge is to do so in simple language that can be easily understood by the general public. All the information is available on La UB Divulga website.