Natacha Delrez wins the international final of the My Thesis in 180 seconds challenge
Natacha Delrez, PhD student at the Vaccinology and Immunology Laboratory of the ULiège Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, who represented Belgium at the international final of the "Ma Thèse en 180 secondes" competition, is the winner of this 6th edition!
T
he 18 candidates, from French-speaking universities, met on Thursday 26 September at the Grand Théâtre of Dakar (Senegal) to represent their country at the sixth international final of the "My thesis in 180 seconds" competition. Natacha Delrez, a doctoral student at ULiège in Alain Vanderplasschen's laboratory, convinced the public with her presentation entitled "Once upon a time there was the eel, the virus and the firefly". The young researcher, who is entering her third year of her thesis under the supervision of Alain Vanderplasschen (Immunology and Vaccinoloy Laboratory) , is interested in the infection and spread of a herpesvirus in European eels (anguilla anguilla) by trying to understand how the virus infects fish, how it spreads and how it weakens these fish to the point of causing their death. Natacha Delrez hopes, through her research, to develop an effective and safe vaccine against this virus.
My thesis in 180 seconds
The "My Thesis in 180 Seconds" competition, first held in 2008 at the University of Queensland in Australia, consists of a 3-minute presentation during which a doctoral student presents his thesis subject to the general public in a clear and concise manner. Each year, the competition takes place in six universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation: UCLouvain, ULB, ULiège, UMONS, UNamur and USL-B. Each university nominates candidates to participate in the inter-university final. The winners of this competition will participate in the international final, which brings together the winners from each French-speaking country of the "My thesis in 180 seconds" competition.
