2017 saw the triumph of African women

On September 28, PhD holder Marielle Yasmine Agbahoungbata won the international finale of "My thesis in 180 seconds", a science popularization contest. The 4th edition 2017 was held in Liege, Belgium, and was highly dominated by Africa and women (15 contestants out of 20). The winner comes from Benin and presented a thesis about wastewater.

This edition was marked by a spike in the number of countries represented: from 10 countries last year to 15 this year, of which 7 located on the African continent. Women represent 3 out of 5 award-winners with, in addition to Agbahoungbata's prize, the prize of the audience won equally by Sabrina Fadloun, of the Community University Grenobles Alpes, who had won the French finale with her "long jump team" made of electrons "trained by Usain Bolt".

The third prize was awarded to Sarah Olivier, from the University of Geneva (Switzerland). The title of her thesis: Merovingian memory through their rewritings. Transmission, renewal, legitimisation (14^th-15^th centuries).

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Pictures © Aurore Abdoul-Maninroudine