Rules governing the #HiloTesis 2022 competition

In order to promote outreach activities among doctoral students, the Conference of Rectors of the Spanish Universities (CRUE), through its Scientific Outreach and Culture Network (RedDivulga), proposes the call for the “2nd edition of the Your Doctoral Thesis in a Twitter Thread: #HiloTesis”, which will be joined by Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). Participants must communicate their doctoral thesis in a thread of no more than 20 tweets taking the limitations and possibilities of Twitter into account.

Aim

The aim is for research fellows/PhD students, whether they are currently producing their doctoral thesis or have completed it in the last 6 months, to be able to explain to society what they do and how and why they do it. Thus, they must create a thread on Twitter to make the most of this communication channel, adapting the content of their thesis using simple, accessible and appealing language.

Participant requisites

Participants must meet one of the following requirements:

  • Be enrolled as a UPF PhD student during the 2021-22 academic year and have satisfactorily passed at least one annual assessment.
  • Have been awarded a PhD by UPF, having defended their doctoral thesis since 1 October 2021.

Candidates must have the approval of their thesis supervisor and must make sure that the information provided, included in the thread, linked, etc., is eligible for public dissemination. If their research were subject to a confidentiality agreement, the students must discuss the content used in the competition with the parties involved. Neither Pompeu Fabra University nor the CRUE will be held liable for any damages resulting from any breach thereof.

Registrations and competition procedure

Participants must formalize their participation in the competition via the electronic form that will be sent to all UPF doctoral students. The deadline for registration is Monday, 4 April.

On 5 April, the UPF Doctoral School will inform participants as to whether they are eligible to participate in the competition. Only those who receive confirmation of fulfilling the requirements will be accepted as participants.

Calendar

  • PhD student registration for the competition:  from 28 March to 4 April
  • Confirmation to applicants of participation: 5 April
  • Training (optional) for participating doctoral students: 7 April at 10 am (1-hour training workshop taken by social media experts of the University)
  • Posting of the Twitter thread: from 19 April to 30 April at 11:59 pm (threads posted outside this period will not be taken into account)
  • Registration for the competition (once the Twitter thread has been published): from 19 April to 30 April at 11:59 pm
  • Publication of the winners of the UPF phase: 15 May 
  • Publication of the winners of the state-wide competition: between 23 and 27 May.

Instructions for participation

Participants must observe the following instructions:

  • Have a Twitter account.
  • Only one thread per participant not exceeding 20 tweets can be taken into account. Replies from other users are not counted.
  • All kinds of elements can be used to complement the presentation of their work, to illustrate it, to make it more appealing or simply to engage the audience (links, emoticons, videos, images, animated gifs, etc.).
  • All data or information provided by the contestants must be suitable for public dissemination.
  • Once the thread has been published, the following form must be completed in order to be considered in the competition (for the duration of the competition up until 11:59 pm on 30 April 2022): https://forms.office.com/r/W9nG8VabJ7. Threads not duly sent via the form will not be taken into account. The first tweet of the thread must quote @RedDivulga, @UPFBarcelona and end with “Abro #HiloTesis”.
  • The competition is split into two parts, local phase (UPF) and state-wide phase. In the local phase (UPF), the three best threads of the University will be selected, which will be the candidates for the state-wide competition. In the state-wide competition, the three winning threads will be chosen, which must be from 3 different universities.
  • The thread can be published in any of the official and co-official languages of Spain: Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician or Aranese. 

Jury and assessment criteria

After receiving participants’ threads via the form, the organization will submit them to the contact person at each university.

The UPF jury will consist of:

  • The UPF social networks manager
  • The vice-rector for scientific outreach or person appointed by him/her
  • A researcher and teaching staff member who is an expert on scientific communication

The state jury will be proposed by RedDivulga and will be made up of at least five members, and at least one of them must be a communication expert. The jury’s decision shall be final and no appeals may be made.

The assessment criteria will be applied to all branches of knowledge:

  1. Expression and content (maximum 5 points): the language used must be simple (free of technical terms and scientific jargon) and informative so that a non-specialized audience can understand the context, the research topic and its importance. The methodology, the most relevant results and the conclusions must be described using a logical and appealing structure. Links to specialized journals or content must be avoided. The
    research content must not be trivialized; it must be engaging and accessible but also accurate.
  2. Creativity (maximum 5 points): elements such as emojis, images, links, videos or animated gifs must be used appropriately and engagingly to complement the content. The presentation must make the audience want to find out more.

Prizes

The competition will include two categories: one general category, with three prizes, and another for research related to inclusion and disability, with one prize.

The prize for the winners of the state-wide competition is a tablet, which will be awarded and funded by the university to which the winners belong.

Final consideration

Participants who fail to comply with the rules of the call or who conceal, modify or manipulate data may be disqualified and, where applicable, be required to return the prize.