Research in Four Minutes (Rin4') 2024

1. Purpose of the competition

Rin4' is a competition where UPF doctoral students present their research in a 4-minute oral presentation to a non-specialized audience.

The Rin4' project has three main objectives:

• To encourage UPF PhD students to incorporate the most effective skills and techniques in transmitting and disseminating knowledge in an understandable way.

• To contribute to future researchers becoming aware of the relevance of transferring scientific knowledge to a non-specialized audience, in line with the vocation for public service of universities.

• To bring the science, knowledge and research that is carried out in the University closer to a non-specialized audience.

Participants can use audio-visual support components; however, it is the oral presentation element that is the main communication focus.
 

2. Requirements to participate

Participants must meet the following criteria:

• Be enrolled as a doctoral student at UPF or have deposited the doctoral thesis during the 2023-2024 academic year.

• Have, at the time of applying to take part in the competition, the approval of the thesis supervisor. 

• Be, at least, a second year PhD student.

• Commitment to participate on the dates stated in rule 3.

• First prize winners of previous editions are not eligible to participate.
   

3. Development of the competition

The competition will be developed in two phases:

• Qualifying round, which will be held in person, before a limited audience, in order to select the finalists. 

• Final, which will be held in person, before a limited audience, in order to select the winners.​

The competition will be held in person. If there are any special reasons of relevance, the competition may be carried out virtually online. The management of the Doctoral School is empowered to decide on the particular situations that may arise from these unforeseen circumstances. 
 

4. Calendar of the 2024 edition

The main dates and deadlines for the competition are as follows:

5. Admission

Admission to the competition will be made via an electronic application form available on the RIN4' website (https://www.upf.edu/web/rin4), within the deadlines stated in this document.
 

6. Presentations

Presentations must conform to the following rules:

• Length of presentations: presentations must be a maximum of 4 minutes long.

• Content of presentations: must refer to the research that is being carried out in writing the doctoral thesis.

• Language: presentations can be given in Catalan, Spanish or English.
   

7. Audiovisual support (optional)

If you wish to project a PowerPoint-type document on the back screen during the presentation, you must send it to the organization within the deadline indicated in the calendar. Only files in PPT or PDF format are accepted.

 If your presentation includes sound or video files, it is recommended that you send them as separate files. In this case, the filename must include the information regarding the time that the file must be presented in the video (example: “so1_14.mp3”, to indicate that the sound starts at minute 1:14 of the presentation). 

Presentation changes will not be accepted after the submission deadline.
 

8. Distribution of the participants in the various qualifying sessions

Students enrolled in the competition will be distributed into different groups that make up the qualifying phase. The groups will be made up of participants from different doctoral programs distributed randomly. In the event of unexpected events, the organization reserves the right to modify the initial distribution of the participants upon prior notice and upon the consent of the affected parties.

9. Determination of the order of presentations

The Rin4' organizing committee will hold a draw to determine the order of the presentations in each of the qualifying stages, as well as the final.

10. Qualification for the final

A maximum of 12 doctoral candidates will participate in the final, selected from among the winners of the different qualifying sessions. The number of qualifiers for each session will be determined based on the competition participants and the number of sessions scheduled. The number of qualifiers will be the same for each session and will be announced at the start of these sessions.

11. Membership of the jury

Jury of each session consists of three members, who may be researchers, teachers, postdocs, former students or administration and services staff. The members of the jury will be chosen by the PhD School.

12. Evaluation criteria

Presentations will be evaluated based on their academic significance and the clarity of the presentation, as well as their capacity and ability to transmit and capture the general audience, in accordance with the following scale:

13. Prizes

The prizes for the 2024 edition of Rin4' are as follows: 

• First place: €900 and the right to participate in the contest "Read your thesis in 4 minutes".

• Second place: €600.

• Third place: €300.

• Special prize awarded by the audience: €200. This prize is awarded by the votes of the audience members who have attended all presentations of the final, and can be awarded to one of the three winners. 

These amounts will be subject to the appropriate amount of tax in accordance with current regulations.

14. Contest "Read your thesis in 4 minutes"

The winner of RIN4' will be Pompeu Fabra University´s representative in the contest "Read your thesis in 4 minutes", organized by the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI), with the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and which the twelve Catalan universities will participate in. If it is impossible for the first place winner to participate in this contest, the second or third place winners of the RIN4' final will be proposed, depending on availability. So as to participate at "Read your thesis in 4 minutes" contest the representative of the Pompeu Fabra University must adapt the presentation to their bases, aproved by Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation.

15. Acceptance of the rules and regulations

Participation in the competition implies full acceptance of the competition´s rules. The jury has the power to interpret these rules and make the decisions necessary to resolve any unforeseen incident.

16. Participant responsibility

Participants will be responsible for their audio-visual presentations and will need to guarantee that the works included are their own or that they have obtained the necessary rights to use them. Participants will also need to omit any confidential data or information regarding their research from their presentations. UPF is not liable in any case of non-compliance of these points by the participants and will not take on third party claims.

17. Data protection

Pompeu Fabra University will treat personal data in accordance with the 2016/679 EU Regulation; General Regulation on Data Protection, and all other regulations in force in this area. The treatment of data and its incorporation into a file will be solely for the purpose of managing the RIN4' contest, the "Read your thesis in 4 minutes" contest and the payment of prizes. Data will be kept while these needs are maintained and legal responsibilities may be derived. The identifying data of the beneficiaries may be published on the Internet.

Participants can contact Pompeu Fabra´s data protection delegate through the email address [email protected]. They may also exercise their rights of access, rectification, abolition, portability, limitation or opposition to the treatment of their data by means of a written document addressed to the Doctorate School of Pompeu Fabra University (c / Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27. 08005 Barcelona).

Requesting to participate in the contest implies candidate consent for the treatment of their personal data as described in this document. Revocation of consent will mean the impossibility of their continued participation in the competition.

For more detailed information, take a look at the full competition rules.