My Thesis in 180 Secondes, inspired by Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) which took place for the first time in 2008 at the University of Queensland in Australia, is a competittion that gives doctoral students the opportunity to present their research topic in simple terms to a general and diverse audience. In three minutes each participant must deliver a clear, concise and yet compelling explanation of his or her research topic.

The competition gives participants an opportunity to hone their communication skills, while shwocasing their research in a public space. The presentations are filmed and those of the finals broadcast on the Internet.

Participating universities in Switzerland (EPFL, UNIFR, UNIGE, UNIL, UNINE, UZH) organize their own internal competition. Winners from each institution can compete in the national final coordinated by the Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentale. 

The winner of this national final is then selected to represent Switzerland during the international competition which brings together around twenty competitors from different countries.

At EPFL around forty doctoral students participate earch year in the competition and selections take place before the EPFL final. At EPFL the selections and the final take place in French and in English and are open to the public.

My Thesis in 180 Seconds is organised at EPFL by the Science Outreach Department with support from the Doctoral School and Learning & Development, and in collaboration with Mediacom, the Audiovisual Service, Keep Learning and the Research Office.