Candidates pursuing a Ph.D. are required to engage in applied or original research to test a theory and to add to the existing body of knowledge in their particular discipline or field of study.
[3] In 2010, the categories for the event switched from grad students, postdocs, and professors to the scientific fields of biology, chemistry, physics, and social science.
He discovered that while most did it as a means of education, one danced to explore the spontaneous assembly and falling apart of the cell’s skeleton on microtubules while others did it to reexamine their work, similar to writing an abstract, or to celebrate the intersection of art and science.
Minier’s interpretation of his dissertation “Biomimetic Carboxylate-Bridged Diiron Complexes: From Solution Behavior to Modeling the Secondary Coordination Sphere”[6] uses breaking, tutting, animation, robot, and waving dance styles to explain his thesis.
Groneberg has been a dancer since was young and taught jazz and modern dance as a side job as she pursued her doctorate in neuroscience at the Champalimaud Research Foundation located in Lisbon, Portugal.
Salsa, acrobatics and hip hop represent the diverse political groups who fight over and eventually come together to discuss the protection and use of water resources.
[18] Uma Negendra turned her love of doing circus aerials and her study of plant biology into a dance to explain her Ph.D.[19] She found that destructive forces like tornadoes are actually good for trees.
Uma and a group of aerialist friends hang from trapezes in a choreographed ballet to represent the mature tree, the seedlings, the pathogens, and the tornado.
Cedric Tan, a biologist at University of Oxford took the top prize in 2013 for his research into the effect of brotherhood on sperm competition and female choice in the red jungle fowl.
[20] According to Tan, …”the dance movements [swing, water ballet, and modern jazz] in this video reflect the competitive nature in the sperm world.” [21] Peter Liddicoat's PhD thesis is entitled the "Evolution of nanostructural architecture in 7000 series aluminium alloys during strengthening by age-hardening and severe plastic deformation.” Though at first reluctant to enter the Dance Your Ph.D. contest, he came to the “…realization that this would tackle head-on the ominous question, 'So what is your Ph.D.
McKeague stated that the project was a group effort, just like her research, that involved every Ph.D. and undergraduate student working in Maria DeRosa's lab at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Lau’s submission puts to dance the hypothesis that vitamin D could improve beta-call function and insulin secretion, thus protecting against diabetes.
Thus, the best dances insightfully reveal the scientific content of the Ph.D. thesis, show artistry to create a compelling spectacle, and creatively combine these two aspects into a successful production.
The participant receiving the highest total score awarded by the panel of judges will win the Grand Prize, consisting of a payment of $1000 sponsored by AAAS/Science Magazine.