On Campus

Canadian wins “Dance your PhD” competition

Contest helps share science

Emma Ware, a PhD biology candidate at Queen’s University is among four winners in an international contest called Dance Your PhD, reports CBC News. Click here to see the video.

The contest, which is exactly what its title suggests, was founded by John Bohannon, a science journalist and researcher at Harvard. He first held the contest as a way to have fun at a party, but quickly realized that it could help scientists with the perennial problem of communicating their work to the public. The video-based entries were judged by both scientists and professional dancers. Ware’s video for her thesis, which is called A Study of Social Interactivity Using Pigeon Courtship, won in the social science category, which comes with a prize of $500.

An overall best PhD dancer will be chosen next. He or she will receive an additional $500, plus a trip to Brussels in November to perform at the Tedx conference.

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