Hello, Sergio: I appreciate your participation in this interview and congratulations on the award! If you like, we start with some basic questions.

Who is Sergio Cavero?

Well, I am one more doctoral student at the International Doctoral School (EID) of the Rey Juan Carlos University. Currently, I am doing my Doctoral Thesis with professors Abraham Duarte and Eduardo García Pardo. In addition, I combine my research tasks with some teaching that I can teach in the context of a grant for the training of university teachers (FPU). 

What is your doctoral thesis about?

Basically, we work on different optimization problems that can be modeled using graphs and we approach them using a set of artificial intelligence techniques known as heuristic algorithms.

[Daniel] Great. The following question seems necessary to understand the contest. 

Where does this contest come from?

More than 10 years ago, in Australia, the "Thesis in 3 Minutes" contest emerged, whose objective was (and is) to make science and research more visible to society. This has been transferred to universities around the world and, for example, I participated in the sixth edition.

What is?

Second-year doctoral students or higher have the opportunity to tell in three minutes what their doctoral thesis consists of. The key to this contest is to use simple and understandable language for a public that is not an expert in that matter. Time is very limited and, in addition, you can use a single image or slide.

In order to win this contest you must go through two phases. In the first phase, doctoral students from the same university compete in each area of ​​knowledge: social sciences, health, engineering, etc. The winners of each area qualify for the second phase, the final phase, in which they compete with the winning doctoral students from other public universities in Madrid. This final phase took place at the University of Alcalá, and as everyone knows, three URJC students, including me hahaha, we were the winners of our respective branches.

[Daniel] The truth is that the number of URJC students who have won the award is quite impressive. Secondly, 

How would you rate the experience?

To be honest, I did not expect that this contest could bring me so much. On the one hand, I have faced the challenge of being able to tell something complex, such as several years of research, in just three minutes. Working on the capacity for synthesis and also doing it in a language that is not particularly technical is an effort that I value positively. On the other hand, it is obvious that these types of activities encourage doctoral students to get out of our “zulo” and get to know other students, share experiences and even anecdotes.

What would you say to another Ph.D. who is hesitating to participate?

To those who are doubting: don't think about it and go for it. Beyond winning, doing it better or worse, as I mentioned, preparing that presentation in that simple language forces you to answer... and what is this for? What do I do? What do I spend my time on? Transmit to people who may not know anything about the subject, such as a family member, what you do every day. And, on the other hand, the social part and learning from what others do, even if it is not even in your area of ​​research, seems enriching to me.

Finally, if I can, I would like to thank my tutors for having given me a hand all these years, my colleagues on the research team and especially Javier Yuste who has "swallowed" a few essays. And also to the EID, of course.

[Daniel] Well, thank you very much for your time and your answers. I hope you defend your doctoral thesis soon and can breathe easy.

[Sergio] Thank you for the opportunity and for the interview.