Johanna Mayer won the Researchers' Grand Prix semi-final in Stockholm
Researchers' Grand Prix is a competition where researchers from Swedish universities compete to see who can make the most engaging and easy-to-understand presentation of their research in just four minutes. The competitions are part of the science festival ForskarFredag. Johanna Mayer at the Division of Neurogeriatrics, NVS, won the Stockholm semi-final in the Researchers' Grand Prix on Friday 29 September. Now she is looking forward to the national final, which will take place on November 23.
Johanna is a doctoral student in Per Nilsson's research group and conducts research on the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
Why do you think you won?
”In my presentation I tried to explain difficult research in an illustrative way using a lot of metaphors. It was a great experience to get to know the other contestants and we supported each other a lot behind the scenes. Since we were waiting behind the stage, I haven’t seen the performances of the other contestants, and I don’t know how they compare.”
What was your initial reaction to winning the semi-final?
”I was surprised! I did not join the competition to win, but rather for the experience itself! It was also very nice to get coaching from Anders Sahlman before the event and to improve my presenting skills. While thinking how to explain my research in only four minutes to high school students, I got to think about the research question and results in completely new ways.”
Have you participated in anything like this before?
”I joined the Biomedicum-BioClinicum Young Researchers Symposium in 2021 and presented my research project to researchers in other fields in only two minutes. I also showed scientific experiments to a general audience in a science festival during my undergraduate studies in Jena, Germany. Recently, I was involved in organizing the brain awareness week event “En resa genom hjärnan” at KI and demonstrated microscopy to the public.”
How do you prepare for the final on November 23?
”I’m looking forward to learn more about communicating science and meeting the other contestants! I’m excited to fascinate young people for science and enjoying the time on stage!”