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Presenting your abstract

PhD Day is a mandatory part of the PhD programme at Health. It is expected that all PhD students participate actively in PhD Day at least twice during the enrolment period by submitting an abstract and doing a presentation or acting as co-chair. 

Absence due to e.g. maternity/paternity leave, sick leave, illness, or studying abroad is of course allowed.  

All PhD students at Health should submit an abstract describing either the results obtained or (for those who have only just started) describing the project. The abstracts will be presented in the abstract book, which will be available in December.

  • First year PhD students and Research Year students are invited to submit abstracts and to give a 2.5 minute Pitch.
  • Second year PhD students are invited to submit abstracts and give a 4 minute Flash talk.
  • Third year PhD students are invited to submit an abstract and participate as co-chairs or by giving a 10 minute Oral presentation.

Once you have submitted your abstract, you are automatically signed up for participation in the PhD Day. However, in order to receive a diploma after the day, please be sure to sign up in PhD Course Management as well. 

Participation in the PhD Day does not grant ECTS (as of 1 January 2019)

How to submit your abstract

The online submission of abstracts opens on 15 September 2023 and closes on 1 November 2023.  

You submit your abstract via conference manager.

The maximum number of characters for abstracts is 1,700 (including spaces) Not included is the title, your name and affilitation and co-authors.

Please make sure to check the length of your abstract! There is no character count and no warning if you exceed the character limit (extra characters are left out when you submit your abstract). Make sure that your abstract has been approved by the co-authors. The graduate school does not offer proof-reading of abstracts.

When submitting the abstract you are asked to:

  • Specify whether you are a first year, second year or third year PhD student or a research year student
  • Choose two Themes that best describe your area of research. The Themes are used in prioritized order for the purpose of distributing abstracts into sessions at the PhD Day - first the primary, then the secondary. Therefore, choose the theme that places your project in the most relevant session.
  • Enter up to three self-chosen Keywords. The Keywords are three freely definable terms that will appear at the bottom of your abstract. It's your opportunity to give the audience a quick and accurate overview of what your project is about.
  • Only third year PhD students: Choose your preferred role as “co-chair” or “oral”. Please note, oral presentations are limited and are awarded based on abstract assessment. You must submit an abstract even if your preferred role is co-chair.

You must also write the name of your main supervisor, as well as specify which graduate programme (GP) you are enrolled in (GP: BiomedicineGP: ClinFO (Clinical Medicine, Odontology and Forensic Medicine) or GP: Public Health)

Abstract and abstract book

All PhD students at Health should submit an abstract describing either the results obtained or (for those who have only just started and may not have results yet) describing the project. 

Even if you have not obtained any new research results within the last year, you are still expected to participate in the PhD Day and to submit an abstract. Do not reuse an old abstract – rephrase it with a new angle and give it a new title.

Once the abstract book is available (in December), you can find your session and role (Pitch, Flash talk, Oral presentation or co-chair) by searching for your name. When available, you can find the abstract book in the right sidebar.

By entering your abstract, you agree to your abstract being published in the abstract book on the PhD Day webpage.

Pitch

This year, Research year students and first year PhD students are invited to submit an abstract and give a 2.5-minute Pitch. 

All sessions aim to contain both Pitches, Flash talks and Oral presentations, with one senior chair and one or two co-chairs. Session number and presentation order will be available by searching your name in the abstract book. Find this in the right sidebar.

How to give a Pitch

The Pitch should be in English and should take no more than 2.5 minutes. After your presentation, there will be 2 minutes for feedback and questions. The time limit will be strictly enforced by the chairs.

The presentation should be understandable to non-specialists, and it is recommended that you limit your presentation to a maximum of 4 slides. Besides, an initial slide with your name and affiliation and the title of your presentation is allowed (not included in the maximum of 4 slides).

It is okay if you choose to give a Pitch about your planned PhD project or first results without slides, but you should still present a slide with the title, your name and number.

Please note that you must bring your own computer on the day to present your presentation.  (Just in case, please also bring your presentation on a USB-stick on the day). This means you will not have to send in your presentation to the Graduate School as you will be presenting from your own computer.

Feedback

The chairs are instructed to give you a short and constructive oral feedback on your presentation. The chairs will among other things consider the following: 

  • Is your presentation comprehensible to people outside your research area?
  • Are your slides easy to understand, and do they support your Pitch?
  • Are your research aims and hypotheses clear?
  • Can you convey the importance and perspectives of your research to the audience?

 

Flash talk

This year, second year PhD students are invited to submit an abstract and give a 4-minute Flash talk. 

All sessions aim to contain both Pitches, Flash talks and Oral presentations, with one senior chair and one or two co-chairs. Session number and presentation order will be available by searching your name in the abstract book. Find this in the right sidebar.

How to give a Flash talk

The Flash talk should be in English and should take no more than 4 minutes. After your presentation there will be 2 minutes for feedback and questions.

The Flash talk should contain the background for the project, the aim of the project, the methods used, the results that have been obtained so far (if any), and the conclusions.

The content of the Flash talk should be understandable to non-specialists, and it is recommended that you limit your presentation to a maximum of 6-8 slides. Avoid large data tables and prioritize graphics and figures, if possible. Your Flash talk should encourage scientific discussion, not merely present complex methods and results.

A Flash talk should include a) the background and purpose for the study, b) the main findings, and c) a round off with a conclusion and, if relevant, future perspectives.

Please note that you must bring your own computer on the day to present your presentation.  (Just in case, please also bring your presentation on a USB-stick on the day). This means you will not have to send in your presentation to the Graduate School as you will be presenting from your own computer.

Feedback

The chairs are instructed to give you a short and constructive oral feedback on your presentation. The chairs will, among other things, consider the following: 

  • Is your presentation comprehensible to people outside your research area?
  • Are your slides easy to understand, and do they support your Flash talk?
  • Are your research aims and hypotheses clear?
  • Can you convey the importance and perspectives of your research to the audience?
  • Are results and conclusions (if any) presented clearly?

The stage of the presenter's PhD project will be taken into account

 

Oral presentation

A selection of the submitted abstracts is chosen for Oral presentation. If your abstract is chosen, you will receive a notification from the PhD administration.

All sessions aim to contain both Pitches, Flash talks and Oral presentations, with one senior chair and one or two co-chairs. Session number and presentation order will be available by searching your name in the abstract book. Find this in the right sidebar.

The selection of abstracts for Oral presentations on PhD Day will be based on the level of adherence to IMRAD structure of the abstract and how clearly the study is communicated in the abstract. IMRAD is an acronym for Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion

The Oral presentation

You will be given 10 minutes for the presentation in English followed by five minutes for questions and feedback. The presentation should correspond to a presentation given at a scientific conference.

The presentation should be understandable to non-specialists and it is recommended that you limit your presentation to a maximum of 10-15 slides.

Please note that you must bring your own computer on the day to present your presentation.  (Just in case, please also bring your presentation on a USB-stick on the day). This means you will not have to send in your presentation to the Graduate School as you will be presenting from your own computer.

 Feedback

The chairs are instructed to give you a short and constructive oral feedback on your presentation. The chairs will, among other things, consider the following: 

  • Is your presentation comprehensible to people outside your research area?
  • Are your slides easy to understand, and do they support your Oral presentation?
  • Are your research aims and hypotheses clear?
  • Can you convey the importance and perspectives of your research to the audience?
  • Are results and conclusions presented clearly?

The stage of the presenter's PhD project will be taken into account

Themes for presentations for PhD Day 2024

The themes for the presentations for PhD Day 2024, of which you must choose two, are as follows (in no particular order):

Cancer

Infectious Diseases

Health Education

Qualitative research

Cardiology

Urology & Nephrology

Molecular biology

Dentistry

Bioinformatics

Mental health

Omics

Genetic engineering

Epidemiology

Endocrinology

Imaging techniques

Rehabilitation

Statistics

Surgery

Paediatrics

Diagnostics & technology

Neuroscience

Animal Models

Public health

Gastroenterology and hepatology

Neurodegenerative disorders

Immune diseases

Gynecology and obstetrics

Pharmacology

Chair and co-chair

In 2024 we introduce mixed sessions containing both Pitches, Flash talks and Oral presentations

One senior chair and one or two co-chairs (3rd year PhD student) will be assigned to each of the sessions. The students present their work followed by short oral feedback from the chairs and scientific questions from the chairs and other listeners.

The main task for the chairs is to act as moderators for the individual presentations as well as the whole session, to give a short and constructive oral feedback on each presentation, to prepare one or two questions for each students based on their presentation, and to make sure that there is time and room for questions from the audience as well.

Instructions for chairs on all sessions