The headquarters of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) hosted a major ceremony to select the three winners out of the 10 finalists in the first edition of “My Thesis in 1000 Words” contest, organized by ICESCO’s Federation for the Universities of the Islamic World. The candidates had five minutes to present a summary of their doctoral theses in front of a jury and an audience and compete for the three first spots. Out of ten contestants, the jury selected the first and second winners while the audience selected the third through live online voting.

The grand finale of the contest kicked off on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, with the recitation of verses from the Holy Quran, followed by the opening remarks by Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General, FUIW Secretary-General, who stated that organizing this contest aims to test the ability of Ph.D. students in the Islamic world to present their theses in a condensed manner. He added that mastering and fully grasping the topic of the thesis is reflected in the ability to convey complex thoughts in a simplified manner to a non-specialized audience in few minutes.

Moreover, the Director-General stressed that ICESCO and FUIW organized this contest to encourage universities to adopt this approach in training students on presentation skills, capturing the audience’s attention and managing to convey difficult ideas in a simple way without compromising the requirements of sound scientific research.

In his address, Dr. Omar Halli, Advisor to ICESCO Director-General for the FUIW, stated that the Prize aims to provide students with networking opportunities and highlight the positive progress made by the universities of the Islamic world.

For his part, Dr. Khalid Berrada, Head of the Prize Jury, stated that 181 student researchers from 17 countries participated in this contest, creatively presenting their theses in less than 1000 words in one of ICESCO’s working languages (Arabic, English or French). He added that they each presented video segments and thesis abstracts, noting that the selection of the ten finalists was carried out in a consistent and unbiased manner.

Following the opening remarks, the ten finalists from universities in the State of Qatar, Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Morocco, Malaysia, Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Tunisia proceeded to present their theses to the jury and the audience within the five-minute time limit.

After the jury’s deliberations and the closing of the online voting, Khalsa Al Bahri from Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman won first place, while Nisrine Nouj from Ibn Zohr University in the Kingdom of Morocco won second place. As for the audience choice, Chaymae Fouikhri from Hassan II University in the Kingdom of Morocco won third place.

At the close of the ceremony, Dr. AlMalik presented the prizes to the three winners, which consisted of commemorative shields and monetary awards standing at USD 2,000 for the first winner, USD 1,500 for the second, and 1,000 for the third. The other finalists were also presented with 500-dollar monetary rewards.