Main Content

MARA at Campus Marburg 2016

On 10 June 2016, MARA organized a science slam as part of the Campus Marburg science fest. Three junior scholars gave entertaining presentations on the subject of key skills in the competition for the "Marburg Skills Key 2016." Moderating the event was the charming host Matthias Warkus, who holds a doctorate in philosophy and has won numerous science-slam contests. It began with applause exercises to warm up the audience followed by Matthias Warkus' presentation "Why is my term paper ugly?"

The first contestant to give his or her presentation was chosen by lot. Sven Meier, doctoral candidate in classical philology, talked about "Paradoxical Time Management" and gave the audience plenty to laugh about. As an important book for any doctoral candidate, he proposed the novel "Oblomov" by Ivan Gontscharov. Oblomov has a problem managing his time – or managing to get out of bed for that matter – and fails "to get his act together" in life in general. Oblomov operates on the mistaken assumption that accomplishing a large task also requires investing a huge amount of time, so he does not even start in the first place. Drawing on Aristotle, Sven Meier made an instructive case to reassure the audience that when "applying the right technique, you can continue to be a lazy bum."

Michael Siegel, who is currently writing his dissertation in philosophy, was the next candidate to take the stage. He gave a talk on "Proper Presentations", providing entertaining slides with tips on how to prevent PowerPoint accidents. He convincingly explained that his credo of "no sound effects" also has exceptions by referring to the example of a presentation on the mating behavior of rhinos: In this case, providing a sound sample of the rhino's rutting call makes obvious sense.

Janina Otto, a future doctoral candidate in human biology, wanted to "Talk about Talking" – because she likes to talk, which she revealed in the amusing introductory round. To this end, she had prepared a presentation that was both scientific and funny. The main topic was nonverbal communication. In a convincing manner, she illustrated favorable and unfavorable facial expressions by drawing on Mr. Bean and Leonardo DiCaprio. Rico Mielke alias Hape Kerkeling served as a negative example, although he too has mastered the "power pose."

MARA's refreshing science slam yielded much applause. The good thirty participants chose Sven Meier as the first winner of the Marburg Skills Key. Dr. Claudia Kissling, MARA's Managing Director, congratulated the happy winner and presented him with the certificate and trophy.