Bake your Doctorate Competition

All students are invited to take part in the Institute's very first Bake your Doctorate Competition.

Second call for abstracts: new deadline Wednesday 20th March 2019

ILAS PG Conference meets the Great British Bake Off!

The first Keele Bake your Doctorate competition invites doctoral students to combine your research with your creative baking skills.

Everyone loves cake‌Cake - Bake your own Doctorate Competition

and the aim here is to bake a cake (or other baked stuff) which captures your research and the interest of a lay audience.

As part of the Disrupting Disciplines conference, the intention here is to encourage conversations with others who may be tackling their research questions from very different perspectives.
To take part, please complete the online Google form where you will be asked for a title and lay abstract (200 words) for your entry. The closing date for entries is Wednesday 20th March 2019. We have a limited number of spaces for this event, so early application is advised.

Get inspired using hashtags #bakeyourthesis and #bakeyourPhD on Twitter.

On the day

Your baked creations will be on display for tasting and talking in the Terrace, Keele Hall Ballroom from 11.00–1.00 pm and will be judged by a team of guest judges from around the university.

Baked creations will be set up on tables in the Terrace with the names of participants and ingredient lists (highlighting any allergy warnings). Participants will have the opportunity (1 minute) to present their creation to the judging team. They may also bring a one page labelled image to support their explanations.

The judges will use the following simple criteria to assess the entries:

• How well does the cake communicate the research?
• How creatively has the baked creation captured the essence of the research?
• How good does it taste?

Once the judges have made their decisions, the cakes can be enjoyed by everyone.

Tips for success

• Think about the overarching concepts and ideas in your research, can you make an analogy of them with cake?
• All baked creations, sweet or savoury are welcome; it may be a cake, but it could be breads, biscuits, flapjacks or scones.
• Think about your presentation to the judges. Could you include some some edible decorations to help tell your story?
• You don’t have to present ‘the whole thing’; whatever is suitable and relevant to where you are in your work at the minute. Pick one aspect, or your favourite bit and have fun with that!

We look forward to enjoying your work!

To take part in the competition, please submit your entry using the button below. Please use your Keele account e-mail address when providing contact details.