Are you embarking on a new adventure of scientific research in France? Share your experiences with your friends, family and the public to be in with a chance of winning one of two round-trip plane tickets back to France!

The scientific services of the Embassy of France in Canada, in partnership with the Royal  Canadian Institute for Science (RCIScience), is launching the 3rd Edition of ‘My Research in France’ – a science communication contest.

Check out the details below to be in with a chance of winning. Competition closes October 31 2023.

Share your experiences researching science and living in France using the social media platform of your choice. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok – it’s up to you! (Just remember if you’re sharing stories or time-limited content to save them as highlights on your profile). Get creative and show us how you’re embracing French culture and scientific research. Tag your content using the hashtag #MyResearchInFrance and @FranceCanadaCulture. Content should primarily be in English, but we welcome the teaching of complimentary French phrases.

To enter, register for the competition by completing this short form.

The competition is open from January 1 2023, 8AM PST and closes on October 31 2023 at 11:59PM PST. Submissions received after this deadline will not be counted.

A panel of judges will review submissions in early November and select a winner. Winners will also be invited to host an Instagram Takeover with RCIScience.

One winner will each receive CAD$ 1500 to go back to France from Canada.

Note, the winner is responsible for securing his /her own accommodation and transportation to and from the airport. The organizers have no responsibility or liability for the winner beyond reimbursing the cost of flights (one round-trip Economy class plane ticket between Canada and France) and part of the accommodation, up to a maximum value of CAD$1,500, including all applicable fees and taxes. Tickets must be purchased, hotel must be booked and associated paperwork for reimbursement submitted by no later than May 1 2024 (although flights may depart after this date).

Contestants must be:

• Aged 18+,
• Enrolled in a Canadian university located outside of Quebec, and
• Completing a research internship in France (Masters, PhD, discovery internship, summer schools with a specific research objective, etc.) Research can be in any scientific field.

In addition to creative, novel and engaging content, judges will be looking out for adherence to the theme (the emotion of discovery), clarity of communication, reach, and your passion for conducting research and living in France!

You should endeavour to make your content as accessible as possible to your audience. Consider those using screen readers and use alt text for graphics and CamelCase hashtags. Consider closed captioning on videos (many platforms now include auto captioning tools). Limit your use of emojis, use text-reader friendly fonts in graphics and ensure images are colour-blind accessible. Use high contrast colours for text blocks so they are accessible for people with low colour vision (eg. black background with white text or vice versa).

RCIScience is here to help you throughout your social media journey! Feel free to contact us. We’ll share our top tips for engaging science communication on social media, answer your questions and direct you to future training opportunities.

All intellectual property remains with the content creator, however, contestants may be approached to share their content as part of promotional campaigns for future competitions.

Contact us.