MINDMINT PHD IMAGE CONTEST: AN IMAGE SPEAKS MORE THAN A 1000 PAPERS
Scientific outreach does not always imply the creation of written content; images hold an immense communicational and emotional power as we learn to decode images before we learn to understand the written word. These capabilities of visual media extend to research communication where an image can be a great tool to engage with both the scientific community and the general audience. MindMint invited PhDs to explore the power of images by participating in our 2021 PhD Image Creation Contest. The goal was to create an image that sums up or shares something significant about their PhD research or life as a PhD researcher. This image could be a photograph, a digital artwork, a painting, etc., as long as it was their creation. In this post, we share the product of the contestants’ creativity along with descriptions of the winning pieces (done by the creators) and comments from the jury members who evaluated them. Thank you to all of the participants for exploring the communicative power of images with us.
Stone Windows by Ivan Dudurych
A year in lockdown makes it seem like the walls and windows to the outside world don’t really exist anymore. But a solid obstacle may not seem so impenetrable when looked at from the right point of view.
“Stone windows is both a beautiful photograph and a very poetic text”
- Petra Rudolf, dean of the Graduate Schools
“I like it so much because of the strong use of imagination of something we all feel during the lockdown, it's a beautiful depiction of an idea.”
- Merel Weijer, photo coordinator at the UG communication department
Charged II by Rozanne Spijkerboer
Soft pastels on Uart 600, 25x35 cm. This painting represents my PhD thesis, in which I focus on balancing interests related to energy transition with other sectors and interests, both offshore and onshore.
This beautiful painting was very close to the 3rd prize but just did not make it; therefore, we feature it here as an honourable mention!
“The [pictures that I voted for] not only reflect the creativity and promising potential of the artists, but are also striking images with very good aesthetics that catch the eye. They express without the need of words the personal standpoint about the topic that they are investigating in their PhD project.”
- Miguel Santín, PhD Student and professional photographer
Glioblastoma cell by Mohammad Khoonkari
The Picture is Glioblastoma cell (The most invasive and deadly type of brain cancer). The picture is captured with SP8 Leica confocal microscope and edited a bit with PS to correct the colors. The picture is captured after 7 days of cell culture in 3D. In this phase, GBM cells are in the most invasive mode, and if you deeply look at the image. The cells form a pattern that looks like a ghost.
“Glioblastoma represents the beauty of the scientific objects we study in a captivating fashion”
- Petra Rudolf, dean of the Graduate Schools
“This not only reflects the creativity and promising potential of the artist, but is also a striking image with very good aesthetics that catch the eye. It expresses without the need of words the personal standpoint about the topic that the artist is investigating in his PhD project.”
- Miguel Santín, PhD Student and professional photographer
“So strange how something so deadly can also be so beautiful”
- Merel Weijer, photo coordinator at the UG communication department
“A very interesting picture because of the deadly content. Like a harmless puppet that runs towards you and wants to give you a hug. However I sense danger because of the shape and flaming red. A specific look in a world that is hidden for most people. Very well captured.
- Robert van der Molen, Professional photographer
One time I fell and I got an ice-cream by Sterre van der Ziel
Childhood experiences may shape how we deal with health problems later in life. We studied how children and adults reflect on children’s everyday complaints. While adults tend to focus on negative aspects such as pain or fear, children talked about colorful band-aids, sweets and treats.
“I like the image in itself, colorful with a nice background, at first it looks like an everyday scene but when you read the background story you look at the little girl in a different way.”
- Merel Weijer, photo coordinator at the UG communication department
“To me this image represents a very crisp illustration. Written content and visualisation combine perfectly.”
- Robert van der Molen, Professional photographe
Complexity, trigonometry and cardiovascular disease by Jose L. Flores-Guerrero
The information of metabolism biomarkers was integrated using a complex system approach in the context of cardiovascular disease. Four images were created with self-generative algorithms and harmonographs fed with data on cardiovascular hazard ratios and metabolites Mahalanobis distances (up and right, respectively) in men and women (left and right, respectively).
This image received 68 out of 235 votes and was the clear winner. Thank you all for voting!