Natia Pailodze, PhD student of the Romance Philology program of Tbilisi State University’s Faculty of Humanities, won the first place in the international competition “My Thesis in 180 Seconds” (Ma thèse en 180 seconde). It should be noted that among more than a thousand francophone university representatives from 109 countries internationally, only 13 candidates moved to the next stage and were awarded the highest prize, including Natia Pailodze, a doctoral candidate at TSU. Her presentation on the research topic: “Conceptual understanding of the principle of gender equality in French feminist literature” under the guidance of Professor Bela Khabeishvili, was named the best and awarded the highest prize.
 

“I research feminist literature. I try to see the signs of female experience in the literature created by women, to study the terminology with which the feminist movement generally marks its own concepts. I am working on the latest research for my PhD thesis, trying to see the roots of radical feminism in the second wave feminism and prove it with the help of literature. As a result of the analysis, I can say that feminism has not achieved many of the ideas and goals it set out to achieve”.
 

The competition has been held for years in the francophone countries of the world. The purpose of the competition is to identify the best doctoral topics and research typologies in the field of young researchers, which are evaluated by strict criteria defined by a competent jury. This year, the international competition “My Thesis in 180 Seconds” was held at Shota Rustaveli Batumi State University on the initiative of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and with the support of the French Institute of Georgia. Natia has been participating in this competition for two years and this year she won a victory. She highlights the purpose and value of the competition, which is important for students of this direction: “This competition is very interesting for many reasons. It allows you to establish contacts, learn about important works, topics. You can meet seniors working on your topic as well as people who are already finishing their work. This is very interesting in terms of sharing experience. You think completely differently about your topic, about how you will convey all this to people. In addition, you have to deliver in a short time without losing your goal; this is the biggest challenge and experience.”
 

Natia notes that she has been fascinated by the French language since school age, and the desire for its in-depth knowledge prompted her decision to enroll in the French philology program: “I started learning French at school. I knew from the 7th or 8th grade that I was going to major in French, either language or literature. I was in the 10th grade when the Department of Foreign Languages ​​of Tbilisi State University organized a meeting with the pupils of Tbilisi public school N23 who were studying French. I remember this day very well, because I made the final decision to enroll in this faculty exactly on that day.”
 

Natia’s university life has become even more active in the last two years; she is involved in research activities: “I became even more and deeply interested in what topic I want to research. Participation in the competition is also related to this topic. I was researching the issue that interests me and that I want to research throughout my life."
 

Natia emphasizes the important role of the university in her success and believes that it opened up a wide range of opportunities: “The knowledge acquired at the university is very important. This is a space that provides you thorough knowledge on certain issues. First of all, it aroused my interest towards my work. When I decided to continue my studies at the university for master’s and doctorate, I had even more motivation and interest. This is largely due to the environment and lecturers at the university.”
 

Presently, Natia teaches French to children and tries to arouse their interest and love for Romance philology.