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He is terrified of speaking in front of groups, but he still participated in a Science Battle, an interactive theatre production in which four doctoral candidates present the importance of their research in a humourous manner. Sjon Hartman, doctoral candidate in Ecophysiology of Plants at the Faculty of Science, won the Science Battle with his presentation on research into how plants adjust to flooding. But what does his research have to do with the global food problem and the taste of beer? 

Science Battles have been popular in Germany for some time, so director/producer Suzanne Streefland and theatre producer René Broeders joined together to bring it to the stage in the Netherlands. It is a new theatre concept: four doctoral candidates from different backgrounds have 10 minutes to present their doctoral research to an audience, which decides with a jury which of the presentations was most convincing. “So you don’t use a boring PowerPoint”, says Sjon Hartman, Doctoral Candidate in the research group led by Prof. Rens Voesenek (Plant Ecophysiology). Sjon studies how plants react to flooding.

Millions of lives

Floods are a major problem for the world’s food supply. In parts of the world where flooding occurs on a massive scale, populations dependent on agriculture are often confronted with famine immediately after the flood. “It may sound naive”, says Sjon, “but I think that my research may eventually contribute to saving millions of lives, even though it is such a minor discovery. In Asia, scientists have succeeded in developing a strain of rice that can survive flooding, so that local farmers don’t starve to death after a flood. That’s the goal of my research as well.” When his theatre technician brother-in-law told him about the Science Battle, it seemed like a good way to show the ‘ordinary’ public what he is working on. “It’s not so easy to convince people that plants are cool. That’s why I thought it was such an interesting challenge.”

Blue Auditorium

While preparing for the Battle, Sjon found inspiration in TedTalks and performances by scientists on the Dutch talkshow ‘De Wereld Draait Door’. “Apparently I was able to show why plants ARE interesting, because otherwise I wouldn’t have won. After the Battle, someone even came up to me and said: ‘At first, I thought: did I pay to listen to a story about plants for 10 minutes? But I was so impressed by your talk, that I could have listened to it for an hour!’ That felt amazing. I never would have imagined that a total stranger would ever say something like that to me.” After his victory in Rotterdam, he was invited to other performances, such as in Enschede (7 January) and Utrecht (24 April). “I come from the area around Enschede, so there will be a lot of neighbours, family and old acquaintances in the audience. And in April I’ll be here in the Stadschouwburg theatre in Utrecht, in the Blue Auditorium! That’s really exciting.”

Chain reaction

Despite the excitement of performing on stage, Sjon is convinced that the performances are useful. “I want to explain why my research is so important; not just for the scientists who have known about it for a while, but precisely for the people who don’t know anything about it.” His research focuses on plants that can survive drought by ‘holding their breath’ underwater. These plants receive a signal from the hormone ethylene. However, there is an entire chain of events at the molecular and cellular level between the ethylene signal and the moment that the plant recognises the signal and holds its breath. If just one of these links is missing, then the plant will die anyway.

Money for beer

In a laboratory in Nottingham, scientists have managed to make one of these links more sensitive in barley, which made the plant more tolerant to flooding. One of the reasons it took so long is that it is extremely difficult to raise funding for plant research. “It’s extremely frustrating,” says Sjon. “For me personally, the main purpose of plant research is to find ways to solve the global hunger problem. Each year, more than 3 million children die of hunger, but our society would rather invest in other types of research.” But the reason that he has managed to find funding for his research into barley had nothing to do with starving children. "Barley is an ingredient of malt”, explains Sjon, “which in turn is an important ingredient of beer. The amount of carbohydrates and proteins in the barley corns determine how the beer will taste. When the barley plants are exposed to stress, such as flooding, that influences the barley harvest, and suddenly the beer tastes different. Beer brewers think that this is such a major problem that they have invested millions in research in order to prevent it.”

Important discovery

During his Master’s in Environmental Biology, Sjon did an internship with the research group in Nottingham, and he still works with them today. Right next to their laboratory is an innovative laboratory run by SABMiller, one of the largest breweries in the world and the driving force behind the funding for the research. “The main reason this research could take place”, says Sjon, “is because the taste of our beer was in danger, and not because millions of people die of hunger every year.” Sjon had already acquired an NWO grant for his discovery of ethylene as an important signal in plants, as part of a programme by the Experimental Plant Sciences research school. It is clear that this is an significant discovery, but for Sjon it is also important that the rest of the world learn about it as well. “I think it’s great that my research can contribute to the taste of beer, because I really enjoy beer myself. But hopefully it will also contribute to improving the world’s food supply.” 

Would you like to see how Sjon presents his research? Or do you want to attend one of the other battles? For more information and performance data view the .