On 6 November 2023, the second session of Centrale Pékin's Lecture series was held in succession, attracting more than 70 students from the school. Zhang Yiyuan, a former student of the class of 2022, was the main presenter. He achieved an overall GPA of 3.81 during his undergraduate studies and is currently in his second year of a PhD in Flexible Bionic Robotics at the National University of Singapore. He has published papers in Science Robotics as a co-author, and has been interviewed by Science magazine and featured on the front page of the Science website. In addition, he has been the subject of articles in more than 30 national and foreign media, such as China Daily and the New York Times, etc.

Yiyuan began the lecture by explaining his distinct perception of engineering and science. Engineering is the process of using existing technology to change the world, which stems from the needs of human beings in all aspects of life, and the results of which are more oriented towards the practical aspect; whereas science is more concerned with exploring the world, which stems from the great curiosity of human beings, and the results of research are further removed from life, but more full of novelty. Students should be aware of their interest in engineering or scientific research, which will help them choose their field of study.

He then presented to the students the scientific research and engineering experiences and results he had obtained during his undergraduate studies. During the first two years, he concentrated on practical engineering, then, after gradually clarifying his study plan, he turned to scientific research in order to better apply for doctoral studies abroad. He joined Mr Wenli's laboratory and designed a transmedia bionic adsorbent robot, the results of which were published in Science Robotic. Given his interest in flexible bionic robots, Yiyuan chose to pursue his doctoral research in this field. He received a full scholarship to study under the supervision of Professor Cecilia Laschi, who is considered the mother of soft robots. His current research focuses on the implementation of bionic octopus arms for underwater applications.

Later, Yiyuan explained in detail his experience in planning doctoral applications: the importance of the selection of thesis supervisor in the process. He deployed the fact that students must take into account their own research experience as well as their own interests and specialities in order to find a suitable supervisor according to the research direction. Research experience, matching interests and the skills of the thesis supervisor are the three essential elements.

Yiyuan's talk was very interesting and the students asked question after question:

Q:How can you be discerning when faced with the question of whether you want to do a PhD or not?

A: Interest is the best internal motivation for scientific research and doctoral studies, which in turn is most appreciated by supervisors. At the moment, it seems that a PhD study favours job-seeking in sectors such as the internet, but from a more effective point of view, a master's degree allows us to offer a wider field of employment.

Yiyuan drew on his experience of scientific research to provide useful information on how to apply for a live PhD study abroad. He highlighted the key points of preparation and shared many practical application experiences. The students benefited greatly from the conference and gained a great deal of useful knowledge.

In order to implement the roll-out of the pilot project and the university's role model, we have launched a series of Centrale Pékin Lecture starting this semester, including several other lecture series. This Centrale Pékin lecture series invites outstanding alumni who have studied abroad to share their experiences and will help students who wish to study abroad in the future to understand the basic requirements of studying abroad. In response to students' concerns about studying abroad, the school will invite students from top universities in different countries to share their experiences, and we hope that more students will attend these conferences!