The (right) place of work: second edition of the Thursday Eloquence contest

Photo credit: Alexis Toureau

25 January 2024 - Events - France

VINCI and the Fondation INSA, with media player Usbek & Rica, organised the second edition of the Thursday Eloquence contest, a public- speaking challenge open to students in the seven INSA schools in France.

This year, for the first time, students were asked to take positions on a topic drawn at random on the theme of the (right) place of work.

After selection carried out in the regions, eight finalists were named, one from each INSA school and a jury favourite.
They met up on 18 January 2024 for the finals at l’archipel, VINCI’s head office, to select this year’s champion.
The finalists competed against each other on the following topics:
- Is defining yourself by your work a thing of the past?
- Is changing direction a class privilege?
- Can work be a place for expressing activist views?
- Must we engage less at work to be happy?

In the end, it was Samia Rebii, third-year architecture and civil engineering student at INSA Strasbourg, who won the votes of the public and the jury, composed of:

- Eric Albert, psychiatrist, consultant and essayist
- Juliette Barou, winner of the first eloquence contest in 2022 and INSA Rouen Normandie student
- Thierry Covelo, Director of HR Development, Inclusion and Diversity at VINCI
- Stéphane de Freitas, founder of Eloquentia
- Danièle Linhart, Emeritus Research Director at CNRS, sociology of work

Congratulations to all the finalists – Ryan Abdellaoui, Mailen Alzuaga, Maleaume Chevrin, Josselin Haquette, Faïza Manzoor, Sarah Nkoud and Dorian Tourte, and to all those who took part in the challenge.

VINCI would also like to thank the Fondation INSA and all the INSA schools (INSA Centre Val-de-Loire, INSA Hauts-de-France, INSA Lyon, INSA Rennes, INSA Rouen Normandie, INSA Strasbourg and INSA Toulouse) for their participation and engagement.