This week, the University held its semi-final of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT® ) competition. Ten student finalists battled it out to be this year’s qualifiers to earn a place in the 3MT® Final taking place at the Doctoral Research Celebration Evening on Wednesday 14 June 2023.
3MT® celebrates the exciting research conducted by PhD students around the world. Developed by The University of Queensland, the competition cultivates academic, presentation, and research communication skills by challenging students to present their entire thesis - usually around 80,000 words - in just three minutes. Students are allowed to use one Powerpoint slide and no other resources.
This year’s participants were:
- Johanna Meyer, Department of Psychology
- Anna Conzatti, Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering
- Samer Ahmed, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Ryan Hughes, Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (AAPS) Centre for Doctoral Training
- Kareem Abushama, Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering
- Joris Simaitis, Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (AAPS) Centre for Doctoral Training
- Bethany Teale, Department of Life Sciences
- Sarah Warbis, Department of Psychology
- Visesh Vignesh, Department of Chemical Engineering
- Mohamed Katish, Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering (CSCT)
The judging panel consisted of Dr Rachel Arnold (Academic Director (Doctoral)), Shyeni Paul (Director of Doctoral College Operations) and Rob Cooper (Public Engagement Officer) who scored students based on comprehension, content and audience engagement.
Six finalists were chosen to compete in the final. In alphabetical order, these are:
- Anna Conzatti, Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering - 'The future of shelter design: indoor air quality and natural ventilation'
- Bethany Teale, Department of Life Sciences - 'Same science. Different approach.'
- Joris Simaitis, Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (AAPS) Centre for Doctoral Training - 'A future where we can say... "We did it"'
- Kareem Abushama, Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering - 'Foundations with minimum carbon emissions'
- Sarah Warbis, Department of Psychology - 'Sexual assault in a 'just world': an immersive VR study of bystanders'
- Visesh Vignesh, Department of Chemical Engineering - 'Destressing stress: developing rapid diagnostics for cortisol detetection'
Congratulations to all of our 2023 finalists. Well done!
The judging panel would also like to acknowledge Johanna Meyer, Samer Ahmed, Ryan Hughes and Mohamed Katish for their participation in the semi-final. The panel were really impressed with the quality of the individual research taking place, as well as the way in which it was delivered. You should be so proud of yourselves and we'd like to thank you for sharing your research with us.
Finalists will compete at the Doctoral Research Celebration Evening on Wednesday 14th June 2023 at Komedia.