24 August 2020
How difficult is it to condense three years’ worth of research into just three minutes? Seven PhD finalists from the University of South Australia will attempt to do just that in this year’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) final on Thursday 27 August.
Finalists will present their research in a bid to represent the University at the Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition in October. In addition, finalists will be competing for a total of $5000 in prize money to support their research.
In response to COVID-19, UniSA’s 3MT competition will be hosted online, meaning viewers will be able to watch and vote for who should be this year’s People’s Choice winner from home.
This year’s finalists and their 3MT topics are:
- Gabriela Dias Guimaraes, UniSA Creative, Minimising Construction and Demolition Waste
- Sarah Forrest, UniSA Education Futures, What have bodies got to do with teaching & learning in secondary English?
- Ella Ward, UniSA Business, Same Same, but Different: How Consistency is Key to Building Brand Identities
- Sam Tebeck, UniSA Allied Health & Human Performance, Heat Stress: application for elite athletes
- Nicole Miller, UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences, Taking advantage of nature’s classroom
- Siti Fitriani, UniSA Justice & Society, The Experiences of Parenting: Perceptions and Practices of Papuan Parents
- Kirrilie Rowe, UniSA STEM, Sunshine, storage and sharing: cleaner energy generates better communities
Dean of Graduate Studies, Professor Pat Buckley, says the transition of the 3MT Final to online this year still gives students the opportunity to hone their communication skills and showcase their work – but they’ll need to tailor it to an audience watching from home.
“Explaining complex theories in everyday language is an essential skill for researchers — which is something this competition both recognises and celebrates,” Prof Buckley says.
“I think the audience will really enjoy the diverse and excellent research being conducted by this year’s finalists.”
The UniSA 3MT Final will be presented in partnership with The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre at 6pm on Thursday 27 August. Registration to join the online broadcast is now open.
Note for editors:
The Three Minute Thesis competition originated out of a novel solution to Queensland’s severe drought in 2008 when residents were encouraged to limit their showers to three minutes in order to conserve water. The then Dean of the Graduate School, University of Queensland, put the two and two together and the idea of the 3MT competition was born. Today, 3MT is held in over 900 universities across more than 80 countries worldwide.
Media contact: Jasmin Teurlings mobile 0401 217 889
email jasmin.teurlings@unisa.edu.au
