Innovative Research Pitches Triumph in University of Newcastle’s Three Minute Thesis and Visualise Your Thesis Contests

Ms Wilkins won the 3MT final with her presentation about unravelling the mystery of slow solar wind while Ms Gale won the VYT prize with her video submission on the relationship between screen time, sleep and language development in pre-school aged children.

The annual 3MT event showcases a selection of Higher Degree Research (HDR) candidates from across the University who explain years’ worth of research, data and analysis using only one static slide.

University of Newcastle Vice-Chancellor Professor Alex Zelinsky AO said Three Minute Thesis was a platform that highlighted the talent of the University’s Higher Degree Research students and gave them a chance, under time pressure, to place a spotlight on some of the world’s most perplexing and confronting challenges.

“Research is at the core of the University, and this competition is just a snapshot of our Higher Degree Research candidates who have pushed the boundaries and driven discoveries that challenge conventional thinking, break new ground, and change lives,” Professor Zelinsky said.

This year 13 3MT finalists took to the stage to battle it out in front of staff, students and the wider community to explain their research – what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and why.

Topics ranged from connecting humans and self-driving vehicles to evaluating Australia’s current practices for carbon assurance but Chloe came in first place walking away with $5000 in funding towards her research expenses. Chloe said it was a shock to have won with the contest hosting some tough competition.

“I didn’t think I had a shot at winning the competition, being in my first year combined with strong presentations from all candidates. I’d put in a lot of hours, so it was nice to see the hard work pay off.”

“I’m still working out what the money will go towards but I’m looking at an international physics conference toward the end of the year, which will be great to build my network.”

Professor Kylie Shaw, Dean of Graduate Research from the University of Newcastle, said the 3MT challenges candidates to step outside their comfort zone, highlight the key components of their research and effectively communicate it to a general audience.

“A typical 80,000-word PhD thesis would take about nine hours to present, so to see these candidates crunch the detail and deliver years of research in only three minutes is truly incredible,” Professor Shaw said.

“This competition is a creative way to get candidates thinking about how they can take complex research and convey it in a way that the general public can understand, which in itself will open the door to more opportunities to build upon their studies.”

In conjunction with the 3MT finals, the University held its first Visualise Your Thesis (VYT) finals – an international competition that challenges graduate researchers to present their research in a 60-second, eye-catching video.

With six finalists involved in VYT this year, Madeleine Gale received first place, on her research exploring the relationship between screen time, sleep, and language development in pre-school aged children. Madeleine received $1,000 towards her research expenses and said she was surprised to be announced the winner.

“I entered this competition to challenge myself and test my ability to communicate my work, so finishing up with the win was wonderful.”

“It took me about a week on and off to prepare my video, and I’m hoping to attend a conference with the prize money to get my research skills up, network, and spread the word about the relevance of my research.”

3MT winner and runners up listed below:

• First place: Chloe Wilkins – School of Information and Physical Sciences: Unravelling the mystery of the slow solar wind
• Second place: Joshua Starrett – School of Engineering: Separating Big Particles from Little Particles
• Third place: Ran Xu – School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy: Destroying the power plants in cancer cells
• People’s Choice: Sari Rose Murcia – School of Environmental and Life Sciences: Cats: Will they be the death of me? Finding a cure for toxoplasmosis

VYT winner and runners up listed below:

• First place: Madeleine Gale – School of Psychological Sciences: The relationship between screen time, sleep, and language development in pre-school aged children
• Second place: Zoe Drew – School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences: What Influences an Influencer? Examining the Creative Practice of Social Media Influencers
• Third place: Carol Hood – School of Psychological Sciences: Finding the Road to Recovery with Digital Suicide Prevention
  People’s Choice: Vera Miao – School of Medicine and Public Health: Teledermatology for rural areas