Three Minute Thesis

Participants in the St Vincent's Precinct heat of the UNSW Faculty of Medicine Three Minute Thesis Competition, held at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia.

The Three Minute Thesis competition or '3MT, is an annual competition held in over 200 universities worldwide. It is open to PhD students, and challenges participants to present their research in just 180 seconds, in an engaging form that can be understood by an intelligent audience with no background in the research area. This exercise develops presentation, research and academic communication skills and supports the development of research students' capacity to explain their work effectively.

History

The competition originated at the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2008. There are currently three categories, UQ, Trans-Tasman and International.

UQ Winners

This category features students from the University of Queensland.

2015

• Winner - Teegan Green from the School of Business;
• Runner-Up and People's Choice - Shaun Chen from the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering;

2014

• Winner - Megan Rossi from School of Medicine;
• Runner-Up - Sachin Thakur from School of Pharmacy;
• People's Choice - Honglei Zhai from Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI)

2013

• Winner - Amanda Pearce from Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology;
• Runner-Up - Tim Brennan from Australian Institute of Bioengineering & Nanotechnology;
• People's Choice - Tim Brennan from Australian Institute of Bioengineering & Nanotechnology.

2012

• Winner - Michael Thai from School of Psychology;
• Runner-Up - Wen Wu from School of Psychology - Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences;
• People's Choice - Wilko Duprez from Institute for Molecular Bioscience.

2011

• Winner - Matthew Thompson from School of Psychology -Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences;
• Runner-Up - Ryan Stafford from School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences -Faculty of Health Sciences;
• People's Choice - Ryan Stafford from School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences -Faculty of Health Sciences.

2010

• Winner - Tina Wu from School of Pharmacy - Faculty of Health Sciences;
• Runner-Up - Will Harrison from School of Psychology - Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences;
• People's Choice - No winner in 2010.

2009

• Winner - Dr Richard Ronay from School of Psychology - Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences;
• Runner-Up - Dr David MacDonald from School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences - Faculty of Health Sciences;
• People's Choice - Dr Emma Gagen from School of Animal Studies - Faculty of Natural Resource, Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences.

2008

• Winner - Dr Michael Imelfort from School of Land, Crop & Food Sciences - Faculty of Science;
• Runner-Up - Dr Ashley Wilkinson from School of Pharmacy - Faculty of Health Sciences
• People's Choice - Dr Michael Imelfort from School of Land, Crop & Food Sciences - Faculty of Science.

Trans-Tasman Winners

2015

Finals held at The University of Queensland;

• Winner - Eamonn Fahy from The University of Melbourne;
• Runner-Up and People's Choice - Jaysuman Bin Pusppanathan from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia;

2014

Finals held at The University of Western Australia;

• Winner - Sarah Marley from Curtin University;
• Runner-Up and People's Choice - Rosanna Stevens from the Australian National University;

2013

Finals held at The University of Western Sydney;

• Winner and People's Choice - Kelsey Kennedy from The University of Western Australia;
• Runner-Up - Lilly Chang from The University of Auckland;

2012

Finals held at The University of Queensland;

• Winner - Tim Paris from University of Western Sydney;
• Runner-up - Lauren Hollier from University of Western Australia;
• People's Choice - Tristan Simons from Deakin University.

2011

Finals held at the University of Western Australia.

• Winner - Matthew Thompson from University of Queensland;
• Runner-up - Suzie Ferrie from University of Sydney;
• People's Choice Award - Jack Rivers from University of Otago.

2010

Finals held at University of Queensland;

• Winner -Balarka Banerjee from University of Western Australia;
• Runner-up - Gabrielle Briggs from University of Newcastle;
• People's Choice Award - Alex Jordan from University of NSW.

Participating Counties and Institutions

As of 20 Dec 2019, there were at least 85 participating countries from every continent (apart from Antarctica) and at least 941 institutions.