Researchers reveal all at Bristol 3MT finals

4 June 2014

Ever wondered what kind of research PhD students are working on at Bristol? Find out when postgraduate researchers take to the stage this Friday (6 June) to present their 80,000-word theses in just three minutes.

Doctoral researchers across 35 UK institutions are taking part in Three Minute Thesis (3MT), an academic competition designed to improve participants’ presentation and communication skills and raise awareness of their research area. Using just one slide, contestants are challenged to bring their research to life in an engaging way, using language understandable to a non-specialist audience, before the three-minute bell chimes.

Twenty-five researchers took part in ‘Bristol’s answer to the TED talks’ at the semi-finals on Friday 30 May, and the best 10 participants have been selected to compete in the Bristol finals this Friday, 6 June, from 2 pm to 3 pm in the Anson Rooms (Richmond Building), Bristol.

The competition has become hugely successful since it was created by the University of Queensland, Australia in 2007, and has extended to higher education institutions around the globe. The Bristol winner will go through to a semi-final hosted by the University of York, where six candidates will be chosen to compete in the UK final to be held at the Vitae Researcher Development International Conference in September 2014.

The Bristol finalists are:

Dominika Bijos (School of Clinical Sciences) – ‘To pee or not to pee’
Louisa Cockbill (School of Biochemistry) – ‘Can we prevent the snapping jaws of cancer?’
Laura Edwards (Department of Aerospace Engineering) – ‘Composite magnetic gears’
Rafael Luterbacher (Department of Aerospace Engineering) – ‘Towards a self-healing aircraft?’ (Engineering)
Olivia Maynard (School of Experimental Psychology) – ‘The plain truth about tobacco packaging: how experimental research can influence policy’
Thomas O'Shea-Wheller (School of Biological Sciences) – ‘Ant biology – unravelling the super-organism’
Saran Shantikumar (School of Clinical Sciences) – ‘Let's de-feet amputations’
Anna Smith (School of Physiology and Pharmacology) –‘Epigenetics and memory’
Julie Stephenson (School of Chemistry) – ‘Saving the world with solar fuels’
Ajay Thampi (Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering) – ‘Cellular networks in the cloud’

The event is free and open to all. Attendees are requested to register in advance.

Bristol 3MT is supported by the Bristol Doctoral College and UBU Postgraduate Network.