The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is an academic competition that assists current graduate students with fostering effective presentation and communication skills. Participants have just three minutes to explain the breadth and significance of their research project to a non-specialist audience. Originally developed at the University of Queensland, the 3MT is now held across the world.
UBC was one of the first universities in North America to host a 3MT competition, when it held the inaugural 3MT @UBC in 2011. Every year heats are held across campus beginning in February, with winners moving on to the UBC-wide Semi-Finals and Finals in March.
Last year's winner, Master's student Kiarah O'Kane, says "Participating in 3MT was an incredible experience that I feel very honoured to be part of. I decided to participate in 3MT 2023 in order to build my confidence at sharing my research with the general public. A primary component of my master's thesis is its focus on knowledge sharing, so I thought that 3MT was the perfect place to put my research into practice!"
"Being able to synthesize complicated research into brief and accessible information for lay audiences is a critical skill for researchers to have. I found that 3MT not only helped me develop this ability, but it also helped me identify the key aspects of my thesis necessary for others to be able to understand the research. These skills continue to be incredibly helpful as I prepare to defend my master's thesis this year!"
This year's Semi-Final and Final events are happening next week at Thea's Lounge (on the second floor of the Graduate Life Building, 6371 Crescent Rd). Come support participants and cheer them on, whether virtually or in person. The top five presenters from each Semi-Final will advance to the Final event on Thursday.
Semi-Finals
Tuesday, March 12. Semi-Final 1: 10 am - 12 pm and Semi-Final 2: 3 - 5 pm
Semi Final 1 presenters
- Caleigh Charlebois, The moving genes that might stop these birds from breeding: Even though they look almost identical!, supervised by Dr. Darren Irwin
- Cristina Rubino, From Sight to Insight: Eye Movements Guiding Stroke Rehabilitation, supervised by Dr. Lara Boyd
- Torin Halvorson, Novel cell therapies for immune tolerance in organ transplantation, supervised by Dr. Megan Levings
- Michael Sekatchev, Axion Quark Nuggets: A Recipe for a Glowing Milky Way?, supervised by Drs. Ariel Zhitnitsky and Ludovic Van Waerbeke (People's Choice winner)
- Ahmed Kabil, Scared to be scarred? Prevent gut fibrosis with bile acids, supervised by Dr. Kelly McNagny
- Andrea Olaizola, Can CBD be used to treat Parkinson's disease?, supervised by Dr. Jessica Kalra
- Amir Ghahremani Baghmisheh, Performance of Tall Timber Buildings in Earthquake, supervised byDr. Tony Yang
- Kumseok Jung, Whose data is private? When is it private? And How do we make it private?, supervised by Drs. Karthik Pattabiraman and Sathish Gopalakrishnan
- Christopher Lamb, Brain sensorimotor changes associated with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, supervised byDrs. Lara Boyd and Jackie Whittaker
- Marina Mehling, Tree bark for clean water, supervised by Dr. Orlando Rojas
- Hiro Ito, Reimagining dementia: stories of 'ikigai' and how Japanese Canadians live well with dementia, supervised by Dr. Susan Cox
- Yuyan Li, Forest Doctor, supervised by Dr. Richard Hamelin
- Jamie Kwon, Developing a MicroRNA Biomarker for Oropharynx Cancer, supervised by Drs. Cathie Garnis and Eitan Prisman
- Adrian Grzedowski, Fatigue properties of the first dorsal interosseus muscle in spinal cord injury, supervised by Dr. Mike Berger
- Vishak Nandan Aathresh, Modeling Soft Tissue Artifacts: How Does Your Skin Jiggle?
Semi Final 2 presenters
- Aishwarya Das, Soil amendments for the degradation of stormwater-derived trace organic contaminants in bioretention systems, supervised by Dr. Rachel Scholes
- Rio Weil, The art of quantum computer: crafting computational canvases on a quantum device, supervised by Dr. Robert Raussendorf
- Angeline Wu, When Sugar Isn't Sweet: Glycosylation in Rheumatoid Arthritis, supervised by Dr. Simon Wisnovsky
- Daniel Elesin Impact of Aerobic Fitness on Intra-Individual Variability in Older Adults with Stroke, supervised by Dr. Teresa Liu-Ambrose
- Katie Baillie, Office politics: studying dominant negative mutations in DNA2 to improve cancer treatment, supervised by Dr. Peter Stirling
- Akash Madhav Gondaliya, Fighting Climate Change By Reinventing Wood, supervised by Dr. E. Johan Foster
- Karisse Yamamoto, Synthesis and evaluation of UV-activated gas sensor for monitoring soil nutrients in smart agricultural system applications, supervised by Dr. Fariborz Taghipour
- Genevieve Bonnor, Athletic Motion Sensing: How to Reduce Soft Tissue Jiggle in Impact Measurement, supervised by Dr. Calvin Kuo
- Harry Seely, Applying Deep Learning to Optimize Lidar-Based Forest Carbon Models, supervised by Dr. Nicholas Coops
- Rael Gumbe, Real World Validation of the Efficacy of a Placement Adaptable Fall and Near-Fall Detection Algorithm, supervised by Dr. Calvin Kuo
- Victor Sira, Robust Clock Generation for Microchips, supervised by Dr. Sudip Shekhar (People's Choice winner)
- Vanessa Jones, Changing colonial stories of soils: How the soil microbiome can inspire ecological and food systems reconciliation, supervised by Dr Jennifer Grenz
- Orkhon Gantogtokh, Envisioning Doctoral Education in Mongolia, supervised by Dr. Lesley Andres
- Nada Al-Emadi, Disarming C. difficile: The Fragmented Approach, supervised by Drs. Ted Steiner and Laura Sly
- Penelope Kahn, Mechanisms and consequences of rapid evolution in an extreme environments, supervised by Dr. Sarah Otto
3MT Final event
Thursday, March 14, 5 - 7 pm
* Presenter order chosen at random:
- Katherine Baillie, Office politics: studying dominant negative mutations in DNA2 to improve cancer treatment, PhD in Interdisciplinary Oncology, supervised by Dr. Peter Stirling
- Hiro Ito, Reimagining dementia: stories of 'ikigai' and how Japanese Canadians live well with dementia, MSc in Population and Public Health, supervised by Dr. Susan Cox
- Nada Al-Emadi, Disarming C. difficile: The Fragmented Approach, PhD in Microbiology & Immunology, supervised by Drs. Ted Steiner & Laura Sly
- Marina Mehling, Tree bark for clean water, PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering, supervised by Dr. Orlando Rojas
- Ahmed Kabil, Scared to be scarred? Prevent gut fibrosis with bile acids, PhD in Biomedical Engineering, supervised by Dr. Kelly McNagny
- Jamie Kwon, Developing a MicroRNA Biomarker for Oropharynx Cancer, MSc in Experimental Medicine, supervised by Dr. Cathie Garnis and Dr. Eitan Prisman
- Andrea Olaizola, Can CBD be used to treat Parkinson's disease?, MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences, supervised by Dr. Jessica Kalra
- Genevieve Bonnor, Athletic Motion Sensing: How to Reduce Soft Tissue Jiggle in Impact Measurement, MASc in Biomedical Engineering, supervised by Dr. Calvin Kuo
- Victor Sira, Robust Clock Generation for Microchips, MASc in Electrical Engineering, supervised by Dr. Sudip Shekhar
- Angeline Wu, When Sugar Isn't Sweet: Glycosylation in Rheumatoid Arthritis, MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences, supervised by Dr. Simon Wisnovsky
For more information on the events or to watch past presentations, visit the 3MT website.