3 Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®)
Matariki 3MT®
2024
This year’s competition saw students from seven Matariki member institutions battling it out for glory! The panel had such a tough time choosing their favourites – so much so that they decided to award three prizes instead of two!
The winners are as follows:
First place: Sara Stickley (Queen’s University)
Runner-up: Josie Quin-Conroy (UWA)
Runner-up: Linda Wilson (UWA)
People’s Choice: Miriam Schiele (Tübingen)
Congratulations to all our finalists!
You can view this year’s video presentations here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoDT3ZU3FLTk9Y22-eQb97I4927s9YDju.
2023
Students from six Matariki partners submitted entries in the 2023 Matariki 3MT competition. It was a very close competition, with the judges in agreement that the entries were impressive – making for a difficult task in determining the winners!
The winners for the 2023 Matariki 3MT are as follows:
- First place: Tyla Alexander (University of Otago)
- Runner-Up: Favour Onyeogaziri (Uppsala University)
- People’s Choice: Hwei Min Ng (University of Otago)
Congratulations to the winners and to all who entered!
View the 2023 entries here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoDT3ZU3FLTm5LHpkR9vNIzcZguPJ9fEf
Tyla Alexander (University of Otago), first place winner of the 2023 Matariki 3MT.
Favour Onyeogaziri (Uppsala University), runner-up of the 2023 Matariki 3MT, with Rektor Anders Hagfeldt
Hwei Min Ng (University of Otago), winner of the 2023 Matariki People’s Choice Award.
2022
Students from six Matariki Network institutions competed in the 2022 Matariki Network 3MT®. Our international judging panel had the difficult task in selecting the winners, while our online People’s Choice award allowed the public to cast their own votes for a victor. Needless to say, the competition was close! Thank you to all who took part in the competition!
First Prize – Yasmin Nouri (Otago) – “The Nature of the Beast” (Pathology & Molecular Medicine)
Runner-up – Madison Robertson (Queen’s) – ““Till Death Do Us Part” – Supporting spouses separated in long-term care” (Health Quality)
People’s Choice – Navjit Gaurav (Queen’s) – “What goes inside a Designer’s Mind?” (Rehabilitation Science)
Want to watch our Finalists’ submissions? Check out the video playlist below:
2021
We are delighted that the 2021 Matariki 3MT® event included presentations from all seven member institutions for the very first time! Students from right across the network battled it out to impress the international judging panel, in an effort to win one of the generous cash prizes on offer! The 2021 winners are as follows:
First Place: Moritz Koch (Tübingen) – “Using metabolic engineering strategies to improve phototrophic cyanobacteria for the production of sustainable, biodegradable bioplastics” (Microbiology)
Runner-up: Samantha Twietmeyer (Queen’s) – “Scared of what’s behind you – Negotiating a double minority dilemma” (Political Studies)
Many thanks to everybody who voted in this year’s People’s Choice vote which ran alongside the formal competition. The presentation which received the most votes was:
Patrick Boudreau (Otago): “The optimal state for adventure sports” (Tourism)
You can watch all of this year’s entries here.
Huge congratulations to all of our extremely talented finalists!
2020
This year’s student presentations came from Durham University, University of Otago, Queen’s University and University of Western Australia and were of an extremely high standard. The judges had a hard time deliberating the winners, but ultimately decided the following:
- 1st place – Sean Marrs (Queen’s) – “City of Spies” (History)
- Runner-up – Olivia Johnston (UWA) – “Teacher, I care that you C.A.R.E.” (Education)
The general public was also invited to vote in our People’s Choice award between 16th-25th October. We received well over 1,000 votes and the winner was crowned as follows:
- Victoria Purdy (Otago) – “Fingerprinting New Zealand Hops: Can we expand the NZ hop industry?” (Food Science).
Well done to all of our contestants and thank you to everybody who took part in our People’s Choice vote!
You can watch all ten videos here.
2019 – OUR INAUGURAL CONTEST
First developed by the University of Queensland in 2008, the Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT®) challenges research students to communicate the significance of their projects to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes.
The Matariki Network’s 2019 inaugural 3MT® contest is now complete and was a huge success! Students from Dartmouth College, Durham University, Queen’s University, University of Otago and University of Western Australia competed in a virtual competition which was judged by a panel of experts from across the network. After much deliberation and discussion, the winners have been confirmed as follows:
- 1st place (£1,000) – Katarina Doughty (UWA) – “Reducing global food waste through insect farming”
- Runner-up (£250) – Nevena Martinovic (Queen’s) – “Acting your age – Gender & age on the 18th century stage”
The wider Matariki community also had chance to have its say with the “People’s Choice” online poll – Thanks to all who voted! The student who received the most votes and is therefore crowned as the 2019 People’s Choice winner is:
- Cassie Stylianou (Otago) – “Unravelling the genetic variants underlying inherited endometrial cancer risk”
The videos have all been uploaded to the Matariki YouTube channel and can be viewed here – congratulations to all our finalists!
Read our 2019 news article here.
