• Eight PhD students vie at Charles Sturt 3MT finals in Albury on 27 June
• 3MT comp helps researchers distil complex research into language that can be understood by everybody
• Since its inception in 2008, 3MT is staged at 600+ universities in 65+ countries

The Charles Sturt University (Charles Sturt) finals for the annual 2019 Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition for PhD students will be held at the University in Albury-Wodonga on Thursday 27 June.

The 3MT competition is an international competition established by the University of Queensland in 2008, and now staged at more than 600 universities in more than 65 countries, for PhD candidates to describe their research to a general audience in only three minutes and using only one visual aid.

Charles Sturt Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Development and Industry) Professor Heather Cavanagh said, “It is becoming more and more important for doctoral candidates and researchers to be able to clearly and succinctly explain their research to wider audiences.

“Researchers need to be able to distil their complex research into language that can be understood by everybody, and identify how this research is novel and can deliver benefits to the broader community.

“That is why the concept of the 3MT competition is simple; the presenter has one PowerPoint slide and three minutes on stage to explain complex research to a general audience.

“I invite the community to attend this very informative and entertaining presentation of research at the University by some of our many outstanding PhD students.”

The Charles Sturt 3MT finalists and their topics are:

• Ms Michelle Williams (Faculty of Science), ‘Biosecurity and seafood safety: Why parasites matter’
• Mr Md. Shafaet Hossen (Faculty of Science), ‘Our Australian fish: Unwelcome parasite hitchhikers’
• Ms Lucia Wursch (Faculty of Arts and Education), ‘Transactional Analysis in Internal Communication’
• Ms Felicity McCallum (Faculty of Arts and Education), ‘Just tell them who we are. In-forming our ‘history’ with the discipline of truth-telling in modern Australia’
• Ms Jennifer Schwarz (Faculty of Business, Justice and Behavioural Sciences), ‘Autism: What does that mean about me?’
• Mr Steve Murphy (Faculty of Arts and Education), ‘Can rural schools succeed in STEM education? And how?’
• Mr James Lee (Faculty of Science / Functional Grains Centre), ‘Starch is life’
• Ms Blake Collins (Faculty of Science), ‘A Shift in Focus’

The winner will represent Charles Sturt at the 2019 Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition finals at the University of Queensland in Brisbane on Friday 4 October.

The winner of the 2018 Charles Sturt 3MT finals was Ms Michelle Toutounji for her PhD research presentation ‘White rice: naughty or nice?’. Ms Toutounji conducted her research through the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Functional Grains (The Functional Grains ITTC), an initiative of the Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga.

The annual Charles Sturt 2019 Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition finals will be held at the CD Blake Lecture Theatre (in building 751) at Charles Sturt University in Albury-Wodonga from 4.30pm to 6.30pm on Thursday 27 June. University students, staff and members of the public are welcome to attend.