Students vie for presentation crown
Nine students have competed in the Edinburgh final of a contest aimed at improving their communication skills.
Students from each of the University’s three colleges took part in the local final of the 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) contest.
The winner of the 2015 competition was Chen Zhao from the School of Clinical Sciences, with her presentation 'Astrocyte: the Star of Motor Neuron Disease’.
Chen will now go on to represent the University in the UK and Universitas 21 competitions.
Each contestant delivered a three-minute presentation communicating the significance of their postgraduate thesis, in language suited to a non-specialist audience.
Donated prizes
The runner-up was Donald Slater from the School of GeoSciences, with his presentation ‘The Greenland Ice Sheet: cold ice in a hot drink’.
The People’s Choice winner was Matthew Simmonte from the School of Chemistry with his presentation 'Finding a match - polymer microarrays and internet dating’.
The University Principal has donated funds for this year’s prizes.
These are a first prize of up to £2000 travel expenses towards an international conference, and a runner-up award of an iPad Air Wi-Fi 32GB.
The winner of the University Peoples’ Choice Award received an iPad mini Wi-Fi 16GB.
College winners
The finalists, who had already won in School and College heats, were:
- Donald Slater, School of Geosciences
- Matthew Simmonte, School of Chemistry
- Elizabeth Jameson, School of Chemistry
- Liam Fraser, School of Divinity
- Mandan Kazzazi, History, Classics and Archaeology
- Alexandra Remond, Social and Political Science
- Tracy Mak, School of Clinical Sciences
- Chen Zhao, School of Clinical Sciences
- Ifigeneia Stavrou, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine
Presentation videos
All those who took part at the University competition will have their presentations uploaded to the University YouTube channel.
The winner will go forward to the UK semi-final, with a chance to go to the UK final, and potentially the U21 final.
Global finals
3MT competitions, originally devised by the University of Queensland, are now held in more than 200 universities across more than 18 countries worldwide.
The virtual final, featuring students from across the world, is carried out via filmed presentations. It is judged by an international panel of industry and academic professionals.
There are two prizes available. The winner will receive a bursary of US$2500 to visit a Universitas 21 university of their choice to benefit their research or career development.
There is also a people’s choice prize of US$300, decided by a public vote.