Doctoral students presented inspiring research stories at the three-minute thesis competition
On 2 October, the three-minute thesis competition for University of Tartu doctoral students brought together 24 young researchers of different disciplines. Nine of them gave the talk in Estonian and 15 in English. The competition’s best short lectures focused on innovation in medicine, ancient dental calculus, the theological currents among the Estonian clergy, and six-dimensional imaging.
Top three in the Estonian competition
- Indrek Seire, “The black box of colon cancer”
- Maarja Pajusalu, “Visualising treatment pathways as a ray of light on health data”
- Robert Bunder, “Theological currents among the clergy of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church”
Indrek Seire, Junior Research Fellow in Surgery at the Institute of Clinical Medicine, spoke about efforts to create a nationwide data register that would improve the treatment options for colon cancer.
Maarja Pajusalu, Junior Research Fellow of Health Informatics at the Institute of Computer Science, explained the value of visualising the data of patients’ treatment pathways in healthcare.
Robert Bunder, Junior Research Fellow in Theology at the School of Theology and Religious Studies, shed light on the diversity of theological currents in the Lutheran church and the aspects of learning about them to build bridges between the church and the public.
Top three in the English competition
- Biancamaria Bonucci, “Do I have something in my teeth? Ancient Dental Calculus as a window to our past”
- Narmada Joshi, “Six-dimensional imaging”
- Mahvish Faisal, “Sensory Disturbances in Parkinson’s disease: The Role of Levodopa and Vitamin B12”
Biancamaria Bonucci, Junior Research Fellow of Ancient DNA at the Institute of Genomics, spoke with great humour about the excitement today’s researchers experience at ancient humans’ lack of oral hygiene.
Narmada Joshi, Junior Research Fellow in Physics at the Institute of Physics, explained how her research makes it possible to develop a medical microscope that can show six-dimensional images.
Mahvish Faisal, Junior Research Fellow in Pharmacology at the Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, explained to the audience how to alleviate skin sensitivity problems in people with Parkinson’s disease.
Presentations on diverse topics aroused curiosity among the audience
The competition brought together participants from all faculties of the university: 16 from the Faculty of Science and Technology, five from the Faculty of Medicine, two from the Faculty of Social Sciences, and one from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The speakers made an engaging three-minute presentation in Estonian or English, giving a brief overview of the problem that prompted their research, the ways to solve it, the initial results, and the impact.
The jury noted that all the presenters in Estonian had taken the task seriously and made excellent use of their three minutes. They used up the time almost to the last second and, in addition to the general research problem, managed to talk specifically about the role of their research in solving it.
“It was a pleasure to see that the competition attracted doctoral students from all faculties of the university. All participants succeeded brilliantly in finding a general-interest approach to their research topic and arousing curiosity in the audience,” said jury member Piret Ehrenpreis, Research Communication Advisor at the University of Tartu.
The jury also included Airika Harrik, journalist at the ERR research news portal Novaator, Meelis Härmas, Research Fellow in Physical and Electrochemistry, Velle Toll, Associate Professor in Climate Physics, and Monika Tasa, Development Adviser of the Office of Academic Affairs at the University of Tartu.
Competition helps doctoral students’ research reach a wider audience
The most successful participants received a cash prize and an opportunity to represent the University of Tartu in follow-up competitions in Estonia and abroad. The top three of the Estonian competition will represent the university at the Estonian Academy of Sciences competition “Science in Three Minutes” at the beginning of next year. In the coming months, the doctoral students get the chance to participate in training sessions at the Estonian Academy of Sciences, honing their skills in writing popular science articles and mastering on-camera presentations. The doctoral students’ articles will be published on the research news portal Novaator. In February, the five finalists of the national competition will be announced in the hall of the Estonian Academy of Sciences.
The video recording of the best English presentation will be sent to the competition of the international university network Coimbra Group. There, the jury will select the three best among all participants, who will have the opportunity to present their work in the final 3MT competition during the network’s annual conference.
The three-minute-thesis competition is an excellent opportunity for young researchers to get more public resonance for their research, develop their presentation and communication skills and hear about the work of other doctoral students. All presentations were video-recorded and the recordings are published on the UTTV video portal. Some lectures will also be published on ERR Novaator.
The competition is organised by the University of Tartu’s Office of Academic Affairs, Marketing and Communication Office and International Cooperation and Protocol Office.
