Indrek Seire and Jaan Vihalemm ranked among top five in “Science in 3 Minutes” competition

Indrek Seire, Junior Research Fellow in Surgery at the University of Tartu Institute of Clinical Medicine, and Jaan Vihalemm, industry doctoral researcher at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, ranked in top five on 19 February in the final competition of “Science in 3 Minutes” organised by the Estonian Academy of Sciences.

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In his research, Indrek collects and studies data on bowel cancer diagnostics and treatment to create a national bowel cancer database, which could help save thousands of lives every year. At the final competition, he presented the lecture “The black box of bowel cancer”.

Read the popular science article about his research “Bowel cancer has claimed one life every day in Estonia for years. Why?” in Novaator (in Estonian).

Jaan explores how rare metals can be recovered from electronic waste using microorganisms. New technology allows waste to be recycled in a more sustainable way and improves the availability of critical raw materials. At the finals, he presented the lecture “Metal extraction with bacteria”.

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Read the popular science article introducing Jaan’s research “Bacteria help recycle metals found in e-waste” in Novaator (in Estonian). His article was also chosen to the top three by Novaator editors.

Recordings of lectures and the final contest are available on the Academy of Sciences’ YouTube channel.

All in all, 16 young researchers from six universities or research institutions made it to the final competition. Besides Indrek and Jaan, three more doctoral students from the University of Tartu participated in the competition: Junior Research Fellow of Health Informatics Maarja Pajusalu, Junior Research Fellow in Animal Ecology Christel Rose Bachmann, and doctoral student in Linguistics Kertu Saul.

The contestants had to talk about their years-long research in an articulate and clear manner in just three minutes. Before the final competition, the finalists underwent preliminary competitions at their research institutions and training sessions organised by the Estonian Academy of Sciences, where they practised presentation and writing skills. They also published a popular science article on their research in the science news portal Novaator.

The competition jury comprised Mart Saarma, President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences and the head of the evaluation committee, and members Heleri All, a TV journalist, Kristjan Järve, board member of Inclusive Financial Technology Foundation, Katrin Kiisler, Head of the Research and Development Policy Department of the Ministry of Education and Research, Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Group, Indrek Tammeaid, strategy and management consultant and innovation expert, and Toomas Vaimann, President of the Estonian Young Academy of Science.

The main aim of the competition is to provide young researchers with professional training and practical experience in public speaking and presenting their research. The three-minute lectures also help promote science communication in the Estonian language.

Read more on the Estonian Academy of Sciences website and see photos from the event.