Meet the winners of this year’s Three Minute Thesis competition

The winners of a competition which challenges academics to explain their research in just three minutes have been announced.

A total of 850 researchers from across the UK entered the tenth annual Vitae Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition, which was sponsored by The Conversation through its Universal Impact training and mentoring subsidiary.

These were narrowed down first to 65 competitors and then six finalists, before a judging panel and a public vote determined the winning three.

The overall judges’ award went to Jo Baker from Newcastle University for her presentation on children’s speech difficulties, which was perfectly illustrated through the use of an original cartoon.

Ulster University’s James McMullan captured the public’s imagination with his presentation on whether eating fish could be the secret to healthy ageing, winning the people’s choice award.

Universal Impact also had the chance to pick an editor’s champion. We chose Muhammad Muddasar at University of Limerick for his research looking at whether the heat we waste on a daily basis could be transformed into a new energy source.

The other finalists were Ferdinando Sereno at UCL, Natalie Weir at University of Derby and Charlie Gerlis from the University of the West of England.

Originally developed by the University of Queensland, the competition challenges doctoral researchers to communicate their research to a non-expert audience – in three minutes or less.

As a judge, I was blown away by the overall standard of the entries – this really was a masterclass in research communications.

All of the academics involved spoke passionately about their research, explaining how it could contribute to making the world a better place.

Each of these researchers deserved their place in the final and it took lengthy discussions before the panel was able to pick a winner.

This year’s final was broadcast live online with the winners announced on Friday, October 4.

‘It opens minds and opens doors’**

At Universal Impact, we have been delighted to support this mission by joining the judging panel and mentoring the champions (who also receive a coveted trophy and small grant) to help them build on their success and take their research to an even wider audience.

Vitae, which organised the competition, is a non-profit organisation that supports the professional development of researchers.

Rachel Cox, head of membership and engagement at Vitae, said: “The Vitae Three Minute Thesis is a fantastic competition which provides a unique opportunity for doctoral researchers to think differently about how they communicate work that is meaningful to them to a wider audience.

"It opens minds and opens doors for the individuals involved, as it can be a pathway to a wide variety of future careers, as previous participants have shown.

"At Vitae, we are proud of the impact this competition has had over the past ten years, and we are excited to see what it can do over the next decade.

"We are also delighted that Universal Impact and The Conversation are supporting this year’s event.”

You can find out more about the competition and the work of Vitae here.