The winners of the 7th annual University of Winnipeg Graduate Studies 3-Minute Thesis Competition (3MT™) were announced this afternoon. With only three minutes and one static slide, nine brave students explained their complex thesis ideas and research using simple language that is accessible to a wider audience.
Winners Breanna Meek and Alwyn Go, ©UWinnipeg
The audience was jam packed, and the presentations were on point, making it difficult for the judges to pick a winner. Graduate students from the Master of Science in Bioscience, Technology, and Public Policy monopolized the wins.
Breanna Meek, Master of Science in Bioscience, Technology, and Public Policy: Supervised by Renée Douville, presenting on Integrate me one more time…ERVK integrase as a source of DNA damage in neurodegerative disease, won the top prize and $1,000; and Alwyn Go, Supervisor: Dr. Alberto Civetta, presenting The building block Don’t Fit: A genetic basis to the origin of species, won the People’s Choice Award and $500.
Master’s in Development Practice student Taylor Wilson was the runner up for presentation Decolonizing the food guides: Learning from Indigenous experiences with food guides in Canada and Internationally.
This year 25 students from from Dr. Tracy Whalen’s Theories and Practices of Oral Communication class, (Department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications) attended the competition. Once her class returns from reading week they too will be giving their version of 3MTs in class.
This year’s judges included Nora Casson (Canada Research Chair, environmental influences on water quality, and associate professor in the Department of Geography), Jino Distasio (Vice-President, Research and Innovation), and Lenard Monkman (associate producer, CBC Indigenous, and co-founder, Red Rising Magazine).
As winner of this competition, Meek will compete at the Western 3MT Competition at the University of Lethbridge in April with a chance to move on to the National 3MT.
The 3MT™ is a research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland which challenges postgraduate degree students to make their research accessible.
For more information please visit 3MT™.
