Pina Gruden impresses at the FEE 3MT faculty final
Dinosaurs, high-speed railways and spontaneous ear sounds were just a few of the topics covered in Tuesday’s Three Minute Thesis faculty final for Engineering and the Environment (FEE).
In front of the Judging Panel and a large audience, eight postgraduate researchers stepped up to present their research, with only a single PowerPoint slide to accompany them and three minutes on the clock.
After much deliberation, the coveted ‘winner’ title went to Pina Gruden, who will now go on to represent FEE in the 3MT Grand Final in May.
Pina is a second year PhD student who delivered an engaging presentation on the ‘automated detection of dolphin whistles’.
Pina said she was surprised and happy to have won the FEE final. She said: “My research sits within biology and engineering so am I am glad I could come here and win the FEE event.’
Coming in a very close second, was Alexandra K. Diem, whose topic was titled ‘How does waste leave the brain? What if it gets stuck?’
Before announcing the results, Professor William Powrie, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, thanked all those who came along, in particular to the students who took part. He said: ‘Thank you to those researchers who were brave enough to step up to the plate and take part in the really rather scary Three Minute Thesis competition.
‘The discipline of saying something punchy and to the point is a real challenge and three minutes is a difficult time to talk for. In any presentation, we all start off feeling nervous, no matter how experienced we are and you have all done amazingly well.’
Reflecting on the competition and the benefits it provides to PGRs, Pina said: “It is a really good opportunity to develop skills to present your research. It can be so hard to get funding, so if you are able to deliver a good sales pitch and convince people that what you do is important, I think it helps you to succeed as a researcher”.
The eight doctoral researchers who took part in the FEE final were:
- James Bowker
- Alexandra K. Diem
- Willem Eerland
- Pina Gruden
- David Milne
- Luke Muscutt
- Yuji Shi
- Dario Vignali
The next Three Minute Thesis faculty final is for Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering - Wednesday 23 March 2016 at 3pm, in 53/4025.
The Three Minute Thesis Grand Final takes place on 12 May as the opening event for the Festival of Doctoral Research.
Follow @UosDocCollege on Twitter for live tweeting throughout the faculty finals and all the latest Doctoral College updates.