KUCHING – Seven research students from Swinburne will be taking on the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition as they vie with one another in presenting their research in under three minutes.
The competition will be held on 26 April 2019 at 3pm at the university’s Lecture Theatre. It is open to the public as supporters and admission is free. The public will get to vote for their favourite speaker under the ‘People’s Choice Award’ category.
The participating research students are Darrel Nadeng Dominic with his presentation titled ‘Killing The World’s Deadliest Animal with Fungus’, Teo Jing Xin (Making Dance, Autism and Culture Fit Together), Irina Baydarova (Unmet Student-Supervisor Expectations in Postgraduate Research Supervision), and Yuen Kok Leong (Policy vs. People: Actors, Local Knowledge and Everyday Strategies).
Also competing are Emily anak Rogos (Empowering Sarawak Rural Communities in Sarawak), Megan Soh Zheyin (Oil Palm Waste Conversion into Value-Added Fuels) and Chamath Kalanaka Vithan (The Pursuit of Stronger Antennas for Sarawak’s Rural Internet Connections).
The participants will be competing to win prizes in the form of research grants ranging from RM500 to RM3,000 each to attend an international conference of their choice.
Dr Heidi Collins, Swinburne’s Director of Higher Degrees Research program.
According to Swinburne’s Director of Higher Degrees Research program Dr Heidi Collins, a researcher should not only acquire the vital technical skills related to their discipline but also incorporate other sets of soft skills to complement their competencies.
“Outstanding research needs to be shared, so it is crucial that we encourage students to learn to communicate to a diverse audience,” said Dr Collins.
Founded by the University of Queensland, Australia, the 3MT competition started as a programme that aimed to develop postgraduate research students’ communication skills and has since gained popularity in 66 countries. Participants are required to deliver a three-minute presentation based on their individual 80,000-word research theses with the aid of only one slide.
Swinburne’s Sarawak campus is one of the 21 institutions of higher learning in Malaysia to hold this competition. This is the fourth time that Swinburne is organising the event due to overwhelming response in the past.
Also happening concurrently with the competition on 26 April are the Swinburne Bazaar and Night Concert on campus where visitors can enjoy a variety of local and international delicacies, as well as take part in a dance party.
For more details on the 3MT 2019 competition at Swinburne, visit the website bit.ly/Swin3MT2019 or contact ahenry@swinburne.edu.my.
For more information about Swinburne, visit its website www.swinburne.edu.my, Facebook page (@swinburnesarawak), Instagram (@swinburnesarawak), Twitter page (@Swinburne_Swk) or YouTube channel (Swinburne Sarawak).