Big ideas shared in just three minutes

Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) Doctoral and Master’s research students took on the challenge to communicate their research to a general audience across three competitions: 3 Minute Thesis (3MT), Visualise Your Thesis (VYT) and Exhibit Your Thesis (EYT).  

Tumu Tuarua Rangahau | Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation Professor Lucy Johnston opened the evening.

"The showcase highlights the talent and passion of our postgraduate students, and the difference they are already making as emerging leaders in research,” she says. “I am continually inspired by the energy and ideas our students bring to shaping a better future.”  

Whakāturanga Rangahau | Research Student Showcase also connects UC’s research to the wider community and region.

Keynote speaker, ChristchurchNZ Chief Executive Ali Adams, reinforced the importance of events like this to the city and region, highlighting how research and innovation drive Ōtautahi Christchurch and Waitaha Canterbury’s growth, talent development and global connections.

The live 3MT finals saw the winners of each faculty heat compete for the $3,000 first prize and a place in the Asia-Pacific final, hosted by the University of Queensland. The competition challenges students to sum up their thesis in three minutes in front of a judging panel. 

First place was awarded to Lauren Hitt from the School of Biological Sciences for their research, ‘The Diary of Kōaro, a Native Fish.’

“I was nervous,” Hitt said following her win, “but I was mostly excited to see what everyone else was doing.

“I had so much fun checking out the posters, getting to see the VYT entries, and then getting to hear the other contestant speeches. So many students have put in so much hard mahi for these projects and these competitions and getting to celebrate everyone's accomplishments tonight was the real win.”

The runner up was Jess Love with ‘My Voice Matters’ and the People’s Choice went to Muhammad Luqman for ‘Turning Dairy Waste into Fertilizer: The Magic of Purple Bacteria’, which also won third place.

The VYT competition, now in its fifth year, challenged students to create a 1-minute audio-visual presentation summarising their thesis. Lizzy Skelton took first place with ‘Mapping the Sub-Ice Platelet Layer in Antarctica’, winning $1,000 and entry to the international competition. Second place went to Zixi Chen for ‘Re-envision Japanese Tea Ceremony: A Cross-Cultural Study on the Chinese Elements in Chanoyu’, third to Lauren Hitt for ‘Responses of a Native Fish to Introduced Species in Aotearoa Lakes’, and the People’s Choice to Thejani Wickrama Hewage for ‘The Hidden Logic of Letting Go: Uncovering the In-Depth Reasoning Behind Disposal Decisions.’

The EYT competition invited students to create posters that made their research clear and engaging for the public. Jess Love was awarded the top prize of $750 for her research ‘My Voice Matters! Did School Set Me Up for Success?’. This was followed by David Pedley for ‘Green Vs Growth: The effect of housing intensification on urban trees’, and Sanduni Geeganage for ' Waste to Fragrance: Clean, Green and Cyanide- Free!’. The People’s Choice Award went to Shallu Verma for ‘Making Drug Testing Smarter: Can Benchtop NMR Support Forensic Labs?’.

The Research Student Showcase celebrated student achievement and also highlighted UC’s contribution to the region through research that engages the community and nurtures the next generation of innovators.