Research on age-related blindness wins 2016 Asia-Pacific Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition
London, 4 October 2016
Fifty PhD candidates from across the Asia-Pacific region gathered on 30 September at the University of Queensland, Australia, for the 2016 Asia-Pacific Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition—a challenge to explain their research thesis in a clear and engaging three-minute talk aimed at non-specialists. Developed by the University of Queensland in 2008, 3MT events are now hosted by over 400 institutions across six continents.
The Asia-Pacific 3MT, which is sponsored by Springer Nature, drew students from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. From 50 presentations in the morning, 10 were selected to compete in the afternoon’s final round. The prizes were won by:
- Winner—Joshua Chu-Tan, PhD student at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, spoke on developing gene therapies for age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the developed world. He was awarded a $5,000 research travel grant, as well as funding and entry to the 2016 Falling Walls Lab Final and Conference in Berlin.
- Runner-up—Nathaniel Swain, PhD student at the University of Melbourne, gave a talk on speech-language pathology intervention for young offenders, for which he received a $2,000 research travel grant.
- People’s Choice—Ika Damayanti, PhD student at the University of Wollongong, presented “From Storytelling to Story Writing: A Learning Journey of English Language Learners in Indonesia”. She won a research travel grant of $1,000.
James Mercer, Regional Sales Director for Southeast Asia and Oceania, Springer Nature said: “With increasing volume and quality of research output coming from Southeast Asia, we are keen to facilitate connections between researchers from this region and their peers around the world.
“Communication is becoming more and more important to researchers today as they need to be able to clearly explain their work and the implications of their findings to non-specialists, including funders, policymakers and the media. The 3MT offers a unique opportunity for young researchers to hone those communications skills and for those outside of the research environment to discover the entrepreneurial potential and impact of current PhD research. We congratulate the winners and all the participants in this event for the inspiring strength and breadth of their research, and look forward to following their work.”
Professor Alastair McEwan, Dean of UQ Graduate School said: “We at UQ are thrilled by the worldwide enthusiasm for 3MT and particularly wish to thank Springer Nature for their support. Their commitment to and connections with Asian education and research institutions have been a huge help and we are very grateful for this partnership.”
Video recordings of the winning presentations will be made available later this month at: http://threeminutethesis.org/asia-pacific-winners
ENDS
For more information, contact:
Lillienne Zen
Junior Communications Officer, Springer Nature
E: lillienne.zen@springernature.com
T: +44 (0)207 843 4850
Springer Nature is a leading global research, educational and professional publisher, home to an array of respected and trusted brands providing quality content through a range of innovative products and services. Springer Nature is the world’s largest academic book publisher, publisher of the world’s most influential journals and a pioneer in the field of open research. The company numbers almost 13,000 staff in over 50 countries. Springer Nature was formed in 2015 through the merger of Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education and Springer Science+Business Media.
Visit www.springernature.com and follow @SpringerNature.
