NDU alumnus Elias Aydi participated in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition of the University of Cape Town (UCT) and won the 'People's Choice Award’ for best presentation in both the science and social science categories.
3MT® was conceived in 2008 at the University of Queensland, Australia, to encourage Ph.D. students to develop and hone their academic, presentation, and research communication skills. The competition has been adopted in 52 countries outside Australia.
The inaugural UCT leg of the 3MT® celebrates exciting research conducted by Ph.D. students.
Students have to present in three minutes to a non-specialist audience their Ph.D. research, verbally and with a single static PowerPoint slide. Twenty participants from the seven Faculties at the University took part (around 40 applied, and 20 were accepted based on their abstracts).
Participants agree that the biggest challenge the competition poses is the three-minute time limit, but it also gives Ph.D. researchers across the different Faculties the opportunity to engage with their peers and hear about their research.
“It’s not just about winning, it’s about the skills you develop,” says ‘People’s Choice Award’ winner Aydi.