UWS student wins the 2012 3MT Trans-Tasman competition

Tim Paris from the University of Western Sydney has beaten 42 competitors from Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Fiji to win the 2012 Three Minute Thesis (3MT™) Trans-Tasman competition hosted by UQ yesterday.

Mr Paris was judged the winner ahead of runner-up Lauren Hollier from the University of Western Australia, while the attending audience voted Tristan Simons from Deakin University as the People’s Choice award winner.

As the winner of the 2012 3MT Trans-Tasman competition, Mr Paris was awarded $5,000 and the University of Western Sydney has the right to host the prestigious international competition in 2013.

First developed by UQ in 2008, 3MT challenges research higher degree students to communicate the significance of their projects to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes.

In just five years since its inception, 3MT is now held across the world in the United States, The United Kingdom, Canada, Vietnam and the countries represented in the Trans-Taman competition, while Singapore is expected to commence in 2013.

UQ was proudly represented by the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology's Amanda Pearce after she won the 3MT UQ Final in mid-September.

Mr Paris, whose presentation was titled ‘Brain waves that predict the future’, said that while preparing for 3MT had been a long process, the skills he learned from participating would help him for many years.

“Just being able to condense a wealth of information into three minutes is something of a skill in itself and now I can use it wherever I go,” Mr Paris said.

“Anytime I go into a job interview in the future I have the best parts of my PhD, the real essence of it, wrapped up in an explanation that even non-specialists can understand. That will be a definite advantage.”

Mr Paris said many months of practice were the key to delivering a strong presentation.

“Not only do I know this presentation by heart, but all of my neighbours and most of my suburb have heard it that many times that I am sure they are happy it is finished now,” Mr Paris said.

Other contestants who competed in the Final were Kate Cashman (University of Tasmania), Sara Ciesielski (University of Melbourne), Andrew Filmer (University of Otago), Anna Harrison (Queensland University of Technology) and Peta Drury (Australian Catholic University).

For more information about 3MT, please visit: http://www.uq.edu.au/grad-school/three-minute-thesis

Further information: Mark Schroder, UQ Graduate School Marketing & Communications, Tel: 3346 0509 or m.schroder@uq.edu.au.