PhD students from UQ's Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences will compete in the Faculty Final of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition on Thursday 13 July.
An 80,000 word PhD thesis would take nine hours to present, but students in the UQ 3MT® Competition will present their thesis and its significance in dynamic and informative presentations of just three minutes in length.
The winner will progress to the 2023 UQ 3MT® Final hosted by the UQ Graduate School on Wednesday 6 September, where they could win research grant funding.
The winner of the UQ Final will represent UQ in the Virtual Asia-Pacific and U21 3MT® competitions.
Find out more about this year’s Faculty finalists below.
Hirushi Kumarapperuma - School of Pharmacy
3MT Title: Targeting cholesterol magnets to prevent heart attacks.
Hirushi is a PhD candidate and also works as a pharmacist in a community setting. Hirushi’s research looks at understanding the cellular mechanisms which leads to retention of cholesterol in blood vessels.
Callyn Farrell - School of Psychology
3MT Title: Choices when chatting with children: Adults’ socialisation of gender through language.
Callyn is currently completing his PhD primarily within the Early Cognitive Development Centre. His research focuses on children’s gender socialisation. Specifically, developmentally relevant categories of language and how we use those categories of language towards children based on their gender.
Davina Lo - School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
3MT Title: Losing words after a stroke: Understanding the experiences of a forgotten group.
Davina is a PhD candidate and speech pathologist with an interest in working with children and teenagers. Her PhD research focuses on understanding the experiences of teenagers who have acquired aphasia, a language disorder, after childhood stroke.
Jessica Cartwright - School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences
3MT Title: Creating Waves of Wellness: Transforming Indigenous Health with a Single Drop.
Jessica is a PhD candidate working with the ARC Centre for Uniquely Australian Foods. She has completed her undergraduate bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Nutrition Science and also holds a master's degree of Dietetics Studies.
Nilesh Torwane - School of Dentistry
3MT Title: Liberating Voices: Analysis Of Online And Offline Sentiments Around Water Fluoridation Using An Investigative Lens. What Policies Can Fight 21st Century Info-war?
Nilesh is a Dentist, Oral Health researcher and Data Scientist pursuing a PhD. With a post-graduate degree in Dental Public Health, Nilesh brings a diverse skill set to his work. As a certified data scientist, Nilesh has also completed international certification programs in clinical research, ethics, data management, and pharmacovigilance.
Ellen Dyke - School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work
3MT Title: From Lamps to Laptops: Shining a light on e-Learning for Nurses.
Ellen has been a registered nurse in acute medical, surgical and rehabilitation settings for more than 25 years. Passionate about quality engaging education of nurses, Ellen has worked as a nursing academic for the past 10 years. Ellen’s research combines her passion for education and interest in digital technology, investigating the effectiveness of e-learning for registered nurses in the workplace. It explores a real world, and potentially life-saving educational intervention for nursing staff, that could change a critical clinical issue.
Nicole Rickerby - School of Psychology
3MT Title: Pause or push through? Investigating predictors of pain outcomes in Athletes.
Nicole is a PhD candidate, and her research explores the potential of mind-body therapies in managing pain, reducing burnout, and preventing injuries in athletes.
Will Olsen - School of Pharmacy
3MT Title: Pharmacists are responsible for patient outcomes when dispensing opioids.
Will is a registered pharmacist and PhD Candidate. His research is focused on optimising medication safety by exploring the roles, responsibilities and opportunities of pharmacists in the evolving field of pharmacy practice.
Tania Islam - School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
3MT Title: Biomarkers and drug targets for high-risk individuals susceptible to developing stroke.
Tania is a PhD student, and her research focuses on the identification of potential causal risk biomarkers for the early detection of high-risk individuals susceptible to stroke.
Amjad Almuqrin - School of Dentistry
3MT Title: Liberating Voices: Arresting Dental Caries in Children: From Black to White.
Amjad is a PhD candidate specializing in paediatric dentistry. He earned a master's degree from Kings College London and a bachelor's degree from King Saud University. His research focuses on utilising nanotechnology to arrest dental caries in children.
Ruth Brady - School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences
3MT Title: Striving for optimal physical activity recommendations: What does your weekly 150 minutes of physical activity involve?
Ruth is a PhD candidate within The University of Queensland and The University of Exeter (QUEX) joint PhD partnership. Ruth's PhD focusses on understanding how mid-aged adults accumulate physical activity in different patterns of frequency, duration and intensity.
Carly Beggs- Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences.
3MT Title: Chemical jigsaw puzzles: Toxic transformation products.
Carly is a PhD candidate and her research focuses on the fate and behaviour of neonicotinoid insecticides in Australian aquatic environments.
