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 Wednesday 17 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 2024 UQ 3MT® Final hosted by the UQ Graduate School on Wednesday 2 October, 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.
Abigail Edwards - School of Psychology
3MT Title: It’s your blood donation: Increasing donor retention through psychological ownership.
In 2021, Abigail was awarded a PhD scholarship under the Helping the Medical Matchmakers: Sustaining and Understanding Living Donors research program. Her PhD research focuses on using psychological ownership, or the feeling that something belongs to you, to increase retention in blood donors.
Tsz-Lok Tang - School of Psychology
3MT Title: Multiple aircraft operations: Considering how the human fits in the system.
Tsz-Lok is a PhD candidate with a background in applied cognitive psychology. She has over 5 years of industry experience in aerospace and rail, specialising in enhancing human performance and safety in complex systems
Simran Kaur - Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences.
3MT Title:The Secret Life or Tyres: Unveiling Their Hidden Impact.
Simran Kaur is a PhD candidate currently working on investigating tyre wear particles and tyre additives in the environment. Her research interests include microplastics, soil science, ecotoxicology, and waste management.
Chantal Keane - Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences
3MT Title: CSI: Trade Waste Investigations.
Chantal works as a circular economy specialist in the Urban Utilities strategy team. She completed her undergrad at UQ in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science majoring in chemistry, originally joining Urban Utilities as an analytical chemist. She is currently working on a part-time PhD at UQ's QAEHS researching industrial sources of contaminants of emerging concern in wastewater.
Claire Reilly - School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
3MT Title: The Silent Struggle: Temporary tube feeding management in children.
Claire is an accredited practicing dietitian and PhD candidate specialising in the management of children with temporary feeding tubes. Her interests include paediatric feeding, enteral nutrition, and patient experiences in the healthcare system.
Anjana Rajagopal - School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
3MT Title: Navigating the digital media rabbit hole: Empowering kids with healthy screen habits.
Anjana is a Public Health researcher and a PhD candidate at UQ, focusing on improving adolescent health and well-being. Anjana’s project involves collaboration with families and schools to develop an intervention that promotes healthy screen habits and improves children's physical, psychological, and academic well-being.
Gemma Smart - School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work
3MT Title: What lies beneath: Unveiling the hidden context of child development and behaviour
Gemma is an advanced social worker within the Paediatric sub-speciality of child development, contributing to diagnostic assessments for children presenting with developmental and behavioural concerns. Gemma is in the final year of her PhD candidacy, due for submission at the end of 2024. Gemma pursued a PhD to address an observed practice issue regarding significant inconsistency in how information about the child's psychosocial environment is integrated within developmental assessment to contribute to diagnostic understanding and interventions.
Elouise Comber - School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work
3MT Title: Bedtime Stories and Bottom Lines: The Often Overlooked Struggles of Pediatric Cancer Care
Elouise is a second year PhD student at the Children's Health Research Centre in the field of paediatric oncology. Her PhD research is part of a broader clinical trial regarding the effectiveness of a new medication to prevent central line complications in kids with cancer. She also has experience in chronic pain research and has a keen interest in implementation science, health economics, science communication and medical innovation.
Tatiana Marinho School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences
3MT Title: Following the Tracks: Traditional Knowledge as the Recipe for Health Promotion
Tatiana started a Bachelor of Human Nutrition in Brazil and naturally, as an athlete, thought she would work as a sports Dietitian. However, she found herself drawn to the cultural and historical aspects of food and wellbeing and when she moved to Australia found a passion in Population Health. In Australia Tatiana completed a Bachelor of Public Health, a Master of Human Nutrition and a Master of Public Health with specialisation in Epidemiology. Tatiana has found her purpose in her work with Remote Indigenous Communities and is proud to do research on a topic that brings all her passions together.
Marisca Austin Pereira - School of Dentistry
3MT Title: From Concept to Practice: MEW Scaffolds in Soft Tissue Augmentation.
Marisca is a dedicated periodontist from Mumbai with a passion for pushing the boundaries of dental science. In 2022, Marisca earned the prestigious ITI (International Team of Implantology) scholarship, becoming the trailblazing first ITI Scholar at UQ. Marisca PhD focuses on the cutting-edge field of resorbable scaffolds in regenerative dentistry.
Angelique Zamora- School of Dentistry
3MT Title: Open wide- A deeper dive into oral health care practices in residential aged care.
Angelique is a registered nurse who is passionate about creating change for older people, especially those who are living in residential aged care facilities. She is currently a PhD candidate with the UQ School of Dentistry. Her research aims to improve the oral health of aged care residents.
