Competition 2012

Past Competitions:

“I like the idea of this competition as it allows young scientists to summarize their research work and share it with others in an interesting way. As a researcher, I think it is crucial to be able to demonstrate to people, who may be either specialists in your field or non-specialists, that your study is important and influential. If a researcher cannot do this, people may feel that he/she is wasting time and tax payers’ money. I often told my friends that I filmed ‘Category III’ movies of snails in the laboratory. It made them laugh. But then they would ask me about the contributions of this work to science or society. At the beginning of my PhD study, I could not give a simple and neat answer to this and I felt really ashamed. I knew I was working on an interesting and important subject, but I couldn't find a good way to explain this. I, therefore, tried very hard to develop an answer during my candidature. It is likely that most research students may encounter a similar situation and hence having a well prepared '3-minute' thesis description in 'your pocket' would be useful. In the competition, I felt that my spoken English was not as good as the other participants. But I tried to avoid using complex scientific theories and terms in my speech and perhaps that allowed the audience to have a better understanding of my work. I am also passionate about my study, and so the audience might have been able to feel my enthusiasm. It’s my great honour to receive the awards and to represent HKU at the Trans-Tasman 3MT Competition to be held in Australia! I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Gray A. Williams, my colleagues at The Swire Institute of Marine Science and my friends for their help in preparing the presentation and support during the competition! I would also like to thank the organizers, the judges and the audience!”

Champion and People's Choice Award Winner

Mr Pun Tung NG

PhD, Science

“Participation in the 3MT Competition was indeed a memorable journey where I experienced 3Gs: growth, gratitude, and gains. Growth means far more than award in any competition. During the Competition, I learnt how to transform my 3-year marathon of research into a 3-minute race and meet the challenge of how to present it to a general audience. The other “growth” is nervousness control. Adequate preparation for and enjoyment of the Competition were two ice lollies to relieve my anxiety and worry. Gratitude goes to my supervisor Dr S.H. Choi and my friends who gave me support during the Competition. Particularly, I am indebted to Ms Winnie Huang for her constructive ideas and firm support. Gains from the Competition are not merely a conference travel grant, but also a legacy of something unexpected. I am now delighted when a friend or even an unacquainted person starts a chat with me about my performance in the Competition. The 3Gs are the lovely shells I picked up when strolling along the beach of the Competition. I am sure the tide of the Competition next year will bring more to the contestants.”

1st Runner-up

Mr Wenkai ZHU

PhD, Engineering

“Through 3MT, I was able to challenge myself to present my thesis within a very short time. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of brainstorming about the ways of presenting my complicated thesis about the cognitive processes behind Chinese character recognition in a way that a layman could understand — by using face recognition as an analogy. Not only did I enjoy myself and have fun when presenting, but I was also amused by watching others present their research in various humorous and entertaining styles. For example, I wouldn’t have known that male snails are picky towards their girlfriends if I hadn’t joined the game! 3MT has no doubt enriched my knowledge of other people’s research and I will definitely recommend this competition to fellow RPg students who are about to graduate, especially those who want to improve their presentation skills!”

2nd Runner-up

Mr Ricky Van Yip TSO

MPhil, Social Sciences

“I was much more nervous than I thought I would be. 3MT is definitely one of my best experiences in HKU. The preparation is much harder than I expected. The transcripts had been modified many times before the final version. Before the competition, I used to use professional jargons without noticing they are “professional”. If I hadn’t participated in this competition, I would have never realized that I had difficulty in describing my research project in layman’s language. Now I can introduce my PhD study to friends easily in three minutes. Moreover, through this competition, I learnt about what other postgraduates are working on. Their projects are very interesting and attractive to me. I really enjoyed their presentations. The honor and greatest thanks go to my friends and my supervisor, Dr GR Li. They gave me valuable suggestions and accompanied me to rehearse again and again. I could not win without them. The happiest moment is not the time I won, but the time I shared with them the good news and saw them cheering. They were even happier than me. It gave me the feeling that we fought as a team and won together, which is the best part of 3MT in my eyes. Also, I have met some really outstanding contestants in this competition, and we have become friends. Thank you, 3MT!”

Online People’s Choice Award Winner

Ms Yingying ZHANG

PhD, Medicine

Overview

Date of Competition: Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Schedule of Presentations:

Closing Remarks of Adjudicators

Videos of Candidates and Awardees

Members of the public, colleagues and students are cordially invited to vote for the most engaging presenter for the Online People’s Choice Award via YouTube until 1800hrs, June 5, 2012. You can vote for any one of the finalists below. The finalist with the most ‘LIKE’ votes on YouTube will be awarded a book voucher of US$100.

News in Brief

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT^TM) Competition of HKU was successfully held on May 29, 2012. This year 28 research postgraduate (RPg) students participated in the Competition, and 12 finalists were shortlisted to compete for 3 prizes decided by the adjudicating panel and the People’s Choice Award decided by audience ballot. A new award, namely the Online People’s Choice Award, has been introduced this year to promote the 3MT concept to young researchers and the public. The finalist with the most ‘LIKE’ votes on YouTube would receive this award.

The HKU 3MT champion will have the chance to represent HKU at the Trans-Tasman 3MT Competition hosted by The University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane on October 11, 2012.

Developed by UQ, Australia, 3MT is an academic competition that challenges RPg students to explain their research within 3 minutes to a general audience. 3MT celebrates the discoveries made by RPg students and encourages them to develop the skills to communicate the importance of their research to the broader community.

We were honoured to have Dr York Liao and Mr Kai-man Wong, HKU Council Members, serving on the adjudicating panel as external members. Internal members of the adjudicating panel included Professor John Bacon-Shone, Associate Director of the Knowledge Exchange Office (KEO), and Professor Paul Cheung, Director of the Technology Transfer Office, who served as co-chairmen, and Professor Ying Chan, Director of Journalism and Media Studies Centre (JMSC), Professor Nirmala Rao, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, and Professor Ben Young, Assistant Dean of the Graduate School.

Congratulations to all the winners of the HKU 3MT Competition 2012. They are:

Champion (awarded research travel support or book prize of HK$7,000); and
People’s Choice Award Winner (awarded research travel support or book prize of HK$3,000)
Name: Mr Pun Tung NG
Degree Registered: PhD
Faculty: Science
Title of Presentation: Sexual Selection in Snails
Primary Supervisor: Prof. Gray A. Williams

1^st Runner-up (awarded research travel support or book prize of HK$5,000)
Name: Mr Wenkai ZHU
Degree Registered: PhD
Faculty: Engineering
Title of Presentation: Performance Optimisation of Mobile Robots
Primary Supervisor: Dr S. H. Choi

2^nd Runner-up (awarded research travel support or book prize of HK$3,000)
Name: Mr Ricky Van Yip TSO
Degree Registered: MPhil
Faculty: Social Sciences
Title of Presentation: Writing Experience Changes Our Visual Perception: The Case of Chinese Character Recognition
Primary Supervisor: Dr Janet Hsiao

Online People’s Choice Award Winner (awarded book voucher of USD100)
Name: Ms Yingying ZHANG
Degree Registered: PhD
Faculty: Medicine
Title of Presentation: Functional Ion Channels in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Cardiac Progenitor Cells
Primary Supervisor: Dr Li Guirong

In their closing remarks, Dr York Liao, Mr Kai-man Wong and Professor Ying Chan said that the quality of the research presented by the students was impressive. Professor John Bacon-Shone hopes that the participants this year would encourage their fellow students in the junior year to participate in the Competition next year.

“As researchers, it is our responsibility to make our research readily understood by society. The experience of this competition will be valuable to all the student participants as well as their supervisors,” Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Paul Tam says.

The HKU 3MT Competition was jointly organized by the Graduate School and the Knowledge Exchange Office. The support of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre in event production is deeply appreciated.

Awardees and finalists of the HKU 3MT Competition 2012 with Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Paul Tam and members of the adjudicating panel

(From left, back row) Dr York Liao (HKU Council Member), Professor Nirmala Rao (Associate Dean of the Graduate School), Ms Zoe Wing Yee Tam (Finalist), Ms Yingying Zhang (Finalist), Ms To Kam Lam (Finalist), Professor Ying Chan (Director of JMSC), Mr Kai-man Wong (HKU Council Member), Professor John Bacon-Shone (Associate Director of KEO), Ms Li Zhang (Finalist), Ms Huijun Wu (Finalist), Ms Junyuan Li (Finalist)

(From left, front row) Mr Ricky Van Yip Tso (2^nd Runner-up), Mr Wenkai Zhu (1^stRunner-up), Mr Pun Tung Ng (the Champion and the winner of the People’s Choice Award), Professor Paul Tam (Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President [Research]), Professor Ben Young (Assistant Dean of the Graduate School), Ms Clara Hiu Ling Hung (Finalist), Mrs Thanuja Darshani Kumari Herath (Finalist)

2012 Trans-Tasman 3MT Competition

The 2012 Trans-Tasman 3MT Competition was held on Thursday, October 11, 2012 at The University of Queensland (UQ), Brisbane. 43 universities representing more than 50,000 PhD and Masters students in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Hong Kong competed in this competition.

The HKU 3MT 2012 Champion, Mr Ng Pun Tung, PhD candidate in the Faculty of Science, represented HKU in the 2012 Trans-Tasman 3MT Competition.