The Three Minute Thesis (3MT^®) Competition 2014 of HKU was successfully held on March 11, 2014. This year 33 research postgraduate (RPg) students participated in the competition, and 10 finalists were shortlisted to compete for 3 prizes decided by the adjudicating panel and the People’s Choice Award decided by audience ballot. The Online People’s Choice Award was awarded to the finalist who received the most ‘LIKE’ votes on YouTube after the competition.

The 3MT was developed by The University of Queensland, Australia in 2008. It 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.

Professor Paul Y. S. Cheung, Associate Vice-President of HKU, officiated at the final competition. Dr Laura King, Arts Engaged Fellow from the University of Leeds, Mr Man Cheuk Fei, HKU Council Member, and Ms Linda Yeung, Education Editor of the South China Morning Post (SCMP), served 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), who served as the Chairman of the panel, Professor M. L. Chye, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Dr Angel Lin, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Education, and Professor Ben Young, Associate Dean of the Graduate School. Professor M. H. Sham, Head and Professor of the Department of Biochemistry, helped adjudicate at one of the parallel heats.

Congratulations to all the winners of the HKU 3MT Competition 2014. They are:

Champion (awarded research travel support or book prize of HK$7,000)
People’s Choice Award Winner (awarded research travel support or book prize of HK$3,000)
Name: Ms Carrie LAU
PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education
Presentation Title: Home and school influences on the English vocabulary development of Chinese preschoolers in Hong Kong
Primary Supervisor: Professor Nirmala RAO
Ms Lau was interviewed by Hong Kong Magazine on 3MT. For details, please click here.

1^st Runner-up (awarded research travel support or book prize of HK$5,000)
Online People’s Choice Award Winner (awarded book prize of HK$800)
Name: Mr Ming Long CHUNG
MPhil candidate in the Faculty of Science
Presentation Title: Oxygen: Angel or Demon? – Lipid peroxidation and its relevance to pheromone production in marine fish under oxidative stress
Primary Supervisor: Dr Jetty Chung Yung LEE

2^nd Runner-up (awarded research travel support or book prize of HK$3,000)
Name: Mr Zhuo DENG
PhD candidate in the Faculty of Science
Presentation Title: “Who stole my electrons?” – Electron Loss Process in 3rd generation solar cells
Primary Supervisor: Dr S. J. XU

“We want our research postgraduate students to not only excel in research, but also recognize that it is their responsibility as researchers to communicate and share their research discoveries with the community,” Professor Paul Cheung says.

The HKU 3MT Competition was jointly organized by the Graduate School and KEO. The event production was supported by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre.