Competition 2019

Past Competitions:

The 3MT was a great opportunity for me to test my ability to explain a complicated topic within 3 minutes to a lay audience. Astrophysics is a very humbling science, being the oldest subject to be first studied since in the past there was nothing to do in the night but look up at the stars! It has a strong connection to most people, and nowadays most of the topics are explained in a very complicated manner that the general public cannot easily understand the true meaning behind scientific research. The 3MT allowed me to teach people about seemingly complicated topics like dark matter, and it made me very happy to know that many of the audience enjoyed the presentation and understood the content. I am very grateful to my girlfriend, Stanley Shen, for supporting me and being my practice audience, and I would also like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Jeremy Lim, for teaching me to be an excellent presenter and communicator. Last but not least, I thank my parents for guiding me to become who I am today.

Champion

Mr Alfred AMRUTH

MPhil, Faculty of Science

The whole 3MT journey is amazing from preparing the slides and script to coming up onto the stage and presenting my research to friends from other fields. Throughout this journey, I have learnt a lot from how to deliver my work to lay audience within few simple and short sentences and more importantly, is how to present it in an interesting way and give people a take-home message just within 3 minutes. This learning process help me to crystallize my 4 years’ work and also strengthen the link between my research outcome and humanity. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Prof. Billy K.C. Chow for his generous support and himself as a perfect learning model to me. I also want to thank my love, Edmond Kwok for his time and useful advices on my presentation and practising with me. Lastly, big thanks to my lab-mates and friends for their warm support and encouragement along the whole competition. 3MT is not just a competition but a great learning opportunity to all postgraduates!

1st Runner-up

Ms Oi Kwan MAK

PhD, Faculty of Science

I hate public speaking. Participation in the Three Minute Thesis was mandated by my supervisor. The process of preparing for the competition, however, was a useful exercise in many ways. Firstly, I had to learn succinctness (never one of my virtues) in a way I had never done before. Condensing years of research into three minutes was a new kind of struggle. Additionally, I had to make sure the average person could understand, meaning I had to let go of certain terms and phrases (like ‘collaborative imperial hydrarchy’) I had worked so hard to develop and explain in my thesis. The most challenging, and perhaps most rewarding experience, however, was learning to be energetic and enthusiastic in presenting my research. I had to dig deep to manifest the passion I have for my research and present it to an audience, which rewarded me for my efforts.

2nd Runner-up

Mr Ching-yin Nathan KWAN

PhD, Faculty of Arts

It takes a lot of effort to summarize an advanced research work in a three-minute talk while keeping it interesting, simple and easily understandable. Although it is very challenging and perhaps time-consuming, 3MT gives me more than a rewarding presentation experience and I am very grateful to participate in this competition. In saying that, it provides an opportunity to review my work from an entirely different angle and helps me to find its connection and contribution to society. My research journey would not be completed without this missing piece. Finally, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Kevin Tsia, my family and colleagues for their kind supports, encouragement and helpful suggestions in this competition.

People’s Choice Award Winner

Mr Chak Man LEE

PhD, Faculty of Engineering

The 3MT competition is an excellent platform for younger researchers to present their research ideas to non-specialist audience. It is a challenge to use layman’s language for simplifying complex scientific jargon. It is really motivating to see my supervisor, lab members (Plant Systematics and Phylogenetics laboratory) and friends show up at the competition venue. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Richard Saunders for his excellent guidance, and my fellow lab members for providing valuable feedback to improve my presentation. I am particularly grateful to my family, lecturers, friends and students for their support throughout this journey. Finally, I greatly appreciate all your valuable votes, warm wishes and valuable comments from different academic backgrounds all over the world: it makes participating in the 3MT competition a rewarding and very enjoyable experience in my academic career.

Online People’s Choice Award Winner

Ms Ashini Dias MAHADURA

MPhil, Faculty of Science

Overview

Date: March 7, 2019

Time: 11am – 12:30pm (heat); 3 – 4:30pm (final competition)

Venue: Wang Gungwu Theatre, Graduate House, HKU

Livestreaming: https://youtu.be/6-FqKBODd8E (final competition)

Eligibility Criteria

Rules and Judging Criteria

Register HERE

Registration Deadline: 5pm on January 21, 2019 (NO late registrations will be accepted.)

Each registrant must also submit his/her primary supervisor’s completed endorsement form (downloadable from the Graduate School website) to the Graduate School by January 23, 2019 to complete the registration process. If the completed endorsement form reaches the Graduate School after January 23, 2019, the registration will NOT be accepted.

A briefing session was held for RPg students who are interested in participating in the HKU 3MT:

Date of Briefing Session: December 4, 2018
Time: 1 – 2 pm
Venue: CPD 2.37, Centennial Campus, HKU

Click here for the presentations.

Schedule of Presentations:

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 1700hrs, March 18, 2019. 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$130.

News in Brief

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT^®) Competition 2019 of HKU was successfully held on March 7, 2019. This year 17 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.

Mr Andrew Fung Hau Chung, Chief Financial Officer, Henderson Land Development Company Limited, Mrs Teresa Tong, Certified Public Accountant, Retired Partner of Ernst & Young, Former Chairperson of HKU Convocation, and Former HKU Court Member, and Mrs Daisy Tong Yeung Wai Lan, Former Partner & Notary Public Litigation & Insolvency of Deacons, served on the adjudicating panel as our guests of honour. 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 Dong-Yan Jin, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Professor Maggy Lee of the Department of Sociology and Dr Wing-Yee Lui of the School of Biological Sciences.

Congratulations to all the winners of the HKU 3MT Competition 2019. They are:

Champion
Name: Mr Alfred Amruth
MPhil candidate in the Faculty of Science
Presentation Title: Illuminating dark matter with nature’s time machine
Primary Supervisor: Dr Jeremy Jin Leong Lim

1^st Runner-up
Name: Ms Oi Kwan Mak
PhD candidate in the Faculty of Science
Presentation Title: Secretin, a water balance in our body!
Primary Supervisor: Professor Billy Kwok Chong Chow

2^nd Runner-up
Name: Mr Ching-yin Nathan Kwan
PhD candidate in the Faculty of Arts
Presentation Title: The International Suppression of Chinese Piracy in South China, 1841-1899
Primary Supervisor: Professor John Mark Carroll

People’s Choice Award Winner
Name: Mr Chak Man Lee
PhD candidate in the Faculty of Engineering
Presentation Title: Phase? The new phase for tomorrow cancer diagnosis
Primary Supervisor: Dr Kevin Kin Man Tsia

Online People’s Choice Award Winner
Name: Ms Ashini Dias Mahadura
MPhil candidate in the Faculty of Science
Presentation Title: Visualizing Evolution: Origin of New Species in Hong Kong
Primary Supervisor: Professor Richard Mark Kingsley Saunders

The HKU 3MT Competition was jointly organised by the Graduate School and KEO.

Awardees, finalists and supervisors at the HKU 3MT Competition 2019 with members of the adjudicating panel

(From left, back row) Professor John Bacon-Shone, Ms Junchang Li (finalist), Dr Duangporn Duangthip (supervisor of Ms Jieyi Chen), Ms Ashini Dias Mahadura (Online People’s Choice Award Winner), Ms Jieyi Chen (finalist), Ms Kishoree Krishna Kumaree (finalist), Ms Kun Liu (finalist), Mr Kai Won Tsang (finalist)

(From left, front row) Professor Richard Saunders (supervisor of Ms Ashini Dias Mahadura), Dr Kevin Tsia (supervisor of Mr Chak Man Lee), Professor Maggy Lee, Dr Wing-Yee Lui, Professor Dong-Yan Jin, Mr Andrew Fung, Ms Oi Kwan Mak (1^st Runner-up), Mr Alfred Amruth (Champion), Mr Ching-yin Nathan Kwan (2^nd Runner-up), Mr Chak Man Lee (People’s Choice Award Winner), Mrs Daisy Tong, Mrs Teresa Tong, Professor Bernadette Tsui (Director of Development & Alumni Affairs Office), Professor John Carroll (supervisor of Mr Ching-yin Nathan Kwan and Mr Kai Won Tsang), Professor Mee-Len Chye (Dean of Graduate School)

2019 Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition

The 2019 Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition will be held on Friday, October 4, 2019 at The University of Queensland (UQ), Brisbane. Doctoral students representing 56 universities in Australia, New Zealand and Asia will compete in this competition.

The first runner-up of the 2019 HKU 3MT Competition, Ms Oi Kwan Mak, PhD candidate in the Faculty of Science, will represent HKU in the 2019 Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition.

Please click here for more details.