Welcome
UWS to host Trans-Tasman Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Final in 2013
Professor Andrew Cheetham, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research).
The University of Western Sydney is honoured to host the Trans-Tasman 3MT in 2013. The enthusiasm with which the 3MT has been embraced within Australia and elsewhere is testament to the value of this exciting event. All universities encourage their research students to develop their communication skills, not only in pursuit of their careers but as the duty of recipients of publicly funded research.
Many thanks to our colleagues at the University of Queensland for sharing this initiative and for providing strong collegial support to us as we prepare for the competition.
This is also a very timely honour for UWS as we celebrate our 25th anniversary in 2013.
I look forward to meeting the finalists in October.
About UWS
The University of Western Sydney is Australia’s newest leading research university. UWS is the only research comprehensive post-1987 university and its research leaders relish the exacting and exciting work that is involved in continuing to build on our research strengths. The skill and enthusiasm of our researchers is backed by considerable University investment, allowing UWS to have a vibrant research culture that is focussed on complex and intractable societal issues.
The University of Western Sydney provides an outstanding research environment and its research has overwhelmingly been judged by the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Evaluation Committees as world class or world leading. The quality and intensity of UWS research activity is seen also in its position as 11th (of 39 universities) in Australian Research Council major grants.
UWS researchers are contributing to solutions for climate change, conducting business in the Asian Century, speech development and languages, urban infrastructure, increasing the competitiveness of Australian company logistics, health and exercise and our ageing population and much more.
Location
UWS is located in the Sydney basin and the University’s campuses have a footprint across the Greater Western Sydney (GWS) region - a global centre for trade, innovation and learning with the third largest economy in Australia behind the Sydney CBD and Melbourne. The greater west’s population is the fastest growing in Australia and more than 150 of the nation's top 500 companies are located here along with the University.
The multicultural community of GWS is one of the most diverse in the world with over 100 nationalities calling it home. The region combines the majestic beauty of the World Heritage Listed Blue Mountains National Park; state-of-the-art Olympic venues; historical sites of Indigenous and Colonial importance; and traditional rural environments with the high-tech business districts, retail and service centres typical of a modern regional economic powerhouse.
About the 3MT Competition
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is an academic competition, whereby research students communicate the significance of their research to a non-specialist audience in three minutes with one simple PowerPoint slide.
It is an exercise that develops skills students will need when pitching to government and industry, as well as in explaining their research to their friends and families!
The first 3MT was held at the University of Queensland (UQ) (opens in a new window) in 2008 and enthusiasm for the 3MT concept led to its adoption in numerous universities and the development of an international competition, with the Inaugural Trans-Tasman 3MT competition held at UQ in 2010. Research higher degree students have three minutes to present a compelling oration on their thesis topic and its significance. 3MT is not an exercise in trivialising or ‘dumbing-down’ research but forces students to consolidate their ideas and crystalise their research discoveries (from UQ website).
