RUSL’s First Three Minutes Thesis (3MT) Competition-Successfully held at the 10th Annual Research Symposium of Faculty of Agriculture

       “RUSL’s First Three Minutes Thesis (3MT) Competition”

Successfully held at the 10th Annual Research Symposium of Faculty of Agriculture

3MT is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ) Australia in 2008. It challenges students to present a compelling oration on their research and its significance in just three minutes in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. It is exciting to think that this competition now runs on six continents in 66 countries. The competition was originally introduced to Doctoral and research Master students however now it is increasingly popular at the undergraduate level too. As per I see, there are two major challenges in this competition. First, how to present research just in three minutes and second, how to effectively translate complex technical research into an accessible language which can understand by the general audience.

As an alumna of the founding member of 3MT, the University of Queensland (UQ), and while being a school level winner, it’s my pleasure to introduce this competition to the undergraduates of the Faculty of Agriculture, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. 3MT easily stands out as one of the most memorable experiences I had during my doctoral studies at UQ. The Faculty of Agriculture had its first competition last year at the 10th ARS and it was very successful. The competition was supported by a pre-competition workshop where the competitors learnt “How to prepare a successful 3MT presentation”. This is indeed an added opportunity gain by the undergraduates of FoA, RUSL as it cultivates their academic, presentation, and research communication skills.

 Dr. S. N. Dissanayake

Coordinator – 3MT Competition

Winners of the First 3MT Competition at 10th ARS

                                Winner and People’s Choice – Mr. E.M. Darshana Ekanayake

The World renowned 3MT competition was inaugurated in the Rajarata University in 2018. As the winner of both “3MT” and “3MT- People's Choice” awards 2018, I would like to mention that the 3MT competition opens up numerous opportunities for students to unleash and broaden their true potentials in presentation and communication skills which will eventually be helpful to excel in both professional and personal lives in future..........

Runner-up – Miss S.A.D. Piyasena

The 3MT competition marks an important milestone in Rajarata university history as we are embracing new global trends in higher education. The 3MT competition is a catalyst to enhance the communication competencies of research students where our research students will also be benefited immensely. It is a great pleasure to be a part of this great program and I wish all the very best for future undergraduates for the 3MT Challenge.............