On 18 July, our GCS Lab member Megan Winsen took to the stage at QUT’s Faculty of Science Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, distilling her PhD research into a single, compelling presentation for a non-specialist audience in just 180 seconds! Her excellent performance earned her a Wild Card spot in the QUT 3MT Final, where she’ll share her research story on an even bigger stage. “It was a big surprise! I didn’t expect my research to strike a chord with an audience”, Megan says.
Megan’s PhD research blends advanced statistical and spatial analyses to improve environmental monitoring and biodiversity outcomes, aiming to drive innovative technology applications for conservation. Communicating this kind of highly technical work to a general audience is no easy task. For Megan, the challenge was like “shining a different coloured light” on her research:
It was actually a bit of a surprise when I realised where the wow factor was hiding – I had to come up a number of layers to find it. Let’s face it, the icing is more exciting than the cake!
For Megan, 3MT was a valuable reminder of why storytelling in science matters:
Our topics can be so niche that they feel removed from the real-world problems we’re actually trying to address. If we can’t articulate our aims in simple terms, people outside the research community won’t see the value of what we do.
The experience of condensing her thesis into three minutes has been rewarding in more ways than one. Megan reflects:
I realised most of the components I’ve been using to describe my research are just tools helping me reach a much broader goal—and it’s that goal that matters to people. I also enjoyed playing around with everyday language and humour to create something engaging.
Congratulations, Megan, and good luck with the QUT 3MT Final to share your research with an even wider audience!