PhD candidate Jade Kubler is the winner of the Faculty of Medicine’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition final after a flawless presentation about the influence of exercise during pregnancy.
Ms Kubler delivered her presentation titled The Journey from Seed to Tree in front of a live audience at the Translational Research Institute in Woolloongabba.
The presentation focused on the impact of exercise on placental development and health outcomes in babies, which is the focus of Ms Kubler’s work at the UQ-Mater Research Institute.
It proved to be so popular, Ms Kubler also received the People’s Choice Award.
Ms Kubler said summarising your research in three minutes in a way that anyone can understand is not an easy task, but it puts your project into perspective.
“It makes you think about what your project means and what impact it can have,” Ms Kubler said.
“My project involves the placenta, which has many functions that aren’t that well known to people outside of pregnancy research – I didn’t even know much about it when I started my PhD!
“But when you see a placenta, it really does look like the roots underneath a tree, so I couldn’t think of an analogy more fitting than that to explain the mechanisms that drive placental growth.
“I’m lucky to be involved in a project that I’m passionate about and have the chance to represent the Faculty of Medicine at the UQ 3MT final.”
The 3MT competition provides doctoral students with the opportunity to present their research in three minutes, using language for a non-specialist audience and only one PowerPoint slide.
PhD candidate Aleysha Martin, also from UQ-Mater Research Institute, received the Runner Up and Wild Card Entry Awards for her presentation on A Simpler Route for Stroke Assessment.
Her presentation explained the benefits of combining stroke assessments to reduce the impact on patients.
Ms Martin said she started her PhD after working as an occupational therapist with patients experiencing stroke and seeing how many of their allied health assessments were duplicated and repeated.
“This inspired me to change current practice to make stroke assessments simpler for everyone,” Ms Martin said.
“We have made changes at the Mater Hospital Brisbane acute stroke unit, and it has been very rewarding seeing my work being used and making a difference.
“I would love to see our approach to stroke assessment become best practice more widely.
“This is something that I would like to continue working towards after my PhD.”
The 3MT Competition is now in its 16th year and aims to cultivate students’ academic, presentation and research communication skills.
Ms Kubler and Ms Martin will represent the Faculty at the UQ 3MT final on Wednesday 6 September at the St Lucia campus.
