IMSSA 3-Minute Thesis

Research is a story – sometimes, a very long and complicated story. For many graduate students, presenting research in a condensed manner is difficult. In most graduate defences, you have between 20 to 40 minutes to present years of research. Now, imagine doing that in under 3 minutes. Could you do it? The IMS Student Association (IMSSA) 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition returned to an in-person format this year on Saturday, March 25th. Hosted by the IMMSA Academic Affairs Subcommittee, this annual competition challenges the presentation skills of IMS graduate students by inviting competitors to present their thesis research in under 3 minutes. This is an extremely challenging task!

This year, fourteen IMS students were selected from a pool of applicants to participate in the competition. Presentations were preceded by a welcome address from Dr. Mingyao Liu, Director of the Institute of Medical Science. A variety of topics were showcased in the participants’ presentations, including congenital heart block, Parkinson’s disease, and late-life depression. Participants were evaluated by a panel of three judges, which included Drs. Istvan Mucsi, Daniel Felsky, and Yaping Jin.

After difficult deliberations, the judges selected three winners. The winners of the 2023 IMS 3MT competition were Katharina Göke (first place), Lisa E. Lee (second place), and Alexander Koven (third place). Honourable mentions were given to Carmen K. Chan and Amanda Mac.

I caught up with a few of the winners after the event to get a sense of what it was like presenting at the IMS 3MT competition. Alexander Koven, urology resident and master’s student, said that the opportunity to engage in storytelling in relation to his research is what drew him to participate in the competition. Katharina Göke, secondyear PhD student in Dr. Daniel Blumberger’s lab, gave advice to future presenters and emphasised the importance of authenticity and simplicity when presenting.

Telling a story matters in research. Understanding your audience is also important. Competitions like IMS 3MT are great opportunities to tell your research story to different audiences.

The event was organised by Raesham Mahmood and Kristen Ashworth, Director and Deputy of IMMSA Academic Affairs, respectively. In conjunction with the other members of the IMMSA Academic Affairs Subcommittee, the two worked tirelessly to plan and implement this event. Although the process was a lot of work, both organisers agreed that the result was extremely rewarding.

Congratulations to all the participants, winners, and to the IMMSA Academic Affairs Subcommittee for planning a phenomenal event! IMS is truly brimming with exceptionally talented and passionate students. To future presenters, we cannot wait to see you next year!

The judges also shared their insights for future presenters. Drs. Felsky and Jin echoed the statements made by the winners, stressing the importance of knowing your audience and communicating the “why” of your research as opposed to just explaining what your research is. They also encouraged supervisors to be actively involved in supporting their mentees.

As a former IMS PhD student, I understand the IMS student experience (especially presenting) can be intimidating. It is so important as supervisors and mentors to be engaging and encourage the strengthening of scientific communication.

The great thing about hearing a 3-minute snapshot from a series of researchers is that something about each pitch will stick, and by the end of the program, you will have learned a little something new about a lot of different research topics! I think we all walked away from 3MT with more knowledge in our pockets and something new and interesting to talk about at the dinner table.