Master’s and doctoral students at Brock have until Friday, Jan. 23, 2015 to register for the 2015 Three Minute Thesis® (3MT®) contest.
A registration form is available on the 3MT® website along with contest information, important dates and links to videos from Brock’s previous competitions.
The contest challenges graduate students to talk about their research and why it matters in a way that will inform and captivate people outside of their disciplines. It is held each year in conjunction with Brock’s annual Mapping the New Knowledges Graduate Student Research Conference. A preliminary round will take place in February and the top finishers will advance to compete at the finals that will be held at the conference on Thursday, April 9.
Julian Petrachenko, an master’s student in Applied Health Sciences, was one of last year’s finalists. The title of his presentation was “C.H.A.R.M. – Blending TPSR and arts-based education with underserved youth.”
Videos of all the 2014 finalists can be found online.
“I would strongly recommend that other students pursue this rare opportunity as passionately as possible,” says Petrachenko who is supervised by Professor Maureen Connolly. “Being able to engage in meaningful discourse with a variety of Brock faculty members and students enabled me to bolster my own research efforts and graduate experience.”
With the clock running and one static slide at his disposal, Petrachenko described the design and objectives of CHARM (Confident Healthy Active Role Models), a program that serves at-risk youth in Niagara. This service-based learning initiative gives Brock students the experience of delivering community programming in which they serve as mentors to youth.
The program is unique for its arts-based approach to teaching personal and social responsibility to youth who, in Petrachenko’s words, “are under served in traditional and educational environments and deemed at risk for future maladaptive and destructive behaviours.”
With less than 30 seconds left on the clock, Petrachenko looked at the crowd of 80-plus people facing him and posed a pointed question – “But, why should you care?”
Like a skilled advocate, he paused slightly before replying: “See, risk is a moving target. Today, it is our youth caught in the cycle of poverty and mental illness. But five years from now, it may be our retirees or business owners or, people who are just like you.”
Before the time wound down, Petrachenko issued a call to action for practitioners to find ways of responding to needs in society with “respect, responsibility and meaningful engagement.”
“I feel the opportunity of participating in the 3MT® contest allowed me to showcase the value that Brock University identifies in service learning,” he said recently about the contest experience. “My presentation allowed me to share our approach to learning that has led to strong, successful and growing community partnerships involving Brock University and the Niagara region.”
The Brock 3MT® contest offers prize money of $500 for the winner and $250 for the runner-up. Also, the winner will advance to the provincial finals being held at Western University on Thursday, April 23, 2015. Last year, Brock’s Leslie Nash, a master’s student in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, placed second in the province and advanced to compete in the first Canadian 3MT® competition.
This year participants in the 3MT® and MNK conference events will earn credit toward a Vitae Essential Skills certificate awarded by the Dean of Graduate Studies. To find out more about this certificate, please visit Vitae Essential Skills.
Continue to watch Brock’s 3MT® website for updates about the contest.
