Three Minute Thesis® (3MT) is a competition organised at universities around the world. It is aimed at doctoral students and challenges them to present their research (in English) in just three minutes, without presentations, multimedia or props, and as interestingly and clearly as possible for an audience with no knowledge of a given research field. 3MT® was created by the University of Queensland in 2008. In Poland, the competition had so far only been organised in the Silesian Voivodeship by the Science Popularisation Centre of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice. This year, it came to the Warsaw University of Technology as one of the initiatives under the "Excellence Initiative – Research University" project.

The road to the final

The ten finalists, selected through a process of elimination, gave their presentations to a jury consisting of: WUT Vice-Rector for Science Prof. Mariusz Malinowski, Director of the WUT Doctoral School Prof. Paweł Pyrzanowski, Head of the Communication and Promotion Office and WUT Spokesperson Krzysztof Szymański, and science journalist and populariser Radosław Brzózka.

Our doctoral students presented a whole cross-section of engineering topics – from advanced physics, through IT, biotechnology, energy solutions, to issues related to passive radars.

The following students took part in the final: Idris Alugo (environmental engineering, mining & energy, Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering), Karolina Gabor-Siatkowska (information and communication technology, Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology), Natalia Izdebska (chemical sciences, Faculty of Chemistry), Shamma Khair Allah (environmental engineering, mining & energy, Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering), Joanna Konopka (chemical sciences, Faculty of Chemistry), Radosław Maksymiuk (information and communication technology, Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology), Shirajum Monira (physical sciences, Faculty of Physics), Aleksandra Pisarek (chemical engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering), Paweł Romańczuk (biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry), and Błażej Żyliński (physical sciences, Faculty of Physics). 

Results

The jurors admitted that the choice was difficult. Eventually, first place was taken by Natalia Izdebska for her presentation on the topic of "Additives for rechargeable high-energy bivalent metal-organic batteries". Aleksandra Pisarek came second with her presentation "How to strengthen the air?" Third place went to Paweł Romańczuk and his presentation "Brain-on-chip and multi-organ-on-chip technology to study mechanisms of action and inter-organ interactions in the pharmacological treatment of depressive conditions". 

A special prize from Radosław Brzózka was awarded to Shirajum Monira for her presentation "Exploring the role of flavour in baryon production mechanism through angular correlations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13.6 TeV with ALICE". 

The audience – both live and watching the event online –  gave their own award. Natalia Izdebska received the most votes, meaning that the audience opinion matched the jury's decision.

The final of the Three Minute Thesis® competition at the Warsaw University of Technology took place on 13 December 2024 in the Rektorska 4 building.