Three Minute Thesis Final: Carbon comparison crowned champion

The Lincoln University Three Minute Thesis (3MT) final took place on campus last night, giving 12 postgraduate students the chance to present their research in just three minutes.

The overall winner was Katie O'Hagan (Soil and Physical Sciences) with her presentation The Benefits of Agroforestry for Increasing Soil Carbon, which clearly explained how carbon worked in soil by comparing it to transferring money in and out of a bank account.

Lauren Jones (Agricultural Science) was awarded second place and Kaitlin Watson (Soil and Physical Sciences) was awarded third.

Marian Dumaine (Soil and Physical Sciences) won the prize for best master’s presentation.

Katie will soon take part in the international Virtual Asia-Pacific 3MT Final.

Postgraduate research director Andrew Holyoake said it was a great competition with more engagement than ever before.

“By the third heat the room was overflowing.

“All of the contestants were supporting each other and there was a great atmosphere.”

Each of the finalists were given the chance to work directly with a member of the AgResearch Toastmasters on their presentation.

They also had the opportunity to present at a special meeting of Liffey Toastmasters.

The general feedback from the Liffey Toastmasters was the standard of work was higher than last year.

Deep dives into each of the winner's presentations will be published in the coming weeks.

Kaitlin Watson, Lauren Jones, Katie O'Hagan and Marion Dumaine show off their prizes

Royce Luo teaches the audience how science is protecting our Pinot noir

Stephanie Ellis goes through her research in under 3 minutes