My First PhD Presentation!

Hi all,

Yesterday, I presented my PhD for the first time ever, and it was a big challenge. Why? Because this presentation was part of the 3 Minute Thesis Coventry University Competition.

Essentially, you only have 3 minutes to present your work (all your work), whilst competing with other research students from Coventry University.

Now, because I’m still only four months into my PhD, the presentation could only cover:

• The problem behind my research;
• Why the problem matters;
• What’s my contribution;
• How I will focus on the contribution; and
• Why that contribution is important.

So, to be honest I cannot complain, as there were other competitors more advanced in their studies with a lot more to cover.

But, taking part in this competition, at least for me, was an excellent mental exercise, because it challenges you to summarise as much as possible in order to cover all the important points and at the same time explaining how they intertwine. However, it is even more challenging because you present it to an audience that does not know what you are talking about, so you have to translate all the terminologies and explain it in a way that everyone understands.

The competition consisted of 11 researchers presenting a first time, and then some of those would be selected for the finals. But this year, all the researchers were selected for the finals, so on Thursday, I’ll be presenting again, for a bigger audience – SCARY!

Wish me luck!

Alice