Peter Williams, a postgraduate researcher at the LSA, recently represented the school and faculty as a finalist in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition at Liverpool University, presenting alongside 8 other incredibly talented postgraduate researchers representing an amazing breadth of research in the post-graduate community.
Peter writes "I am not a natural public speaker, and over the past year, I have greatly enjoyed the training sessions provided by The PGR Academy at the University, which offer amazing support and encouragement in developing the skills to articulate and present your research.
I wanted to enter the 3MT because it seemed like a good way to develop not only my communication skills but also my ability to distil what is important in my research and present it concisely to a non-specialist audience, something I now realise is an incredible skill to try to master. Squeezing what has been two years of research to date, and an ongoing avalanche of rabbit holes and questions, into a single image and 3 minutes was incredibly difficult.
Despite being able to rattle off my 2 min 55 sec speech in my head, brain fog and nerves got the better of me on the day, but I muddled my way to the end in front of a very supportive audience.
During the final at the Hope St Hotel rooftop, there was a wonderful opportunity to meet and spend time with the other finalists, hear about their incredible research, learn from them, and share ideas, as well as a great workshop on Public Engagement.
I’d strongly encourage people to consider entering the 2027 3MT competition, as the learning outcomes from submitting an entry alone provide valuable communication and engagement tools, which I know will support me in the year to come and beyond. "
You can find out more about the Three Minute Thesis at the University of Liverpool here.