Kyushu University holds Kyushu U 3MT Competition 2024 Award Ceremony

On Monday, August 26, 2024, the award ceremony for the Kyushu U Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition 2024 was held at Shiiki Hall, Ito Campus. In addition to the two award winners, each of their supervisors, Professor Iwata (Executive Vice President), Professor Konomi (Vice President) and Mr. Minami (Director of the International Affairs Department) attended the ceremony.
This was the fourth time Kyushu University held its 3MT competition, a local version of an international competition where doctoral students present their research focus in just three minutes with only one slide. The 3MT competition was originally launched in 2008 at our partner institution, The University of Queensland in Australia, and has become a well-known and highly regarded competition.
This year, seven students from six graduate schools who made it through the first round of the competition advanced to the online final on Monday, July 29.
In addition to one judge from Kyushu University, Professor Aya Hagishima (Senior Vice President), Kyushu University invited five judges from outside the university:

• Kendall Draper, Consul and Trade and Investment Commissioner, Australian Consulate-General in Osaka
• Professor Lydia Kavanagh, The University of Queensland
• President Syo Matsumura, National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), Kurume College
• Yasufumi Hirai, Chief of Staff to the CEO, Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Dr. Ayako Miyazaki, Senior Communications Manager, Corporate Affairs, Springer Nature

After a rigorous screening process, two winners were selected. During the Q&A session, each judge gave many thought-provoking comments based on his or her own experience in response to the participants’ answers. The event was a success with participating students commenting that it was an extremely valuable experience.

The first-place winner, Asih Gayatri Darmawan, will represent Kyushu University in the Virtual Asia-Pacific Competition, 2024 Asia-Pacific 3MT Semi-Final Showcase hosted by the University of Queensland. Ms. Darmawan was also selected for the People's Choice Award, which is voted on by the public.
The supervisors of the winners, who attended the awards ceremony, shared their comments: “After participating in this event, the students' logical thinking and presentation skills improved dramatically.” and “Participating in the 3MT has been a great confidence booster for the students and a positive influence on the other students in our lab.”

Winner: Asih Gayatri Darmawan (2nd year, Doctoral Course, Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences)
Runner-up: Shashank Kotyan (2nd year, Doctoral Course, Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering)
People's Choice: Asih Gayatri Darmawan (2nd year, Doctoral Course, Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences)
All affiliations and grades are those as of September 1, 2024.

• 2024 Asia-Pacific 3MT Semi-Final
• Kyushu U 3MT Competition