Three Minutes Thesis University final

PhD candidate Robert Lingard will defend the Three Minute Thesis title he claimed last year when the final is held at Southern Cross University’s Lismore campus today.

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a research communication competition. The exercise develops academic, presentation and research communication skills and supports the development of research students' capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes in a language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience.

Mr Lingard, of the School of Arts and Social Sciences, will talk on his research into attitudes to making babies by cloning technology.

“My research considers the attitudes which were expressed in the Australian public debates around the topic of human cloning in 2002, when legislation was passed, and 2006, when legislation was reviewed,” he said.

“I am specifically considering the issue of making babies by human cloning and asking how did people justify their position on the issue? Also, what do the various justifications tell us about the way that the issue of clones and cloning were valued? And do members of the public place their values differently than politicians, or scientists or religious professionals – and is there evidence that their voices were also heard?”

Mr Lingard represented SCU at the Australia New Zealand finals of 3MT last year and he said it was a valuable experience.

“The finals were at the University of Western Australia and there were speakers from 42 different universities who presented their research from a remarkable range of projects such as: studying shark eggs, forensic fingerprinting and Nigerian bank CEOs,” he said.

Mr Lingard will be up against some stiff opposition with Jessica Seymour, Tiago Freire and Dale Fallon also presenting.

Ms Seymour, of the School of Arts and Social Sciences, will talk on her research topic of ‘Phoenixes, Mockingjays and Chameleons: Child abuse and re-empowerment in contemporary fantasy and speculative young adult literature’.

Mr Freire, of the School of Environment, Science and Engineering, will present his thesis on ‘Waste Not Want Not: Tapping into the clever chemistry of wasted potential’.

Ms Fallon, also of the School of Environment, Science and Engineering, will talk on her research topic of ‘Local Government Solutions to Problems in Climate Change’.

The winner will go on to represent SCU at the Australia and New Zealand semi-finals in October at the University of Queensland.

The judges are Professor Robert Weatherby, Professor Susan Nancarrow and Ben Roche, all of SCU, and ABC North Coast radio morning presenter Justine Frazier.

Presentations start from 2pm with the competition set to conclude by 4pm. The competition will be held in Room U231.

Photo: 2011 Three Minute Thesis Australia and New Zealand finalists, including Robert Lingard, extreme right (white shirt).