Dominika Bijos, a third-year postgraduate researcher in the School of Clinical Sciences, won the 2014 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition with her presentation entitled, ‘To Pee or not to Pee’.
One year on, we asked Dominika 3 questions about her 3MT experience.
1. What has winning the 3MT meant for you?
3 minutes of fame 🙂 – I didn’t expect the recognition.
People recognised me from Bristol Uni website and watching my 3MT video, and suddenly I heard congrats in the school corridor. Profs who I was sure hadn’t noticed me for years, suddenly knew my name. I was invited to give a talk at the Clinical Sciences School Meeting and then at Science Quarter NHS North Bristol Clinical Trials Day.
The 3MT built my confidence and I took part in Bristol Bright Night and FameLab. There, I made even more friends and was invited to take part in Bath’s Science Stand Up.
So a year later, my 3MT talk has over 3000 views on YouTube, I have given 10 more talks and get more and more involved with research dissemination and science communication. The 3MT catapulted forward my dissemination of research to a general audience.
2. How did taking part in the 3MT support or impact on your research?
It is now the coolest video explaining over-active bladder out there!
Thanks to the 3MT I have made, refined and improved my research pitch, which proved very useful in all sorts of occasions from parties to job interviews. Last year, I teamed up with an International Continence Society to promote Bladder Diary, a worldwide initiative to discover what is “normal” in a daily peeing routine. It is surprising that we still don’t know that and in order to explain this I borrowed my 3MT talk and added a Bladder Diary story at the end.
3. What would you say to anyone thinking about entering next year?
Do it!
You don’t have to win, just from taking part you gain a lot! So don’t think you don’t have enough data (even better, you see the bigger picture!) or you don’t have time cause you are writing up (best to regain the bigger picture) – just do it. Because you will gain your amazing research pitch explaining what you do so everyone can understand and relate to it. Not only WHAT you research but also WHY it matters is the key to research dissemination. Being able to clearly, concisely and enthusiastically communicate helps every early career researcher.
Also, I gained friends among fellow 3MT finalists. It was super exciting to hear about research from all corners of the University – I still remember Laura’s magnetic gears and Olivia changing the law with her psychology research. So take part, practice talking and meet people 🙂