Perth, Australia, 3 November 2014: PhD student Siti Aimi Sarah Zainal Abidin made UPM history when she became a finalist in the International Trans Tasman 3 Minute Thesis (3MT ) Competition. Siti Aimi was one of only ten speakers chosen to compete in the final heat of the competition. She was also the only non-Australian contestant among the finalists.
48 contestants representing universities from Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong congregated at the University of Western Australia, Perth, where the competition was held. Also representing Malaysia, apart from UPM, were Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP).
The winner of the competition was Sarah Marley, a PhD student from Curtin University who bagged the top prize of A$5000 with her project entitled “Say What: Coastal Dolphins and Noisy environments”. The runner-up, Rosanna Stevens from Australia National University (ANU), also won the people’s choice for her presentation entitled “Now You See”. Apart from the winner and the runner-up, the consecutive standings were not revealed.
The competition required the contestants to present their research to a non-specialist audience within three minutes, and only with the aid of a static unanimated slide. Failure to abide by the rules meant automatic disqualification.
Siti Aimi qualified for the final round by impressing the judges with her presentation entitled “Meat CSI: Detecting Culprit Species in Meat Products”. Her approach was to use the world’s current preoccupation with forensics and crime as a refreshing way to explain her research.
“Food adulteration is a crime. My research is about the controversy surrounding it and how we can deal with it. I think my presentation strikes a chord with the audience as food adulteration affects everyone,” she explained.
Congratulations to Siti Aimi, who has done UPM and Malaysia proud!
A playback video of her presentation is available on the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqchpRM77No
