Doctoral Students Present Research Topics at First CEU 3MT Competition

June 19, 2018

Central European University hosted its first ever Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition on June 18.

Hosted by the Dean of Students' Office, the competition featured presentations by 10 CEU doctoral students covering a wide range of research topics, from the cognitive processes of babies through bank bailouts to ethical farming. Each student had 180 seconds to give a compelling presentation on their thesis and its significance.

The participating doctoral students were:

Stanislas Richard (Department of Political Science) "How to get rid of exploiters?"
Laura Schlingloff (Department of Cognitive Science) "Helping and hindering - just child's play?"
Kinga Tikosi (Department of Mathematics and its Application) "Optimal investments"
Virag Ilona Blazsek (Department of Legal Studies) "Decoding Bank Bailouts"
Souran Chatterjee (Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy) "Measuring the productivity impact of energy efficiency measures"
Elizaveta Potapova (Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations) "Making sense of academic freedom in Russia"
Mariann Molnar (Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy) "A glass of lemonade"
Georgiana Turculet (Department of Political Science) "Movement&Borders"
Dan Knox (Department of Medieval Studies) "Sixth Century Social Media"
Adrienn Nyircsak (Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations) "Reflections"

The winners of the first 3MT competition at CEU (l-r): Kinga Tikosi (Dept of Mathematics and Its Applications), Dan Knox (Dept. of Medieval Studies), Mariann Molnar (Dept. of Environmental Sciences and Policy). Photo: CEU

The jury's (CEU Provost Liviu Matei, Head of the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology Dorit Geva, Acting Vice President for Development Jason Wheedon, Coordinator in the Department of Economics and Business Katalin Szimler, and President of the CEU Student Union Maxine Haburka) selected Mariann Molnar's presentation as runner-up, and named Dan Knox CEU's first 3MT winner. Kinga Tikosi won the people's choice award.

Knox put forward compelling arguments about why sixth-century letters can be analyzed as social media, drawing similarities between Donald Trump’s Twitter feed and his medieval primary sources.

Molnar reflected on how much farmers have to work to be able to buy seemingly affordable goods, and shed light on how critical farmers are of industrial food production methods.

Tikosi gave an entertaining presentation about investment optimization.

The first 3MT was held at The University of Queensland in 2008 with160 PhD students competing. Enthusiasm for the 3MT concept grew and its widespread implementation by universities has led to the development of an international competition. Competitions are now run in over 200 institutions internationally.

Doctoral Students Present Research Topics at First CEU 3MT Competition

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