Digital flourishing, unexplained breathlessness and Christmas Island wildlife sounds among topics explored at 3MT final

Western Sydney University Higher Degree Research (HDR) candidates tackled topics ranging from digital family life and unexplained breathlessness to wildlife conservation during the annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition.

Held on 27 August, the finals saw 11 exceptional candidates present their work in just three minutes to an esteemed panel of judges, with two representatives from each of our three Faculties – Health, Engineering, Computing and Science, and Social Science, Arts, Business, Education and Law – and one representative from each of our five research institutes.

Professor Jeff Powell, Dean of Graduate Studies, hosted the event. The judging panel included Professor Freya MacMillan, Professor Alphia Possamai-Inesedy, Ms Inu Rana and Dr Jerry Zhou.

Alex Wharton from the Institute for Culture and Society was named the overall winner for his presentation, Head, Heart, Hands & Home: Foundations of Digital Flourishing. He will represent the University at the Asia-Pacific 3MT competition in October.

“My research investigates how diverse families across two regional New South Wales sites navigate media ecosystems, parental mediation, and media literacy. Moving beyond deficit narratives and simplistic screen-time restrictions, the research introduces a strengths-based model of digital flourishing,” said Alex.

“Winning Western's 3MT final is significant not just for me as a researcher, but for our society as we redefine family media use from a source of conflict into an intentional driver of connection and critical agency."

Kate Drury from the Faculty of Health was named runner up for The Right Route to Diagnosis. Her research explores cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and how difficult this test should be for people who suffer from unexplained breathlessness.

“It is so important that we can also talk about our work with the broader community and the people who will hopefully benefit from our research. Being able to distil a complex scientific topic down into three minutes while using non-scientific language can be really hard, but it is an invaluable learning opportunity for PhD candidates,” said Kate.

Mayuri Kotian from the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment received the People’s Choice Award for Listening to a Rainforest Orchestra. Her research uses acoustic recorders to listen to wildlife across Christmas Island and is developing tools that can be used to automatically identify species using their sounds and detect changes in when, where and how often they vocalise.

"The 3MT competition allowed me to step back from all the nitty-gritty of my research and ask myself why I do what I do and why it really matters. Winning the People's Choice Award was especially meaningful because it helped me see that people in the audience resonated with my story,” said Mayuri.

Developed by The University of Queensland in 2008, the annual 3MT competition challenges doctoral students to explain their research clearly and compellingly in just three minutes, using only one slide.

The winner receives a $2,000 prize, with $1,000 awarded to both the Runner Up and People’s Choice Award recipient.

ENDS.

10 September 2026
Media Unit