1st year KBS Doctoral student and DICE Alumna Sarah Tetley, won the prize for best presentation at the inaugural ESRC Doctoral Training Centre Conference in Guildford last week.
Students from across the SE DTC – which comprises the Universities of Kent, Surrey, Reading and Royal Holloway, were invited to present their research in one of two novel, and challenging formats – “The Three-minute thesis” (3MT) or a PechaKucha. The 3-minute Thesis – is intended to develop academic, presentation, and research communication skills by encouraging students to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience in a condensed time-frame. Presenters are allowed to display a single slide during the presentation. In contrast, PechaKucha is a form of presentation founded on a simple principle – 20 slides, shown for 20 seconds each. The idea is to use an image (preferably), or perhaps a snippet of text, that complements the point you are speaking on. For the SE DTC conference, the format was revised slightly to 10 slides for 20 seconds each.
Sarah chose to perform a PechaKucha to present her research into sustainable consumer behaviour within the UK seafood market. Using only images to illustrate her arguments, Sarah effectively communicated the research context, theoretical underpinnings, proposed methodology and anticipated outcomes of her research. The combined audience of students and staff were unanimous in declaring Sarah the overall winner – awarding her a £50 book token for her efforts !
Sarah’s presentation – with notes – can be viewed here ……