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29 August 2018 Photo Barend Nagel
Think three minutes is a long time
One slide and three minutes was all they had to present their research. Winners of the UFS Three-Minute Thesis competition in the Master’s category are from left: Nigel Masalla, Phuthi Samuel Masingi and Vuyisa Sigwela. Home page photo: Winners in the PhD Category were Trudie Strauss and Nokuthula Tlalajoe.
It may take three minutes to make noodles, but imagine presenting the 80 000-word research you spent months writing in just three minutes.

For master’s and PhD students participating in the annual institutional Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition at the University of the Free State (UFS), three minutes seem to go as fast as three seconds. Each participant is given three minutes to present the essence of their research, explaining the problem, methodology used, as well as the importance of their research using one slide.

A jubilant audience of staff members and students gathered at the Equitas Auditorium on the Bloemfontein Campus for the annual institutional 3MT competition. Interesting research topics across different fields of study, which the participants had spent months and even years researching, were presented in the master’s and PhD categories. After each presentation, a panel of judges and the audience had the chance to ask the participants questions on their research.

The competition is part of the initiative by the UFS Postgraduate School to showcase postgraduate research across disciplines, faculties, and universities. Participation in this competition helps to develop academic, presentation, and research communication skills to ensure that research students can effectively communicate their research in a language that even non-specialists can understand. 

It is the mandate of the school to “create an enabling environment for postgraduate students to excel in their pursuit of their academic quests”, according to Prof Witness Mudzi: Director of the UFS Postgraduate School. 

Winners at the event:

PhDs
• Third prize: Trudie Strauss - Babelish Confusion: Finding Statistical Structure in the Diversity of Languages (R3 000 cash prize)
• People’s choice: Nokuthula Tlalajoe - The transition of undergraduate first-year students into the MBChB programme: Social learning and integration

Master’s
• First prize: Phuthi Samuel Masingi   Physical demands of South African Football (R6 000 cash prize)
• Second prize and people’s choice: Nigel Masalla   “ Stealthing” – lifting the veil on non-consensual condom removal (R4 000 cash prize)
• Third prize: Vuyisa Sigwela - Extraction, characterisation and application of betalains from beetroot, cactus pear and amaranth (R2 000 cash prize)

The UFS will be represented by Trudie Strauss at the national 3MT competition on 26 October 2018. The national competition will take place on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus

News Archive

Institute hosts Artistic Social Justice Week
2012-08-15

The International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice at the university is hosting its first annual week of Artistic Social Justice from 23 to 31 August 2012. The week consists of performing arts activities such as plays, live music, poetry and an art exhibition.

In what is expected to become one of the annual highlights on the Kovsie calendar, students will have an opportunity to express themselves artistically while creating an awareness about social responsibilities.

Activities lined up for the week include the cabaret Vagina Dentata, a musical satire which looks at the unique stories of South African women. The line-up also include a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersexed performance piece with participants giving oral narratives of issues affecting the LGBTIQ community.

The exhibition, The F-word: Images of forgiveness, tells the stories of people whose lives have been shattered by violence, tragedy and injustice and who are learning to forgive, reconcile and move on.

Paul Chappell, Research Consultant at the Centre for the Study of Aids at the University of Pretoria, will deliver a guest lecture on sexuality and disability.

For more information, contact Angelo Mockie at MockieSMA@ufs.ac.za

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