Iranian artist wins 3MT competition

Iranian artist wins 3MT competition

Broccoli, Iranian art, natural disasters and rotting fruit were among the topics presented by 10 finalists who took to the stage at the University of Waikato’s Three Minute Thesis competition this week.

The PhD students had three minutes and a static Power Point slide in which to explain their thesis to three judges and a full-house on Wednesday 21 October at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts. Comedian Michele A’Court was MC for the event.

The winner was Neda Nourmohammadi from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences whose presentation was entitled “Shaping the Future: Reconciling the Contemporary Iranian Art with Dynamic Identity”.

“It was unbelievable for me to hear my name as the winner, because everyone was great,” Neda says. “I'm so grateful for winning this and am still very excited.”

From Iran, Neda is now 16 months into her PhD and is gathering data for her research.

“My research intends to establish broader insights into the significance of contemporary Iranian art within local and transnational contexts through the process of thinking about, and creatively responding to the art-making of women artists.”

Neda took away $3000 and has secured a spot in the Trans-Tasman 3MT next year in Australia. The runner-up prize, worth $1500, was awarded to Sarah Lockwood from Waikato Management School for her thesis presentation “The Self-Organising of Volunteering Youth during Crisis Events” and Jason Sun from the Faculty of Science and engineering took the People’s Choice Award with his presentation on developing a laser-based sensor system that non-destructively detects rot inside fruit and vegetable entitled “Seeing Through Layers”.

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Postgraduate) Professor Kay Weaver said the 10 presentations were all of a very high standard.

“The finalists were all outstanding PhD students that the university can really be proud of.”

3MT is supported by Prior Blackburn and the University of Waikato Foundation and showcases research being carried out by the University’s PhD students. Presentations were judged on comprehension, engagement and communication by judges Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley, Waikato-Tainui Chief Executive Parekawhia McLean and Prolife Foods CEO Dr Andrew Smith.

ENDS

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