Doctoral student Rūta Morkūnienė, a junior assistant at the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology of the Faculty of Medicine. Photo: VU MF
“You can write your dissertation in 3 years, defend it in 3 hours, but can you summarise it in 3 minutes?” This is how the organisers of the Three Minute Thesis presentation challenge advertised their event. Doctoral student Rūta Morkūnienė, a junior assistant at the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology of the Faculty of Medicine, whose thesis supervisor is Prof. J. Tutkuvienė, proved the point using one slide to explain the subject, objectives and progress of her dissertation. She won first place in the challenge, that was held on 23 March at Vilnius University.
Two weeks preparation
“When I started my doctoral studies, I participated in the Three Minute Thesis presentation challenge as a part of the audience. This was the first time such a challenge had been held at the University. I found the idea interesting, and realised that participation in it would be a real challenge. It is not easy, after all, to provide scientific information in a concise, structured and popular way, so that it can be understood by everyone,” Morkūnienė said. After her first encounter, she decided she wanted to try and participate in it. Morkūnienė was about to participate in the challenge, when the pandemic ruined her plans, and the challenge was suspended for some time. This year however, there were no obstacles to her participation.
The challenge requires you to present your dissertation in just three minutes. How long did it take Rūta to prepare? It took her about two weeks: “I decided on the ideas I wanted to mention during my presentation, then started rehearsing and initially my speech lasted double the required time. Then I started removing information, discarding what was unnecessary, simplifying and improving my English. The preparation of the slide also took some time. I wanted to be well prepared so that I would feel confident.”
Doctoral student Rūta Morkūnienė, a junior assistant at the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology of the Faculty of Medicine. Photo: VU MF
To present simply what is not simple
When asked what the most difficult part of the preparation for the challenge was, Rūta mentioned a couple of aspects: “The challenge was to prepare the text, decide on its structure, and distil the main thoughts. Also, I needed to comply with one of the requirements of the challenge – to speak in such a way that non-medical professionals would understand it. So the presentation had to be comprehensive, but not simplified to the extent that it would contain no science. It isn’t easy to describe your dissertation in such a way that makes it clear for the listener, when hearing about the topic for the first time.”
“The topic of my dissertation focuses on premature infants born in Lithuania. The aim of the research is to examine how the premature infants develop, how their anthropometric indicators (height, weight) change from the time of their birth until they finish school, looking for the close and distant interrelationships between their physical and general health. The aim of my doctoral thesis is to prepare growth charts for premature infants born in Lithuania. Such information has not previously been available in Lithuania. This will enable healthcare specialists to monitor the health of such children, since premature infants face additional health challenges, require long-term monitoring, analysis of growth processes and when necessary, timely intervention,” Morkūnienė said.
She is conducting a retrospective longitudinal study. This means that by using patients medical history from primary outpatient healthcare institutions, it takes less time to analyse the life of children from their birth until they finish school. Without this information, this type of study from infancy to adulthood would last at least 18 years in real time.
Science must serve society
“The Three Minute Thesis presentation challenge confirms the rule that less is more,” Morkūnienė said. She believes that one can say a lot on the topic of her research in a complex way, but one should also be able to tell the general public about it in a simple, clear and understandable format: “Science must serve society. We are used to presenting our research at scientific conferences – we then use specific terminology to address specialist audiences. It’s not that often that we have to speak to the general public about it, at least not for me.”
Morkūnienė says that participation in the challenge was interesting, useful and fun. She encourages doctoral students to try their hand at it. A video of the winner’s presentation will be submitted to the Coimbra University Group to participate in the international 3-Minute-Thesis competition finals, in which other winners from all over the world will take part.