IGR PhD student takes top prize at Three-Minute Thesis
Published: 12 September 2014
PhD student Richard Middlemiss has won the top prize in the national Three-Minute Thesis competition.
PhD student Richard Middlemiss has won the top prize in the national Three-Minute Thesis competition.
The Three Minute Thesis was initially developed at the University of Queensland, Australia and has since spread to other universities. The competition asks doctoral candidates to present their research topic to an audience in just 180 seconds.
Richard’s presentation, titled ‘Saving the World with Springs’, outlined his work to build a tiny gravity sensor using springs ten times thinner than a human hair which were manufactured at the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre. The sensor, small enough to fit inside a golf ball, is extremely sensitive and could be used in a wide range of applications, including finding landmines under soil, tracking magma moving under volcanoes, and mapping fault lines which could cause earthquakes.
The presentation won him £3000 to spend on public engagement activity and the opportunity to receive professional consultation to improve his online presence.
Richard, from the Institute of Gravitational Research, said: “I’m delighted to have been named as the overall winner of the Three-Minute Thesis competition. 25 universities from across the UK participated and the competition was really strong, so it’s a real honour to take the top prize.
“I’m planning to use my prize money to fund a documentary on the total solar eclipse which will be visible from Svalbard and the Faroes in March next year.”
You can see Richard’s presentation here: http://ow.ly/BpU9V and read more about the Three-Minute Thesis 2014 results here: http://ow.ly/BpUdH
First published: 12 September 2014
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