Give me three minutes
Do sharing economy initiatives like AirBnB truly qualify as sharing? And could the changes in eating patterns be a contributing factor to the rise in health conditions such as diabetes? These were the winning topics at AUT's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, which took place earlier this month.
Celebrating the research by doctoral and masters students, 3MT aims to cultivate students' academic, presentation, and research communication skills. The competition, which is held in over 200 universities, demands that students can effectively explain their research in three minutes to a 'lay' audience.
Of the 6 master's and 26 doctoral students who competed in AUT pre-heats, 3 master's and 6 doctoral students progressed to the university's 3MT Competition Finals on Friday 18 August. Welcomed by Professor Marion Jones, Dean - Postgraduate Studies, hundreds of students, supervisors, friends and family members gathered for the event.
Marian Makkar, from the Faculty of Business, Economics & Law picked up the winner and audience choice awards, in the Doctoral category with her presentation: "Be my guest: Commodifying sharing with the case of Airbnb."
"It is such an honour to be chosen by both the 3MT judges, as well as the audience. It solidifies the importance of my research. I see participating and winning the 3MT competition as a chance for people to hear my story, find out more about my research, and its social and business implications."
Whilst McDonald William Nyalapa, from the Faculty of Health & Environmental Sciences won the master's competition with his presentation: "When eating patterns move with the times: A focus on Malawian semi-rural families."
"3MT is a tough process but there are so many benefits beyond winning. The screening process means you get lots of valuable feedback on your work. This shaped my research and made me look at things from new angles. It's a great experience and I would encourage my fellow students to apply next year because it will enrich your work."
The judges of the competition finals were Associate Professor Jennie Billot, Head of Researcher Development, Professor Welby Ings, keynote speaker at the 2017 Postgraduate Research Symposium, and Iana Gritcan, PhD student and winner of the 2016 AUT 3MT Competition Finals. The audience, too, voted for their favourites.
McDonald's 3MT journey has come to end after representing AUT at the 2017 Masters 3MT Inter-University Challenge at Victoria University of Wellington on Thursday 24 August. The national competition was also a platform for networking in research.
The next stage for Marian will see her representing AUT at the Asia-Pacific 3MT competition in Brisbane on Friday 29 September.
Congratulations to all the students who took part. Visit AUT's page on the website for more information on the 3MT competition.
Marian used the metaphor of the 'wolf in sheep's clothing' to question whether sharing economy initiatives like AirBnB truly qualify as sharing, or whether they muddle traditional hospitality with commercial motives.
AUT's 3MT winners
Marian Makkar
Marian's research looks at the consumer culture behind the current buzzword 'the sharing economy'. Digitally-enabled, this economy makes it easier for people to consume collaboratively by renting, sharing, bartering and lending private resources to complete strangers.
She explained, "Sharing means the ability to offer something to others for their use without expectations of reciprocity. This is not the case today with the emergence of businesses that claim they allow people to 'share' when there is obvious economic exchange. I am looking at how the traditional culture of sharing has changed, with my multi-sited ethnographic field study using the context of home-sharing platform Airbnb."
"I'm very proud that I am representing the MARS Department and the entire Faculty, as it's the first time in years that someone from our Faculty has won the university heats. It's great to put us back on the '3MT' map! I'm also excited to represent AUT at the Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition. More people will get to the see the calibre of research we do here at AUT, and its value to society."
McDonald William Nyalapa
A New Zealand Commonwealth Scholarship student, hailing from Malawi, McDonald decided to enter this year's competition, after watching the competition last year, and seeing how it helped the finalists finesse their research.
"3MT is such a competitive process so I knew that anything could happen. From watching last year I knew I had to make my presentation as interesting and as exciting as possible. That being said, I couldn't believe it when I was announced as the winner for my category because my competitors were equally good. I was proud to put my Faculty on the winning spot. I can honestly say, 3MT has been invaluable to my work."
Focusing on the food people eat and its effects it on their health, McDonald's research looks at how eating patterns are changing. From a global level to a regional level and scaled down to a national level in Malawi, McDonald is tracking the advent of processed foods and how this potentially links to the rise in diabetes.
"If we compare eating patterns now to twenty years ago we can see our diet has changed. The introduction and rise of processed and fast food wasn't as prevalent or common place even two decades ago. This change in diet can also be seen in Malawi. One of the poorest countries in the world we struggle with funding for healthcare and we need to accelerate preventive efforts, something I hope to do when I return to Malawi on completion of my Master's next year."