Graduate nursing students compete in 3-Minute Thesis

Think of it as a longer version of an elevator speech. You have three minutes to sum up your thesis for an “intelligent but non-specialist audience”. Could you do it?

Four students in the nursing graduate program took the challenge this week, and competed in 3MT – The Three Minute Thesis Competition – at McMaster University. They are: Tharshika Sugumaran, Maneet Chahal, Pereya Kulasegaram and Jasprit Pannag.

Jasprit Pannag won 5^th place out of 82 competitors and took home a $500 prize for her inspiring performance. She will also receive the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Communicating Research and will be invited to the Graduate Student Recognition Awards Ceremony in November 2018.

Photo above: Jasprit Pannag, with her thesis supervisor, Dr. Sandra Carroll, Associate Dean, Nursing

Photo above: Jasprit Pannag, centre-stage with the top 5 at the 3MT ceremony

Photo above: The competitors, Maneet Chahal, Jasprit Pannag, Tharshika Sugumaran, Pereya Kulasegaram

Photo above: Dr. Nancy Carter, Assistant Dean, Graduate Studies, Nursing, on stage at the event with students Jasprit Pannag, Tharshika Sugumaran, Maneet Chahal, Pereya Kulasegaram

Pannag spoke about her thesis. “My thesis work labelled the BLUEPRINT study is a feasibility study that assesses the feasibility of delivering a nurse-led educational session within an outpatient clinic setting to implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) candidates prior to receiving an ICD. With a current lack of research focusing on pre-implantation ICD patient education, my research intends to fill this gap,” Pannag says.

“I am grateful to have unwavering support from Dr. Carroll who is an incredible mentor and also the constructive support from my committee,” says Pannag. “Participating in the 3M competition was an amazing experience. It was challenging putting together the speech let alone memorising it. It was also interesting to learn about the research other students in different faculties are pursuing because we don’t get the opportunity to hear about it otherwise. It was also very inspiring to watch all the competitors passionately present their research and be in a room with such nervous yet positive energy.”

Three other nursing students competed in the event as well and their topics are:

Tharshika Sugumaran, MSc Thesis Based, supervisor:  Dr. Diana Sherifali; Thesis topic: Diabetes Coaching

Maneet Chahal, MSc Thesis Based, supervisor:  Dr. Janet Landeen; Thesis topic: The Black Cloud

Pereya Kulasegaram, MSc Thesis Based, supervisor:  Dr. Sharon Kaasalainen; Thesis topic: “Whether I want to or not it’s my duty”: Bereaved South Asian Caregivers

The School of Graduate Studies hosted the annual event, which is a university-wide competition for graduate students. The challenge is to present complex research in an engaging, accessible, and compelling way, using only one static slide. Students are judged on comprehension, engagement and communication. This is the 6^th year for the event and each year it attracts more competitors.

For more information about the competition, visit the School of Graduate Studies page: 3MT page

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