The "Future Doctoral 3-minute Competition 3" was held on November 2021rd, where doctoral students convey the appeal of their research in 11 minutes.

"1MT® (Three Minute Thesis)" is a program in which doctoral graduate students communicate their research vision and appeal under the condition of one slide and three minutes, and compete for their power. Held by more than 3 institutions on six continents, this tournament is represented in Japan by Hiroshima University.Local Concert Platform (HIRAKU) that opens up the futureHas been implemented since 2015 (go.nature.com/3MT_2020).

It was held online following last year, but 130 people from all over the country applied.On the day of the tournament, 11 finalists from the Japanese and English divisions who won the video screening made presentations online.

The Springer Nature Video Awards were given to Lita Rakhma Yustinasari of Yamaguchi University, who conveyed the appeal of research into clues to preeclampsia with placental-derived exosomes.Nature digest The video award was given to Yuri Ai Asao of Hiroshima University, who is working to popularize and establish dental caries prevention in Cambodia, where intellectuals were genocide in the 1970s.

Our English judge, Antoine Bouquet, said, "I was immediately fascinated by the clear explanation of my current knowledge of preeclampsia, research hypotheses and research plans."Lita also won the Audience Award.

On the other hand, the magazine, which was in charge of the examination in the Japanese language department, was created by a research team who realized that it was necessary to spread and establish prevention in the field because the number of dental caries did not decrease just by going to the dental caries treatment. I was impressed by the fact that the number of cavities was drastically reduced.This method must bring healthy lives to many people outside of Cambodia.Mr. Asao was also selected as the highest award in the Japanese category.Please see the end of the article for the winners of each award.

"If you can tell how your research relates to people close to you in the introductory part of the presentation, the audience will naturally want to hear the continuation of the story," the secretariat advised.The importance of this can be clearly seen in the story of Mr. Yude Shimamura, who won the highest award in the English category. Having achieved a humiliation in his second challenge to 3MT, his challenge was to first convey the existence of the field of X-ray optics to the general audience, and then to summarize the background, novelty, and impact in relation to society. Say. "We were conscious of the three points of careful selection of technical terms, intuitive expressions, and story style that spreads from our daily lives, and we worked with friends of various English levels to elaborate on the actual performance," says Mr. Shimamura.

"Simplifying complex things to make them easier to understand is always a challenge, especially when communicating to the general audience in different disciplines," Lita said.In her presentation, she described the exosomes released from her placenta, which she was studying, "much like the work of a mail carrier," she said, and was pleased that the idea was appreciated. Gave me.

On the other hand, Mr. Asao repeated Japan, which had achieved postwar reconstruction, in Cambodia, where the influence of the civil war still remains.She said that there are many diseases that can be prevented by disseminating and establishing correct knowledge. I am very happy to have the opportunity to make a presentation in front of people. We aim for a future full of smiles by "research on approaching from oral health to general health", he said.

Misako Aida, a specially appointed assistant to the president of Hiroshima University and chairman of the judging committee, said in the presentation of the judging results, "Everyone was very wonderful. I want you to be confident that you have made the announcement as a list. "

In the closing remarks that followed, Keiji Yamamoto, who is in charge of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) program, said, "Doctoral students are expected to be world-leading human resources. It is a tournament that confirms the maturity of doctoral students, and I believe that what I experienced here will lead to a leap forward tomorrow. "

The magazine, which has participated in the examination since last year, was amazed at the further improvement in the presentation technology.Imagine that the difference between the finalists and the applicants who did not qualify was small.This was reflected in the existence of students who were awarded the corporate award but did not reach the tournament.On the other hand, I was also interested in the presenters who mixed the history of research and their own research. It's that difficult to reach your own research in three minutes.The secretariat's general comment will be a "cheat sheet" for improving communication skills.

The video of the day of the tournament and the general comment of the secretariat are available on the website of the sponsored "Local Concert Platform for the Future (HIRAKU)". ((https://hiraku.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/event/competition_2021/report/）

(Editorial department)

Excellence Award

Japanese section

"Nurturing the future of children from oral health"
Yuria Asao (Hiroshima University)

English department

“Atomic-scale“ chest X-rays ”with ultrasmall mirrors”
Mr. Takenori Shimamura (University of Tokyo)

Award of Excellence

Japanese section

"Three-dimensional placement technology for metal nanostructures for super-resolution observation!"
Tomoki Watanabe (Tokushima University)

English department

“In Search of Home: The return of the Vietnamese Westerners”
Daniel Le (Kanazawa University)

Audience Award

Japanese section

"Understanding different cultures through compliments"
Mutia Kusumawati (Hiroshima University)

English department

“A Mysterious Messenger in Placenta Break Down the Problems in Preeclampsia: Possible?”
Mr. Lita Rakhma Yustinasari (Yamaguchi University)

[Press Release] From the health of children's mouths to the technology of seeing atoms in roentgen photographs-Announcement of the winners of the "Future Doctor 2021 Minute Competition XNUMX" (sponsored by the Regional Concert Platform (HIRAKU) that opens up the future)

 
* This article is reprinted from "Nature Digest".
Reprinted from: Nature Digest 2021 No. 12
"A three-minute enthusiastic battle by future doctors! '
Nature Digest Vol. 18 No. 12 | doi: 10.1038 / ndigest.2021.211219