Eight grad students from across Canada made their way to Regina for the 2026 National 3MT Competition. Competitors were required to present their thesis in no more than three minutes, with just one static slide behind them. “This has been the biggest challenge in my degree so far, trying to explain such a complex topic in such a short period of time.” said Paula Brandt, a PHD student studying Type 2 diabetes at the University of Calgary. “Your words have to actually do a lot more of the explaining in comparison to the visuals”. Brandt’s presentation was called “Islet Amyloid Polypeptide: The Biological Velcro Creating Sticky Situations in Type 2 Diabetes.” “When most people think of Type two diabetes, they think of insulin or blood sugar - but I’m looking at the protein misfolding aspect of this condition,” she said. Two of the contestants are from Ontario, two are from Quebec, one is from Alberta, one from British Columbia, one from Nova Scotia, and one from Saskatchewan. “They really need to think about what’s the most interesting component of the research and what has the most impact,” said Ian Wereley, the executive director of the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies. “As an exercise in kind of rethinking and reframing your research, it’s really valuable to graduate students.” With over 15 years in the teaching field, University of Regina master’s student Jaclyn Roach presented her thesis on making the job more sustainable for in-service and pre-service teachers. Her presentation is called “Before the burnout: Preparing future teachers for the field.” Over the course of her career, she said the teaching job has become harder and more intense. “Following a global pandemic, when we experienced this incredible collective trauma, we’re seeing a lot of dysregulations in classrooms, both students and teachers,” she said. It’s the sixth year of the competition, and Wereley says 3MT can lead the students into new career opportunities down the road. “It really benefits the graduate students as a professional development and knowledge mobilization activity, but also the general public in getting a chance to interface with some of the brightest minds at university right now.” The students pitched their work to those attending Wednesday night at Darke Hall. The winner will move on to the North American competition in Los Angeles in early December. Here are the contestants who took part and their thesis topics: Sogand Golshahian, MASc Biomedical Engineering (University of British Columbia) Presentation: The heart disease you’ve never heard of and the blood test that could stop it Isabelle Hinch, PhD in Biological Sciences (University of Windsor) Presentation: Breastfeeding does reduce breast cancer risk, but… Claire Floras, PhD in Materials Engineering (Dalhousie University) Presentation: If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen: Baking lithium-ion batteries Sarah Boukhames, PhD in Civil Engineering (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi) Presentation: Valorization of Bauxite Residues and Carbonaceous By-Products in Asphalt Mixtures Jaclyn Roach, MEd in Education (University of Regina) Presentation: Before the burnout: Preparing future teachers for the field Negar Aghigh, PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Polytechnique Montréal) Presentation: Self-Healing 3D-Printed Materials That Repair Themselves Anna Nickel, MSc in Applied Health Sciences (Brock University) Presentation: Seeing Concussion Differently: Rethinking Testing for Athletes with Visual Impairment Paula Brandt, PhD in Medical Sciences (University of Calgary) Presentation: Islet Amyloid Polypeptide: The Biological Velcro Creating Sticky Situations in Type 2 Diabetes
