Student award winners announced
Our students make important and valued contribution to the work we do, and the Perron Institute Student Award competitions provided the opportunity for individuals to show their commitment and passion for their respective areas of research and to showcase their skills.
The Best Student Paper Competition tested the ability of students to undertake novel research and publish their findings in a scientific journal. Ten students submitted papers for consideration as the institute’s best paper for 2019. These were judged by an expert panel drawn from researchers at Perth’s universities. The Perron Institute would like to thank Rod Dilley, Wayne Greene, Julian Heng, Helmy Mulders and Jeremy Smith for taking on this task.
Best Student Paper winners
- 2nd Place: Anastazja Gorecki
- 1st Place: Bhedita Seewoo (pictured top right)
The second competition – the Three Minute Thesis Competition – required students to talk about their research using language suitable for a lay audience, without the level of complexity that typically would be delivered to fellow scientists. The challenge included presenting their research in just three minutes, making good use of only one slide, and in plain English. Students were marked on the quality of their presentations (clear and convincing), pitching to a lay audience and conveying enthusiasm for their subject.
Twenty-one students competed in this year’s Three Minute Thesis Competition held at St Catherine’s College. The judging panel was drawn from the broader community, involving people from the business and media sectors, as well as representatives from other not-for-profit organisations. The Perron Institute would like to thank Abigail Davies, Roz Baker, Ainslie de Vos, John Driscoll, Greg Higham, Hayley Lethlean and Jack O’Keefe for taking on this task. The institute would also like to acknowledge Associate Professor Jenny Rodger for facilitating the event and Professor Norman Palmer for his involvement and organisation of the competitions.
Instead of a formal award ceremony originally planned to take place at The University Club of Western Australia, a much smaller gathering was held in-house for the award finalists and a few staff. The format change was necessary because of the COVID-19 restrictions. Thankfully, this didn’t dampen the spirits of the winners, all of whom were thrilled with their achievements.
Three Minute Thesis winners
- 3rd Place: Anastazja Gorecki and Julia Pytte
- 2nd Place: Megan Bakeberg and Frances Theunissen
- 1st Place: Leanne Jiang
A Special Commendation was also awarded to Kelly Martinovich and Craig McIntosh for their original and striking use of imagery in their presentations.
Pictured: Bhedita Seewoo, Perron Institute Best Paper winner 2020