News Archive

UWA Business School
Last week, 13 postgraduate Business School students battled it out in the Three Minute Thesis Inaugural Competition.
The winner will compete against finalists from other UWA faculties and, if victorious, fly to Brisbane to compete in the national final at The University of Queensland in September.

Competitors are required to present a three minute oration on their thesis topic and its significance. To make the challenge more difficult, students are allowed just one lecture slide, and no other props.

The Business School heats were organised by the Research Office, with students speaking on topics ranging from emotional intelligence to native title.

Batiah Mahadi emerged as the Business School winner, with a presentation entitled ‘How do internet entrepreneurs develop strategy after start up?' Batiah explained that entrepreneurs had to make several important decisions, including whether to work independently or co-operatively, and whether to plan their strategy or learn as they go.

The runner-up was Timothy Ballard, with his presentation ‘Safety versus productivity in safety critical work environments.' With a touch of humour, Tim showed his audience examples of safety gone mad - including signs that banned moving left, right, forwards or backwards!

His series of pictures illustrated the problems that the mining, oil and gas, aviation, and healthcare industries face. Tim plans to develop and test theories that improve both safety and efficiency in these workplaces.

Competition judges included Professor Izan, Professor Parker and Dr Krystyna Haq, the competition organiser for UWA.

The heats were opened by Associate Dean (Research), Professor John Cordery, who introduced the theme of brevity by sharing with the audience a haiku written in his own PhD days:
‘A thing of beauty
May be a joy for ever.
My thesis is not.'

Luckily, the students' presentations were much more impressive than Professor Cordery's haiku. Professor Cordery praised their efforts.

‘The quality of the presentations was fantastic.  Summarising several years of complex research into a three minute presentation (and with just the one slide for backup!) is an incredibly difficult task and students did a wonderful job,' he said.

‘I spoke at the commencement of the two heats, and was amazed at the level of interest and participation in the event by students and both academic and professional staff.'

Lee Stupart, Academic Services Manager at the Business School, acted as official timekeeper and was equally excited by the quality of the speakers.

‘We know the PhD students mostly by sight as they beaver quietly away... In the UWA Business School Three Minute Thesis Competition heats, however, they were full of spark and energy, lighting up our School and reminding us why we work here!'

Professor Cordery explained that the competition aids both staff and students. ‘The benefits include: enabling students to proudly showcase their work, and us to celebrate their achievements; helping both staff and students see what others are doing and thus aiding future collaboration; building a sense of collegiality within the School; and helping to build effective communication skills,' he said.

Dr. Haq was so impressed by the quality of both Batiah's and Tim's presentations that she has invited Tim to compete alongside Batiah and other Faculty winners at the campus-wide University Finals, which will be held on 15 July.

We wish both Batiah and Tim the best of luck.

Media Reference
Heather Merritt
Director, External Relations
UWA Business School
T: +618 6488 8171
E: [email protected]

Verity Chia
Communications Officer
UWA Business School
E: [email protected]