On Tuesday 28th March the Spring Series of PhD Research Skills Seminars culminated with a 3 Minute Thesis Competition to celebrate doctoral research being undertaken by our PhD students in the School of Law. It also provided the opportunity for students to enhance their communication skills and disseminate their research to the community of PhD research scholars.
This year’s participants gave presentations on a variety of research topics which is indicative of the quality and range of PhD research scholarship currently being done in the School of Law. Topics included presentations by Hope Davidson (decision-making in dementia care: autonomy, capacity, and the doctrine of ‘informed consent’), Stephen Strauss-Walsh (victims’ rights: a voice for the voiceless?), Nada Balto (codification of Sharia discretion in relation to punishments in Saudi Arabia), Eoin Guilfoyle (community service order in Ireland), and Gerard Greaney (intellectual property: developing a taxonomic approach).
The competition was adjudicated by Professor Ray Friel, Director of Research in the School of Law, who complemented of all the students for the quality of their research and conciseness of presentations. Professor Friel acknowledged that it was a very difficult decision to determine a winner as the quality of all the presentations was excellent. In the end, Hope Davidson was deemed the winner by a narrow margin.
Dr Ger Coffey Director of Postgraduate Studies who organised the 3 Minute Thesis Competition said:
“When the time comes for PhD students to write their thesis many find it difficult to compress years of reading literature, conducting empirical research and analysing results into a clear, complete and coherent thesis. Explaining your research question in a 3 minute presentation is a challenging task and it is a credit to all of our PhD students who participated in this competition.”
Professor Shane Kilcommins, Head, School of Law kindly sponsored the €200 prize for the winner of the competition.
Pictured: Stephen Strauss-Walsh, Nada Balto, Eoin Guilfoyle, Gerard Greaney, Hope Davidson.
