Jamie Gallagher, a final year PhD student at the University of Glasgow, has been announced the overall winner of the inaugural Universitas 21 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition.

17 universities from nine countries took part in the 3MT competition which challenges doctoral students to communicate the significance of their research to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes.

Jamie Gallagher 3MT presentation

Jamie’s work at the University is supported by a Kelvin Smith Scholarship, and he took the title for his presentation entitled ‘Hot and Powerful’ on the subject of nanostructured thermoelectronic materials, focussing on how to turn waste heat into electricity.

Jamie is a member of the School of Chemistry and Engineering and his thesis explores the possibility of improving existing thermoelectronic processes to create greater efficiency and usability.

His prize included a bursary of US$2,500 to visit a U21 university of his choice in order to benefit his research or ongoing career development.

Jamie said “I am utterly delighted to have won the Universitas 21 Three Minute Thesis competition. The entries from around the globe were all extraordinarily good and it is a great honour to be selected.  Here at the University of Glasgow we are encouraged to take our research out of the lab and classroom to share and learn from as many people as possible and I've had a fantastic experience doing this.”

Beth McMurtrie, writer from the Chronicle of Higher Education and judge for the 3MT competition, said: “A commitment to making their research understandable to a broad audience is evident in all of the entries. All the presentations were informative, entertaining and enlightening. It was a real challenge to choose a winner among them.”

Earlier this year Jamie was honoured by the Royal Society of Chemistry by being chosen as one of their ‘175 Faces of Chemistry’ in recognition of his work as a science communicator. 175 Faces of Chemistry recognises outstanding chemical scientists who represent diversity in the broadest sense, have contributed or may contribute to shaping the chemical sciences, and can be identified as role models, champions or ambassadors to a diverse future generation of scientists.

Read more about Jamie at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s website at http://www.rsc.org/diversity/175-faces/all-faces/jamie-gallagher.

You can follow Jamie on Twitter: @jamiebgall

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For more information please contact the University of Glasgow's Media Relations Office on 01413303535 or media@glasgow.ac.uk.

First published: 29 October 2013