In 2024 Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam hosted the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition for the first time, culminating in the finals on Thursday, December 12, 2024. Nine finalists were allowed to present their "thesis" in 3 minutes. Thus, the audience went home with knowledge of 9 VU studies. Two finalists won prizes with their presentations.
A month earlier, in the Library Lounge of the University Library, 20 participants competed in the semifinals for a place in the Grand Final. Hence Library Director Hilde van Wijngaarden rightly stated in her opening speech that all finalists were winners. However, that did not eliminate the competitive element of the final. After all, there were three prizes to be won in Theatre 5 of the NU Building. The numbers one and two received a prize based on the scores of the jury, consisting of Rector Magnificus Jeroen Geurts, Chief Impact Officer Davide Iannuzzi and Sander Bosch, Manager of the VU Open Science Programme. There also was an audience award to be handed out.
Additional excitement was generated by a large clock that counted down from 3 minutes. For two candidates, the countdown clock stopped at 1 second, like a narrowly dismantled bomb in a Hollywood movie.
Two winners, three prizes
Winner Karlijn Kooijman of the Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences did stay well within the time limit. With her 3MT “Beyond the Trigger” on the accidental discharge of police officers' firearms, known in technical jargon as Involuntary Firearm Discharge (IFD), she picked up no less than two prizes, both the first prize and the audience award.
Fabienne Krywuczky of the School of Business and Economics (SBE) won second prize, with her 3MT “Restoring the Self” on women's dilemmas in the choice between tissue- and implant-based breast reconstruction.
The other finalists were (in alphabetical order):
- Lorna Downie, Amsterdam Business Research Institute (ABRI), School of Business and Economics: “Don’t kill the golden goose. How to sustain bodies at work through data”
- Dea Gogishvili, Department of Computer Science - Bioinformatics, Faculty of Science: “Protein hide-and-seek”
- Jorik Groen, Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer, Faculty of Religion and Theology: “The Meaning of Motion in Biblical Hebrew”
- Sanne Groothuis, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences: - “‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Muslims: Counter-Radicalisation and Racial Bias”
- Sarah Hilderink, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine - Amsterdam UMC: “Roadwork ahead: Messages to mend broken hearts”
- Lianne van Setten, Department of Educational and Family Studies, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences: “How to improve children’s motor skills?”
- Mohammad Talebi, Department of Language, Literature and Communication, Faculty of Humanities: “Choreomusicology: Sensorimotor Synchronization of a Dancer with Musical Rhythm”
