October 2015 NUI Galway Researchers Battle it out at THREESIS 2015 Competition

Ever wondered how research at NUI Galway and St. Angela’s College in Sligo impacts upon our daily lives, those of our family and our broader community? To learn more about it the public are invited to a competition which might just answer that question on Thursday, 29 October at 6pm in An Taibhdhearc Theatre, Galway.

The THREESIS competition is an academic challenge that will see students and staff from NUI Galway and St. Angela’s College in Sligo present their research to the audience and a panel of judges in an accessible language that a non-expert can understand. Presenter of Newstalk’s Futureproof and award winning broadcaster, Jonathan McCrea will act as MC.

Each of the 13 finalists, who have already come through a series of heats held at NUI Galway and St. Angela’s College in Sligo will present three slides, in three minutes, communicating their research area and relevancy. Competitors are judged on how well they convey their subject and their ability to communicate to a general audience.

NUI Galway’s five priority research areas in Biomedical Science and Engineering; Informatics, Physical and Computational Sciences; Environment, Marine and Energy; Applied Social Sciences and Public Policy; and Humanities in Context, will be represented. Topics will range from breast cancer, English-Irish machine translation, Parkinson’s disease, blue ecosystem services, Galway energy efficient cars and colourful coral reefs in Ireland.

The winners in first, second and third place will receive a prize and award, based on the decision of the judges who include Professor Lokesh Joshi, Vice-President for Research at NUI Galway and Mr Declan Courell, Registrar of St. Angela's College in Sligo.

Professor Lokesh Joshi said: “This event will provide a snapshot of the diversity of research being carried out at NUI Galway. The talks will be sharp and to-the-point, with plenty of time while the judges deliberate for NUI Galway researchers and members of the community to share ideas over refreshments.”

“The audience will also be treated to a short talk from last year’s THREESIS competition winner, Edel Browne, a second year biotechnology student. Her talk ‘Free Feet’ is based on her innovative use of laser technology that has revolutionised potential treatment methods for Freezing of Gait in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD)”, Professor Joshi added.

The event is free and refreshments will be served on the night. To book your tickets visit http://www.nuigalway.ie/threesis/

-Ends-