Florida State’s Graduate School held its first Three Minute Thesis competition on February 25^th in front of a live audience on the main Tallahassee campus.  Developed by The University of Queensland in Australia, this research communication competition challenges doctoral student competitors to present a comprehensive and captivating oration on their dissertation topic and its significance in three minutes or less.  Popularity for the competition has spread across the globe and is held in numerous graduate schools in the United States.

The competition was not meant to belittle research or “dumb it down,” but to challenge doctoral students to develop their capacity for synthesizing explanations of their research in language appropriate for a non-specialist audience. And, social work doctoral candidate Judy Hefren was more than up to the challenge, placing among the finalists.

Judy and the other eleven finalists were allowed to have one static Power Point slide, with no distractions or animations, and were evaluated by six judges on three criteria: communication style, comprehension and engagement, with a particular emphasis on the audience. Three awards were presented including first and second place winners and an audience voted People’s Choice winner.

Standing out with her incomparable presentation on her dissertation, “An examination of the significance parents place on belongings following the death of a child as a predictor of complicated grief,” Judy was selected by the audience as the People’s Choice winner.

She came to this research topic from the very real and person grief of losing a child.  Judy’s son Christopher, who she adopted in 1995, died in 2007 from injuries he sustained as a passenger in a car crash. He was just 17 years old.  In order to cope, she continued pursing an MSW with the College of Social Work with the intent of becoming a child advocate.   Ultimately, she decided to continue on for her Ph.D. with major professor Dr. Neil Abell and a newfound focus on the grief experiences of parents who had lost a child. Her research was not only personal, but it was therapeutic helping her come to terms with her own loss. Judy successfully defended her dissertation in April and is graduating with her doctoral degree in May.

Watch Judy’s Three Minute Thesis!