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PhD Candidates Condense Years Of Research Into 3 Minute Pitches

To put that into perspective, a PhD thesis can be up to 100,000 words.

PhD candidates at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have faced their greatest challenge yet -- condensing years worth of meticulous research into three minute oral presentations.

Armed with just one PowerPoint slide and an "intelligent but non-specialist audience", 22 candidates took place in the 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition last week, tasked with communicating their findings succinctly "without dumbing down the research".

Alice Russo's bite-sized pitch on how to control Australia's most hated pest -- the cane toad -- using ancient viruses, won the competition and she'll now go on to represent UNSW at the Asia Pacific Competition hosted by the University of Queensland.

"The 3MT is a challenging experience which pushes you to think outside the box," she said in a statement.

"Our research group, headed by Professor Peter White, is delighted that this will increase people's awareness of the cane toad problem and how we can solve it with a molecular approach."

No topic was spared, with the candidates' research exploring new frontiers in medicine, business, science, law, engineering and the social sciences.

You can find the rest of the three minute pitches here.

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