I was in the 3rd<\/sup> year of my PhD, and I was totally bogged down by the methodological details of my thesis. I was completely obsessed with whether I was using the correct statistical tests for my hypotheses, and totally fixated on the precise language to use when describing my variables and theoretical models. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn\u2019t realise it at the time, but 3MT was just what I needed to get out of my own head and remind myself of the \u2018bigger picture\u2019 of my thesis. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n I applied to 3MT initially because friends who had previously taken part encouraged me to, and I thought that it would be a nice opportunity to get exposure of my research to a wider audience. I was delighted when I was offered a place in the final, especially knowing they had received so many submissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking the time to develop my talk really improved my ability to communicate my PhD. I realised how what I\u2019d originally thought of as complex concepts, could instead be described in really simple and engaging ways to a wider audience. My thesis is about working memory. Those of you who are familiar with the term through studying Psychology might be aware of the decades of research debating the precise nature of the theoretical basis of working memory and how to define, measure, and explain it. But for the 3MT audience (where the majority of the audience probably hadn\u2019t studied Psychology), I realised I was able to just describe it as a \u2018mental post-it note\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After being accepted into the final, the Building Research and Innovation Capacity (BRIC) team arranged training sessions to develop our talks. The other finalists and a public speaking specialist all gave each other feedback, which was really helpful, and I was given hints and tips to make my talk more engaging. Getting feedback from others gave me insight into which details of my PhD were most interesting to a lay audience (which, I\u2019m sure it will surprise you to learn, did not relate to the decades of research regarding the theoretical basis of working memory\u2026) <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was great to meet other students and find out about each other\u2019s PhDs. There is such a variety of research going on at York, and you are rarely exposed to other student\u2019s research unless you seek it out. I was so excited by all of their interesting topics that by the end of the session, I was rooting for all the other speakers to end up in the top 3!<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/research-student-community\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/03\/KateMooney-800px-683x1024.jpg?resize=660%2C990&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>Taking part<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n