2026 MDHS 3MT Competition
3MT is an international competition that challenges PhD students to present their research to a non-specialist audience - in just three minutes!
The MDHS 3MT competition encourages graduate researchers to participate in School and Institute heats, with winners proceeding to the MDHS 3MT Final and a chance to progress through to University and regional competitions.
MDHS 3MT Final
Eleven top heat winners representing 10 Schools and Institutes competed at the MDHS 3MT Final, held live on 5 August 2026 in front of an audience of their peers, family and friends, and staff and students from all over the faculty.
Judges Prof Matt Watt (Associate Dean Research, MDHS), Vanessa Puopolo (Associate Director, Communications & Marketing, MDHS) and James Kelly (Founder of Lifestyle Communities, Chair of Bluesky Foundation) had a difficult job choosing a top three, and similarly the People's Choice Award was a close contest.
Congratulations to our placegetters:
Winner: Skye Holmwood, Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health
Second Place: Dominika Michalek, The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology
Third Place: Nicola Burgess, Melbourne School of Health Sciences (Physiotherapy)
People's Choice: Yegi Khazaei, Melbourne Dental School
UoM 3MT Grand Final
The University of Melbourne 3MT Grand Final was held on 7 September 2026. Skye, Dominika and Nicola represented MDHS, and while they did not place, they all performed extremely well and made the judges' job very difficult.
MDHS Finalists
The full list of the 2026 MDHS 3MT finalists. Click on their names to see their MDHS 3MT Final presentation:
 | Melbourne Medical School (Paediatrics Royal Children's Hospital) | Nuts About Prevention: A Food Allergy Mission | |
 | Melbourne School of Health Sciences (Physiotherapy) | The Goldilocks guide to preparing for hip and knee replacement surgery | |
 | School of Biomedical Sciences (Biochemistry and Pharmacology) | What Doesn’t Kill Corals Makes Them Stronger | |
 | Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health | Uncovering a new villain in Alzheimer's Disease | |
 | Sarah Pearse | Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences | Let's conquer the anxiety mountain |
 | Melbourne Dental School | No frills. No drills. Predicting tooth decay before it's too late. | |
 | The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology | Coming to a Cell Near You: The Battle of RIPK1 “the Ripper” | |
 | Melbourne School of Population and Global Health | Patchwork Care: Surviving Chronic Illness in Urban India | |
 | School of Biomedical Sciences (Microbiology and Immunology) | Turning the dial on the immune system to better fight melanoma | |
 | Centre for Youth Mental Health | Why should I fit in? Trauma Talk with Autistic Young People | |
 | Medical Biology (W.E.H.I.) | Parkinson's Disease and PARK5, the known and unknown |
Photos: David Hannah