The King’s 3MT competition has been such a fantastic opportunity and I would recommend participating to every PhD student. I really enjoyed hearing from other doctoral students about their fascinating research. By taking part, I had to really focus on how to communicate my research findings in a clear and concise way and it helped me to build confidence in public speaking. The feedback at every step of the competition was always supportive and helpful. It’s been definitely one of the highlights of my doctoral journey at King’s!
Kaat De Backer - King’s 3MT Judges’ Choice Winner 2025
02 April 2025
King's Three Minute Thesis Winners 2025
King's Doctoral College
The King's 3MT Grand Final took place last week on Wednesday 26 March, we are pleased to announce the winners.
Over 40 doctoral researchers across King's entered submissions for the Three Minute Thesis Competition 2025, reflecting the wide range of exciting and diverse research being undertaken by doctoral students at King's.
There was an extremely high standard of research presentation from our nine finalists who took to the stage to explain their thesis in just three minutes using only a single presentation slide.
Topics covered by our finalists include; improving heart health through digital modelling, new treatments for atrial fibrillation, tracking sleep to better predict mood in bipolar disorder, creating new disease models for tuberculosis, reducing harm from drug interaction, understanding how copper and zinc can reduce skin ageing, exploring ideas of language in the eighteenth century and using AI to save people's sight.
3MT Judge's Choice Winner:
Kaat De Backer, was selected by our judging panel as the overall winner of the competition.
Kaat’s research looks at maternity care of mothers who have their newborn baby taken into care due to safeguarding concerns. This group of women is often over-looked and marginalised in society, research and practice. Kaat worked closely with women with lived experience and used a range of different research methods to understand where improvements to care can be made.
Kaat will receive £750 in prize money and will continue to the national 3MT Competition, organised by Vitae.
3MT Runner Up:
Nishat Zakaria, School of Life Course & Population Sciences, was selected by our judges to receive £500 for their presentation, Zinc and Copper: The Hidden Regulators of Skin Ageing and Disease.
Nisha's research investigates how the essential metals zinc and copper are localised within skin tissue, and how this changes as we age. Their research will lead to better diagnostics and targeted skincare that addresses the biology beneath the surface.
Taking part in 3MT was an incredible challenge and a rewarding experience. It taught me that even the most complex lab-based discoveries can be translated into something meaningful and accessible. When you find the right words, years of molecular work can spark curiosity and connect with people—in just three minutes.
Nishat Zakaria - King’s 3MT Judges’ Choice Runner-Up 2025
3MT People’s Choice Award:
Mubaraq Yakubu, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, was awarded the King’s 3MT People’s Choice Award or £500.
Mubaraq's presentation AI for Pituitary Adenoma Management shares research into the third most common brain tumours, affecting 1 in 7 people. While mostly non-cancerous, they can cause vision loss when undetected. Murbaraq's research, supported by the King’s Africa PGR Scholarship, uses Artificial Intelligence to improve early detection, especially in low-resource settings like Sub-Saharan Africa.
This experience was both insightful and personal. Iterating through each stage of the competition refined how I discuss my research. Having lost a loved one to a benign brain tumour, it meant so much to raise awareness. Sharing my work and connecting with people who truly cared was incredibly rewarding.
Mubaraq Yakubu - King’s 3MT People's Choice Winner 2025
You can watch the live-stream recording of the event on YouTube and see all of our finalists in action as they explain their research, why it is important and the impact it will have in the future.
The competition is organised by the King's Doctoral College who provide training and support to our doctoral research students to develop their public engagement and presentation skills throughout the 3MT process. Congratulations to all our finalists.
3MT Finalists 2025:
Amalia Miranda, The Right Fit: How Disease Models Shape the Future of Tuberculosis Research - School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Andrea Mathilde Ulrichsen, Can sleep duration predict the ups and downs of bipolar disorder? - Department of Psychological Medicine.
Kaat De Backer, Infant removal at birth: Listening to unheard voices - School of Life Course & Population Sciences.
Kirsten Rock, Equity in healthcare: harm reduction for people who use drugs - School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Mubaraq Yakubu, AI for Pituitary Adenoma Management - School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences.
Nishat Zakaria, Zinc and Copper: The Hidden Regulators of Skin Ageing and Disease - School of Life Course & Population Sciences.
Oliver Roughton, A Word Can Paint a Thousand Pictures: ideas of language in the eighteenth century - Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.
Rosie Barrows, Cardiac Digital Twins: from Code to Care - School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences.
Tiffany Baptiste, The Heart’s Hidden Springs: A New Way to Treat Atrial Fibrillation - School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
In this story
NIHR Research Fellow in Maternal and Perinatal Mental Health
PhD Student
PhD Student
Director of Research Talent