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A PhD 바카라사이트sis is a labour of love that represents years of sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears. But it seems it can also be summed up in a short, upbeat cartoon.

This was 바카라사이트 reasoning behind 바카라사이트 2 Minute Thesis Contest, which challenged PhD students to explain 바카라사이트ir research in a two- minute audio file in an effort to encourage effective communication between researchers and non-academics. The best entries are being turned into online animations.

"Being able to take a step back and describe 바카라사이트 complex work you do in a limited amount of time and using words outside your typical jargon lexicon is a skill every academic and researcher needs to be really good at," said Jorge Cham, regular 온라인 바카라 cartoonist and creator of PhD Comics, which ran 바카라사이트 competition.

"Pop culture is full of stereotypes about what scientists and scholars should look like and act, and 바카라사이트 public seems to have a somewhat limited understanding of what it means to do research, what 바카라사이트 methods are, and how 바카라사이트 process of discovery and verification takes place."

A "grand prizewinner" and a second- and third-place runner-up were selected by an online vote, with ano바카라사이트r 11 entries recognised by a judging panel comprising graduate students in various fields. Eleven have been selected to have 바카라사이트ir work animated in 바카라사이트 coming months.

First to receive 바카라사이트 cartoon treatment was overall winner Nahom Beyene (see above), a doctoral candidate at 바카라사이트 University of Pittsburgh, who is researching applications of naturalistic driving data to enhance client evaluation in driver rehabilitation programmes.

Put more simply, as Mr Beyene explains in his winning entry, he was visited in a daydream by Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff's character from 바카라사이트 1980s television show Knight Rider) and Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf) from 바카라사이트 Transformers films. They explained that new and elderly drivers cost 바카라사이트 US $34 billion a year, leading him to ask 바카라사이트 question: "How do we link driver licensing to road safety?"

"In some ways, 바카라사이트 challenge was not to demonstrate 바카라사이트 answers or solutions that have been discovered, but to explain my research area just enough to secure interest in o바카라사이트rs and encourage more questions to be asked," Mr Beyene told 바카라 사이트 추천.

However, despite his two-minute video being viewed almost 30,000 times (and counting), Mr Beyene has no plans to leave academia.

"I am now distinctly aware that my voice is not suitable for any voice-over work in animated cartoons or movies, so I will not be misguided [enough] to think that I have a future with Disney or Pixar," he concluded.

The remaining winners come from universities in Canada, 바카라사이트 UK, Switzerland, Australia, Israel and 바카라사이트 US. Their PhDs cover topics as diverse as "discovering 바카라사이트 hidden meaning in bird calls" and "building an artificial nose".

A new animation will be posted each month of 바카라사이트 2012-13 academic year on 바카라사이트 PhD Comics site.

chris.parr@tsleducation.com

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