Exploring the infinite: Unveiling complex concepts in a 3-minute thesis

• At Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya 

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a universal concept open for doctoral students to voice their research. The objective of this is to develop their academic, presentation, and research communication skills. 

The 3MT competition was launched in 2008 by The University of Queensland, Australia and has been adopted in the universities worldwide. Accordingly, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka is one of the participating institutions among the 900 universities and institutions around the world who have obtained the permission to hold the 3MT competition. 

From year 2021, the Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, included the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition as one of the events of its annual flagship event, International Conference on Business and Information (ICBI). The 3MT Competition was also accordingly organised as one of the events of the 14th International Conference on Business and Information (ICBI) 2023 held on 9 and 10 November 2023, under the guidance of the University of Kelaniya Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies Dean Professor Bandara Wanninayake, Conference Chair Department of Human Resource Management Senior Lecturer Dr. Saroja Wanigasekera, and Conference Secretary Department of Human Resource Management Senior Lecturer Dr. Chathuni Jayasinghe. 

Upon the registration of potential contestants, an online awareness session was conducted by Department of Finance Head, and the 1st Coordinator of the University of Kelaniya – 3MT Competition Dr. Ruwani Fernando, to enable the contestants to better prepare for the competition. 

Understanding the value and importance of participating in a competition of this nature several students following the DBA and PhD programs in multiple disciplines registered for the contest and therefore a preliminary competition was held to identify the best five (05) who should enter the grand finale. The preliminary round competition was held at the Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya on 29 October 2023. The winners of the preliminary rounds were assigned with a mentor to further support their preparation for the finals. Mentors of contestants included local and foreign university academics with previous 3MT competition exposure and also previous winners of the competition. 

The grand finale of the competition was held on 10 November 2023, at the Pegasus Reef Hotel, Wattala. Five contestants, Chandana Aluthgama, Preethi Pinnaduwa, Rukmal De Silva, Inoka Gunarathna, and Sandrasekaran Chandramohan participated in the grand finale. While the winner award and the cash prize was grabbed by Sandrasekaran Chandramohan, Chandana Aluthgama grabbed the cash prizes and the awards for the Runner-up and the People’s Choice Award. Apart from the awards, this was a valuable and excellent networking opportunity for all the contestants to liaise with other PhD/DBA/ M. Phil students from different disciplines.

Contestants were judged in both the preliminary round and the grand finale by academics of foreign universities to avoid any bias that could come in the evaluations. Accordingly, the preliminary round was judged by Wollongong University, Australia, Sessional Academic Dr. Kanchana Wijewardena, RMIT University, Australia, Lecturer Dr. Nilupama Wijewardena and Wollongong University Doctoral candidate Sulokshana Marks. In the grand finale, the judges included Professor Chanaka Jayawardhana from University of Surrey, UK, Dr. Kumudu Jayawardena, from University of Queensland, Australia, and Dr. Shashika Rathnayake, from University of Aberdeen, UK. 

The event was organised by the committee which included Department of Human Resource Management Senior Lecturer Dr. Prabhashini Wijewantha, Department of Finance Lecturer Daminda Weerasinghe, Department of Finance Lecturer (Probationary) Uththara Dissanayake, and Department of Marketing Management Assistant Lecturer Asitha Fernando, and several other academic staff members of the faculty. The Master of the Ceremony was Dr. Srinath Dissanayake. 

The silver sponsors for the event were, Doctor of Business Administration Alumni Kelaniya University (DBAAKU), and Lanka Tiles while bronze sponsors for the event were Sunshine Holdings and Pro Mate World Stationer.