Rait Rand, a doctoral student at the Estonian University of Life Sciences, was named one of three winners at the final of the “Science in 3 Minutes” competition on October 6th. Kristiina Kerge and Triin Sellis also represented the university among the 15 finalists. Each finalist had to present their research in three minutes in a way that audiences from other fields could understand.
Rait Rand: bringing research to new audiences
Rait Rand is a Junior Research Fellow in Machine Learning for Herd Health at the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences. He entered the competition with a short talk entitled “Machine Learning Gives a Voice to the Silent Patient”, explaining how machine learning helps monitor animal health. “Taking part gave me the opportunity to introduce my research to scientists, entrepreneurs and science enthusiasts whom it would otherwise not have reached,” said Rand. He encourages doctoral students to enter the competition to learn how to explain their work clearly and better understand audiences’ expectations. Rand’s research is supervised by Tarmo Niine, Associate Professor of Population Medicine at the Estonian University of Life Sciences.
Kristiina Kerge: seeing research through the audience’s eyes
Kristiina Kerge, a doctoral student in circular economy at the Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, presented her research on how management decisions affect the transition to a circular economy in food production. Her talk was entitled “Management Decisions That Create Waste”. “The competition pushed me to define precisely what lies at the heart of my research and how to communicate it clearly in three minutes,” she said. “The most valuable lesson was learning to look at my topic through the audience’s eyes: which connections seem obvious to me but still need explaining to others.”
Kerge recommends the competition to all doctoral students, as defining a central message helps them gain a clearer view of their research as a whole. She says this skill is also useful when presenting research findings and communicating with entrepreneurs and policymakers. “The transition to a circular economy does not depend on new knowledge alone. That knowledge must inform management decisions, and those decisions must be put into practice,” said Kerge. Her research is supervised by Rando Värnik, Professor of Rural Economics at the Estonian University of Life Sciences.
Triin Sellis: competition experience builds confidence for future presentations
Triin Sellis is a Junior Research Fellow in Agriculture at the Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. She took part in the final with a short talk entitled “The ‘Invisible’ Footprint of Food”. “Becoming a good speaker takes experience, practice and thorough preparation. The competition offers an opportunity to discover your strengths and weaknesses with guidance from trainers in different fields,” said Sellis. She also highlighted the opportunity to meet other early-career researchers and support one another.
Sellis will soon give another three-minute presentation at a conference. “I discovered that preparing a talk for an audience in my own field is much easier. The competition gave me confidence that I can deliver this presentation too,” she said. Sellis’s research is supervised by Professor Eve Veromann and Sirli Pehme, Chief Specialist at the Chair of Rural Economics.
What is “Science in 3 Minutes”?
“Science in 3 Minutes” is the Estonian version of the international Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. The competition was launched in Estonia in 2015 by Tarmo Soomere, then President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Participants are early-career researchers who present their research in three-minute talks. The aim is to explain complex research in plain language and promote scientific terminology in Estonian.
This year’s final was organised by the Estonian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Estonian Doctoral School and the Estonian Research Council. The competition was co-funded by the European Union through the project “Cooperation Between Universities to Promote Doctoral Studies” (2021–2027.4.04.24-0003).
The Estonian University of Life Sciences will hold its university-level “Science in 3 Minutes” competition in February 2027. More information about the university competition is available herelink opens in new page.
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