Shaun McAnally presents Three Minute Thesis (3MT) entitled, “Empowering People Through Power”

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) initiative was founded at UQ in 2008 and since then the initiative has spread to 900 universities in 85 countries that use the format to provide a platform for PhD students to present the core ideas from their theses. The strict limits on time and use of audiovisuals encourage presenters to focus on the structure and wording of their message. In the third year physics capstone course, students were tasked with producing their own 3MT on the work they had completed during the semester. For his 3MT, Shaun McAnally described the issues faced by people in developing regions with accessing a stable and renewable supply of energy before presenting his work testing a new active layer material for organic photovoltaic devices. Linking these concepts together, Shaun concludes by making the case that organic photovoltaic devices have the potential to solve some of the key issues faced by displaced persons who are typically situated in regions that lack the energy infrastructure required to support their needs.