Compelling research on women and media in Northern India bags first prize in Three Minute Thesis competition

Oroosa Anwar delivering her 3MT presentation

The 2025 3MT finalists

Press release issued: 4 June 2025

University of Bristol PhD student, Oroosa Anwar, took first place in a closely fought competition that sees researchers present their work in just three minutes.

The annual 3MT (Three Minute Thesis) competition challenges participants to use just one static slide to present their 80,000-word thesis within the time limit. Those who exceed the maximum time are automatically disqualified.

Oroosa, a PhD student from the Department of English, presented her research on Urdu women’s magazines, tracing the recurring themes in popular literature that reflect and shape the everyday lives and identities of North Indian Muslim women.

An often-undervalued medium of research in literary circles, Oroosa hopes that by assigning scholarly value to women’s reading practices, she can help rethink Indian Muslim women’s representation in discussions of gender and culture.

On taking first place, Oroosa said: “It feels amazing, not just to be the winner, but also to have my message go across to so many people. The work that I do is quite niche, and for so many people to be able to relate to it, to give their time of day to it, that means so much more to me”.

Professor Harry Mellor, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Postgraduate Research, said: “In her winning presentation, Oroosa opened the door to the world of Urdu women's magazines and the powerful cultural role they play. Like all of the finalists, she showed how postgraduate research at the University of Bristol is making a positive impact on global issues.”

Oroosa will now have the opportunity to compete as a quarterfinalist at the 2025 Vitae 3MT competition, the national stage of the tournament.

Likening air travelling over the wing of an aeroplane to a dance, Shaiful Hakim Bin Mohamed Noor from the School of Civil, Aerospace and Design Engineering, walked away with Runner Up and the People’s Choice Award with an elegant and philosophical talk titled ‘Tiny Twists, Big Impacts: The Hidden Power of Vortex Generators’.

The 3MT competition originated in Queensland, Australia, in 2007 and has since become part of a series of challenges and competitions held at higher education institutions worldwide. The University of Bristol’s 3MT is organised by the Bristol Doctoral College.