PhD student Tilak Raj’s three-minute talk about the benefits of yoga for rugby players won over the judges in Lincoln University’s recent Thr3sis grand final.
The annual Thr3sis competition challenges postgraduate students to describe their research in three minutes to an intelligent but non-academic audience.
Mr Raj’s research involved measuring Lincoln rugby players’ performance before and after taking part in a 12-week yoga programme.
“My project found that rugby injuries could be reduced by improving the athletes’ balance, posture, joint range of motion and isometric muscular strength,” said Mr Raj.
“Very little previous research has been done on yoga’s effectiveness for sport performance.”
As the grand final winner, Mr Raj will be flown to Brisbane to compete in the Asia-Pacific Three Minute Thesis event on 27 September.
The top-placed Masters student was Shaun Snoxell, whose research involved finding solutions to the challenges faced by small-scale farmers in Myanmar.
“Commercialisation of farms offers a way out of poverty for small-scale farmers but there are constraints in terms of the equipment and other resources that are needed to do this,” said Mr Snoxell.
“My research has involved identifying these constraints and quantifying their effects so evidence-based recommendations can be made to help small-scale farmers. My hope is that the research will eventually be used across Myanmar.”
Mr Snoxell will represent Lincoln at the New Zealand Masters 3MT at the University of Canterbury on 23 August.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Bruce McKenzie praised all 11 grand finalists for their participation in the competition.
“You all performed exceptionally well and it shows the high calibre of the research our students undertake at Lincoln, so thank you very much for that,” he said.