PhD candidate Emily Wood wins Presenters’ Choice award at provincial 3MT®

Emily Wood is standing on the 3MT stage holding her trophy. She is wearing a black top and smiling.

Emily Wood (photo by Andy Jibb, Full Effect Media)

by Natasha Smith

PhD candidate Emily Wood from the department of speech language pathology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, represented the University of Toronto at the Ontario Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Finals, taking home the Presenters’ Choice award selected by her showcase peers.

Emily’s presentation “Turning the page on unfair reading screening” demonstrated how building equity into early childhood reading assessments would produce fairer and more accurate results, especially for multilingual children.

Each of the 12 finalists represented an Ontario university and were challenged to present their research in under three minutes, using one static slide, to a non-specialist judging panel and audience.

The 3MT® competition originated at the University of Queensland in 2008, with the goal of promoting effective communication of research. It has since expanded to become an international event, with competitions held in over 900 universities across more than 85 countries.

“The Ontario 3MT gives us a wonderful opportunity to bring graduate students together from across the province – to present their research, learn about each other’s research activities, develop professional skills, and contribute to a province-wide research culture. The quality of presentations in this competition is truly exceptional across the board.”

– Joshua Barker, vice-provost, graduate research and education and dean, School of Graduate Studies

The four winners of the Ontario Three Minute Thesis stand in front of a large blue screen, holding their trophies.
(L-R) Salma Bafagih, Dilakshan Srikanthan, Hayden Reaume and Emily Wood (photo by Andy Jibb, Full Effect Media)


Ontario 3MT® winners:

  • Dilakshan Srikanthan, PhD in Translational Medicine, Queen’s University
    Presentation: Real-time tumour detection in brain surgery
    Winner ($1,000 prize)
  • Salma Bafagih, Master of Health Sciences in Community, Public, and Population Health, Ontario Tech University
    Presentation: What’s on your plate? Examining predictors of food literacy among Canadian adults
    Second Place ($500 prize)
  • Hayden Reaume, M.Sc. Biology, Laurentian University
    Presentation: Investigating the role of Natural Background Radiation in Yeast
    Third Place ($250 prize)
  • Emily Wood, PhD in Speech Language Pathology, University of Toronto
    Presentation: Turning the page on unfair reading screening
    Presenters’ Choice ($250 prize)

Congratulations to all of the Ontario 3MT® finalists!

Watch the Ontario 3MT® Finals.

Read about the University of Toronto 3MT® on SGS News & Celebrates.

In photos: 2025 Ontario Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Showcase

Dean Joshua Barker welcomes everyone to the Ontario 3MT Showcase.
Twelve finalists from across the province await their turn to present.
Host Nicola Luksic introduces the finalists and judges.
(L-R) Judges Hon. Kathleen Wynne, Dr. Samantha Yammine – Science Sam, Rob Baker, Nicola Luksic (host), Dr. Deepa Kundur and Ivan Semeniuk
The judges enjoying their duties – a tough job!
Vice-Dean Vina Goghari presents the awards.
The 12 finalists celebrate an amazing event!
Awards for the 2025 Ontario Three Minute Thesis.

All photos by Andy Jibb (Full Effect Media)

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