As a student from the School of Social Sciences Education and Social Work, my PhD was a blend of oral history and sociological theory, and over the course of three years I interviewed twenty-one acute care nurses from Belfast to record their experiences of working in front line hospitals during the ‘Troubles.'

Throughout my PhD I had an office in The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute – a hub for interdisciplinary scholars that focussed on conflict transformation and social justice. I may have been gaining a PhD in sociology, but I didn’t have a personal background in sociological background and neither did some of my fellow PhD students in the building.

Instead, we were multidisciplinary scholars working in very different areas, who just happened to be carrying out compatible research. This was fantastic, because it meant we tended to speak to one another without going into too much detail about our research; focusing instead on sharing advice on chapters, the next big conference we were attending, or how to handle tough critique.

Most of us were researching post-conflict Northern Ireland and were bonded by what we were working towards, to the point where we often found ourselves in the common room talking about how much has changed yet how much work was left to be done.

This was a wonderful environment to work in, but there was one downside: in my second year I had the epiphany that having discovered such a supportive network, I would now struggle to explain my research to those outside the niche environment I found myself in.

In fact, when anyone outside of the ‘Mitchell hub’ asked me about my research I often froze, doubted myself, or panicked and blurted out a rushed explanation. Even around scholars who would understand the intricacies of my research, such as sociologists or historians, I would struggle, because  I didn’t quite fit the mould of either discipline and so didn’t know where to start when describing my work.

Fortunately for me, The Graduate School came along!

I had already spent countless hours in The Graduate School, participating in academic and career workshops, but it was during a particular ‘Preparing for Conference Abstracts’ workshop that I heard about the 3MT competition, and in particular the 3MT preparation workshop which promised to teach students how to market their research to different audiences.

The workshop was fantastic. It challenged students to not only present their research in three minutes, but also to do so in a way that would be understandable and relatable to students from different schools. I was so relieved when I delivered my presentation and my fellow students asked me questions and showed an interest in what I’d been saying – it proved that I was finally able to explain my research to someone outside of the network I’d grown so used to.

Admittedly, despite the confidence this gave me, I still had reservations about applying for the 3MT competition itself. But I eventually did enter my internal school competition, and I WON! This gave me the opportunity to present my 3MT at the university final held at The Graduate School. Although I didn’t win the final, the experience was extremely beneficial. It was fascinating to hear other people’s research and so rewarding to get out of my comfort zone and explain my research in a way that was new to me.

The process allowed me to be more creative and my title, ‘Angels in Trainers’ (that’s a different story!) ended up influencing a huge chunk of my PhD conclusion. With the confidence I gained from the competition I also ended up contributing to a few historical blogs and was even a guest on a podcast. I would never have imagined my research could be adapted to these platforms, but 3MT helped me realise that my research was my story to tell, and that it could be anything I wanted it to be!