iYUNIVESITHI WALTER SISULU MAKES FIRST EVER APPEARANCE AT THE PRESTIGIOUS 3MT COMPETITION

Two iYunivesithi Walter Sisulu PhD candidates represented the institution at the 2026 National Institutional Three-Minute Thesis(3MT) competition in the Free State in October 2026.

The 3MT is an academic research competition that is aimed to challenge Master’s and PhD candidates to explain their thesis in just 3 minutes to an audience that is not in their field of study.

This years’ competition saw the first cohort from Walter Sisulu participate in this elite competition. This comes after the Directorate of Research and Innovation held its first round of the 3MT competition at the Mthatha campus earlier in October.

The competition is one of the new paradigms of presenting research that the Vice Chancellor and Principal, Prof. Thandi Mgwebi is introducing in line with the institutions 2040+ vision and strategic direction.

Walter Sisulu researchers delivered ground-breaking research that seeks to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Goal 4 Quality Education and Goal 3 Good Health and Well-being.

Mathematics lecturer and PhD candidate, Abongile Ngwabe, who won the internal round of the 3MT explained the pressure and value gained from the experience.

“I was nervous because I was the first presenter, but I told myself I was just going to push through and do my best,” she said.

Ngwabe shared that being the first presenter came with its pressures but the training they received from the institution leading up to the competition helped prepare them.

“We received a lot of support from the university, and the training was extremely helpful. The facilitator helped refine our presentation skills and time-management,” she added.

Ngwabe’s study aims to improve mathematics teaching methods by using digital tools and technology and it is titled “Leveraging Dynamic Visualisation Tools to Enhance Preservice Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Grade 10 Functions a Selected South African University”.

Nursing Lecturer and PhD candidate, Bhekithemba Vellem also represented Walter Sisulu at the prestigious 3MT competition.

Vellem’s thesis is titled: “Development and usability evaluation of a mobile health programme for the management of stress among health science students at universities with limited resources in South Africa”.

Vellem said he was used to the traditional way of presenting at a conference with no time restraints and no additional pressure.

He added that they worked hard at the provided training and workshops held before the competition and focused on many presenting aspects including body language and posture.

“Normally in academia you present at conferences where you have 10 to 15 minutes to present, now in this competition you had only 3 minutes to present an entire body of a thesis which was very challenging,” he said.

In conclusion the two researchers expressed gratitude for the opportunity and said that going forward they would like to assist the research office facilitate future 3MT competitions and help groom the next batch of researchers who would like to participate.

The competition had at least 12 institutions including the host university, University of the Free State and 24 participants.

By Namhla Mbongendlu