This allowed the doctoral community to still come together despite the challenges of COVID-19, sharing their research and taking part in various interactive sessions such as quizzes and workshops hosted by doctoral researchers, the Library and the Careers Network.

Because the event was virtual, doctoral researchers were encouraged to take a more imaginative approach to showcasing their research. Many of them submitted poems, comic strips, posters and even baked theses!

From these submissions, five entrants were randomly selected to each win a £20 Amazon voucher as a thank you for their efforts.

‌Image: Cake by Katrina Duncumb - 'Kinematics of the human female breast'

As seen in previous years, the Summer Showcase also held the Three Minute Thesis – a tense competition where doctoral researchers are required to present their research to an audience in no more than three minutes using just one static slide.

Eleven researchers took part, and the winners were as follows:

• 1^st Prize: MJ Brown (School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences)
• 2^nd Prize: Sally Ahmed (School of Business and Economics)
• Delegate’s Choice: Sui Lu (Loughborough University London)

Finally as part of the prize giving ceremony, the Doctoral College Student Prizes were announced.

Twelve researchers were nominated for their outstanding academic performance, achievement and contribution to their School and the University, above and beyond their own research.

Usually, there are only two winners of this prestigious prize, but the judges were so impressed with the shortlist this year they decided to award three. They are:

• Monia Del Pinto (School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering) – The panel agreed she was a worthy winner given her research contributions and substantial wider work for the School and the University.
• Naval Singh (School of Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering) – The judges were very impressed with Naval’s publications, teaching awards and wider contribution.
• Fiona Meeks (Loughborough University London) – Fiona has done fantastic work as an ambassador for the University and the panel were impressed with the other contributions she has made to the community.

Professor Elizabeth Peel, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for the Doctoral College commented: “I was impressed to see 50 Doctoral Researchers engaging in the showcase in a variety of new and creative ways, and nearly 300 logging into the dedicated Summer Showcase LEARN site.

“The talents of our postgraduate research community shone through despite the remote format. I look forward to seeing this more diverse form of the showcase go from strength to strength.”