A fundamental sciences PhD student used the movies Jurassic Park and the Hunger Games to explain complex microbiology and win Massey Universitys Three Minute Thesis competition.

Thomas Finn spoke for three minutes on his doctoral research at the finals event held at the Manawat campus last night.

He used the movies to communicate his research findings and explain the value of complex microbiology, and the use of new genetic sequencing tools.

Mr Finn says condensing his thesis - Understanding bacterial adaptation to aerobic and anaerobic environments through environmental evolution and whole genome analysis - into three-minutes was hard.

"It was tough, my supervisors and friends helped a lot. But once I had the idea of the Jurassic Park and Hunger Games, it just fell into place."

Mr Finn, from the Institute of Fundamental Sciences, won $1000 towards research costs and will represent Massey at the trans-Tasman competition in Sydney in October. He was also awarded the Peoples Choice and received a $500 book voucher.

Mirjam Guesgen, from the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, was runner-up with her presentation on whether lambs have empathy and won $500 towards her research.

The judges praised the finalists for the inspiring talks and for using humour to engage with the audience, and said picking a winner was difficult.

More than 60 students from a range of disciplines participated in Masseys third Three Minute Thesis competition, with the top ten presenting at the final event. An 80,000-word thesis would usually take nine hours to present.

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Science student wins three minute thesis comp