The 2025 Postdoc Research Slam
Present your Research and Win!
The Postdoctoral Scholar Office invites all current postdoctoral scholars to participate in the 7th annual Postdoc Research Slam. Practice your communication skills and compete for great prizes!
Each competitor will have the opportunity to deliver a three-minute thesis (3MT) presentation. Judges will score based on communication style, comprehension, and engagement.
The Postdoc Research Slam will be held in February of 2025.
2025 Postdoc Research Slam highlight reel
Contest Timeline
We highly recommend reading and utilizing 3 Steps to Persuasive Knowledge Translation. Your goal with your abstract should be to tell an engaging story that hooks the reader and convinces them that your research matters.
The reviewers select abstracts based on the following criteria:
- Accessibility: How well are the technical aspects of the research conveyed to a general audience (e.g. avoidance of jargon and acronyms, too focused on the details of the method or research design)?
- Impact and benefit: Does the abstract clearly establish the overall impact, significance, novelty and/or benefits of the research to the field and broader society?
- Interest: Does the abstract effectively convey a sense of excitement or passion for knowledge generation? Does this enthusiasm resonate with the audience?
- Clarity: Is the central problem and its proposed solution clear, or is it lacking a specific focus? Does the applicant ‘tell a story’ about their research?
Applicants
- All participants submitting abstracts must be current postdoctoral scholars at the University of Calgary.
- This event is for individual competitors. No pairs or groups will be permitted.
- Presentations must be based on research directly related to the postdoctoral scholar’s research.
Finalists
- A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted (no slide transitions, animations or 'movement' of any description, the slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration). Images used in the slide must be your own, or you must have permission from the owner of the photo(s) and provide proper credit(s).
- No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
- No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment, laser pointers or note cards) are permitted.
- Presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum. Presentations that go over 3 minutes will have marks deducted from scoring.
- Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps or songs).
- Presentations are to commence from the stage.
- Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through movement or speech.
- The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.
Each of the three judging criteria has equal weight. Note that each criterion has an emphasis on the audience.
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Communication Style:
- Was the research topic and its significance communicated in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience?
- Did the speaker use sufficient eye contact and vocal range, maintain a steady pace, and a confident stance?
- Did the speaker avoid scientific jargon, explain terminology, and provide adequate background information to illustrate points?
- Did the speaker spend the right amount of time on each element of their presentation - or did they elaborate for too long or were they rushed?
- Did the PowerPoint slide enhance, rather than detract, from their presentation - was it clear, legible, and concise?
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Comprehension:
- Did the presentation help the audience understand the research?
- Did the presenter clearly outline the nature and aims of the research?
- Was the significance of the presenter's research clearly outlined?
- Did the presentation follow a logical sequence?
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Engagement:
- Did the presentation make the audience want to know more?
- Was the presenter careful not to trivialize or 'dumb-down' the research?
- Did the presenter convey enthusiasm for their research?
- Did the presenter capture and maintain their audience's attention?
- Did the presentation make me want to know more about the speaker's research?
2025 Postdoc Research Slam Finalists
Congratulations to everyone who competed in this year's competition!
1st Place
Dr. Rachael Coon
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Keeping an Eye on Calves: Developing an Automated Monitoring System for Newborn Beef Cattle
2nd Place
Dr. Hao Zhou
Faculty of Science
From Battlefield to Hospital: A Simple Solution for Mustard Gas Detection
3rd Place
Dr. Mannthalah Abubaker
Cumming School of Medicine
Harnessing Stem Cells for Blood Vessel Repair and Regeneration
Dr. Jonathan Low
Faculty of Kinesiology
From Fear to Hope: Transforming Our Understanding of Cancer Through Research and Exercise
Dr. Hyeongil Nam
Schulich School of Engineering
Adaptive Mixed Reality Simulations: Redefining Clinical Nursing Education with Emotional Virtual Agents
Dr. Jinfeng Zhang
Schulich School of Engineering
Transforming E‐Waste into Flame‐Retardant Fillers for Recycled LLDPE: A Path to Sustainable Innovation
Dr. Leila Rezaei
Cumming School of Medicine
Metabolic Modeling: A New Lens on the Microbial World to Decode Their Role on Early Childhood Brain Development and Mental Health
Dr. Ludymila Ribeiro Borges
Cumming School of Medicine
The Eyes Say It All: Improving Brain‐Computer Interfaces for Children with Disabilities
Dr. Muhammad Toyabur Rahman
Schulich School of Engineering
Moving Power: When Your Body Becomes the Battery
Dr. Omid Khajehdehi
Faculty of Science
Driving the EV Transition: What Fuels Consumer Adoption?
Dr. Quentin Raffaelli
Faculty of Arts
How does the brain create spontaneous thoughts?
Dr. Sina Rezvani
Schulich School of Engineering
Digital Transformation and Leak Detection of Hydrogen Pipeline through Artificial Intelligence and Digital Twin
Past Competitors
1st Place
Dr. Jordan Lee: Electrical stimulation improves blood pressure stability after spinal cord injury
2nd Place
Dr. Nicole Cho: Harnessing the gut microbiota as immunotherapy to prevent infections in the ICU
3rd Place
Dr. Gabriel Knott-Fayle: Learning to be Boys: Addressing Gender‐Based Violence In and Through Education
Other Finalists:
Dr. Anna Niedzwiecka: A Future for Sustainable Wastewater Purification
Dr. Sara Hassanpour Tamrin: Exosomes: Revolutionizing Early Cancer Detection for a Brighter Tomorrow
Dr. Marissa Nivison: Was Freud right all along? Does childhood really shape who we are as adults?
Dr. Mengchi Ai: Discovering Yourself in the City-Strategies for Navigating Downtown When Your GPS Fails You
Dr. Celeste Labedz: An ear to the ground: how seismology can improve early warning for glacial floods
Dr. Ana Watson: Pluralism in Canada’s low-carbon future: Assessing the Social Acceptance of Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies
Dr. Liz Paola Noguera Zayas: Can we prevent the next pandemic?
Dr. Mona Parizadeh: Unraveling Rural Microbiome Narratives through Early-life Temporal Dynamics
Dr. David Borkenhagen: Planet Youth Calgary: Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Calgary's Youth
1st Place
Dr. Michelle Hawks: Are past math classes haunting us? Using history to explore ideas of intelligence in math
2nd Place
Dr. Daniel Comaduran Marquez: Brain-controlled devices for playing sports
3rd Place
Dr. Meaghan Perdue: Reading isn't as easy as A-B-C: Looking into the brain to understand reading disability
Other Finalists:
Dr. Youssef Allami: Do predictors of remission from a gambling disorder apply equally to everyone?
Dr. Kaue Duarte Tartarotti Nepomuceno: Detecting Signs of Dementia sooner using Artificial Intelligence
Dr. Xiao Yang Fang (Yangyang): Radical Mental Health Doulas: A New Approach to Care
Dr. Kenzie Friesen: It’s common sense!: Sensors in mouthguards can be used to sense risk factors of concussion
Dr. Maryam Ghahremani: Mild behavioural impairment (MBI) in early-stage dementia
Dr. Sedigheh Mahdavi: Application of Cattle Manure to Make Oil Production More Sustainable in Alberta?
Dr. Connor McDougall: Optimizing Medical Imaging in Stroke Care
Dr. Mohammad Rehan: Construction of Real Human Lung 3D Tissue in Lab to Study Lung Diseases
Dr. Patrick Sipila: Discovery of drug resistance-informed treatment approach for pediatric malignancies
1st Place: Cameron Semper, Cumming School of Medicine, Producing Meat from Cell Cultures: Helping to Reduce Costs in the Field of Cellular Agriculture.
2nd Place: Catherine Hume, Cumming School of Medicine, Investigating ‘The Munchies’; How Does Cannabis Use Alter Our Eating Habits?
3rd Place (tie):
- Chukwunonso Nzelu, Cumming School of Medicine, Prior Exposure to Insect Bites Creates a Good Environment for Deadly Diseases
- Samantha Noyek, Faculty of Arts, Photos Sculpt Life Stories of Youth Undergoing Major Surgery.
People’s Choice: Deepika Dogra, Cumming School of Medicine, A Precision Medicine Approach to Modelling a Rare Pediatric Eepilepsy
Watch all of the videos here.
Francina Agosti: Sensory neurons at the rescue against infection
Bruna Araujo David: Maternal serum prevents newborn death by Escherichia coli infection
Sofia Backaberg: The way you move matters - now and later
Raquel Farias Franyutti: Integrating lung function and laboratory measurements to identify COVID-19 disease categories in the intensive care unit
Simona Denise Frederiksen: Rare Diseases have Many Faces: The Road to Diagnostic Success
Leigh Gabel: Skeletons on a mission: understanding bone loss on long-duration spaceflight (2nd Place Winner)
Michèle L. Hébert: Solving the Maze: Understanding the Journey and Opening Doors for Children with Disabilities and Their Family
Steven Hersch: Fighting fire with fire to kill antibiotic resistant bacteria
Catherine Hume: Is having 'the munchies' bad for our health?
Matthew Josephson: Hot or Cold? Understanding how organisms can live in a wide range of temperatures
Tiffany Prete: Surviving Colonization in Photographs (1st Place Winner)
Anu Räisänen: Young people with old knees: We KNEE-d to prevent osteoarthritis after a knee injury
Mostafa Salari: Social Distancing in passengers seat assignment
Anne-Marieke Smid: Modern dairy farming: to graze or not to graze? (3rd Place Winner)
Renata Kruger: A bike ride to thrive in assisted living care.
Liz Baker, Faculty of Social Work: Preventing Dating Violence on College Campuses
Tiffany Bell, Cumming School of Medicine: I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it: Understanding brain hyperexcitability in childhood migraine
Lauren Benson, Faculty of Kinesiology: Sport Injury Prevention with Wearable Technology
Jaime Colmenares, Faculty of Science: Once upon a time, I met Isotopes
Mahdad Eghbalian, Schulich School of Engineering: A novel multiscale model of hydraulic fracturing in tight rocks
Raquel Farias Franyutti, Cumming School of Medicine: The neuro-immune axis in the lung: understanding how our nerves communicate with our immune cells to protect us from infection (3rd Place Winner)
Eli Kinney-Lang, Cumming School of Medicine: Imagine that! Using Brain-Computer Interfaces and Imagined Sign Language to Enable Children with Complex Communication Needs (2nd Place Winner)
Brae Anne McArthur, Faculty of Arts: Identifying the "Digital Tipping Point": Understanding the Relation between Screen Time and Child Development (1st Place Winner)
Zahra Shakeri Hossein Abad, Cumming School of Medicine: A novel artificial intelligence system to protect children from unhealthy food and brand marketing in the digital age
Maria Stietz, Veterinary Medicine: Know your enemy
Ivana Vranjes, Haskayne School of Business: #MeToo - But don't tell anyone…
Chunyang Yu, Schulich School of Engineering: Navigation for Pedestrians and Autonomous Vehicles