Three Minute Thesis winners explore hot topics

Dr Noah Bunkley is the winner of this year's Waipapa Taumata Rau Three Minute Thesis competition.

Bunkley, from Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa, Centre for Pacific and Global Health, spoke about his thesis on painting roofs across four continents with a reflective coating, as part of research into tackling the health impacts of climate change.

Bunkley is managing the global REFLECT project, which is testing whether reflective white roof paint provides relief from extreme heat in Niue, Mexico, India and Burkina Faso.

“Cool roofs could be a climate change adaptation tool that might have huge benefits for the health of people in vulnerable communities,” Bunkley says.

The runner up was Rebecca O'Leary, whose thesis topic is representations of domestic violence in contemporary theatre.

O'Leary, from the Faculty of Arts and Education, hopes her research will contribute to turning the tide, so victims of family violence are heard and social changes are made.

Victims of domestic violence need more protection and support after they leave violent relationships, she says.

“Our legal and social systems do not serve victims well and often re-traumatise them, whilst our economic, social and cultural structures allow domestic violence to thrive,” O’Leary says.

The People’s Choice Award went to Ross Millar, for his presentation on how to read and write sign languages.

Millar, from the Faculty of Science, says the idea for his research on creating a written sign language was sparked when he was teaching basic computer skills to a group of deaf students.

“I asked the tutor how to write sign language and was told, ‘You can’t. Just use simple English’.

“I have not stopped thinking about it,” he says.

Since then, he has been developing a written sign language for the deaf community.

“I hope deaf people will start to read and write in their own languages. However, that is up to them,” Millar says.