2020 3MT winner Brittany Hollett takes her research to new heights
After winning first place in Athabasca University’s (AU) Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, Brittany Hollett is taking her thesis to new heights—literally and figuratively.
Hollett is nearing the end of her studies as a Master of Nursing student at AU and has just begun working on her thesis called “Do families of children on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) at end-of-life require additional support?”
Her research focuses on how families of children on heart-lung machines in the pediatric ICU experience added stressors that necessitate additional support when their child is end-of-life.
Not long before her interview with The Hub, she was landing between jumps while testing for her solo skydiving licence and was very excited to speak about her experience participating in this year’s virtual 3MT competition.
Hollett explained that winning the 3MT competition meant a lot to her because, although she was overwhelmed about going into a thesis, winning the 3MT helped show her that her topic was well-received and helped validate that she was in the right field.
“My passion for my research came across during the presentation, and I have worked hard with my thesis supervisor to make my writing more concise, while still getting my point across. It showed that all the work I’ve done to condense things has paid off here and I’m very proud of that,” she said.
While still at the beginning stage of her thesis, Hollett emphasized that this experience would be fantastic for anyone, no matter where they are in the process of their research.
“No matter what your background is with public speaking, or how far you are with your thesis, it is such a great experience. Competing in the 3MT really draws on your passion and that will help fuel you into beginning your thesis, and culminates that passion and momentum you need when writing it,” she said.
With one more year to go, Hollett claims that the 3MT helped motivate and move her forward in the thesis writing process. As for her goals, she hopes to go right into her PhD post-graduation and pursue this field of research that she feels so passionately about.
“No matter what your background is with public speaking, or how far you are with your thesis, it is such a great experience. Competing in the 3MT really draws on your passion and that will help fuel you into beginning your thesis, and culminates that passion and momentum you need when writing it.”
– Brittany Hollett, 3MT First Place Winner
“I want to be able to deliver better support to these parents whose children have been so sick for so long and are on ECMO at end of life. We provide the usual end of life care for the child and families, but when the parents leave the ICU after their child has passed away, we don’t know how they are doing,” she said.
“My research will help us understand what we do well, and also focus on what we could do better to help mitigate their grief. We want them to feel at peace with the end of life process and provide as supportive an environment as we can.”
Learn more about this year’s 3MT competition or the Master of Nursing program at AU today.
