When Tina Katsaros started her PhD-level research project, funded by ME Research UK, under Dr Sarah Annesley, she hoped to better understand the cause-and-effect relationships between energy pathway abnormalities in cells from people with ME/CFS.
Researchers at every level increasingly look to hone their skills in communicating their research to the public in general. With this in mind, Tina recently entered the ‘Visualise Your Thesis’ competition at La Trobe University, and we were delighted to hear that her video won both the People’s Choice Award and overall runner-up prize.
‘Visualise Your Thesis’ is an international programme that challenges graduate researchers to present their research in a 60-second audio-visual explainer. The programme provides an opportunity for universities across the world to showcase their graduate research, and for the participants to build essential information and digital literacy skills to effectively communicate complex research to a general audience.
Tina told us, “I was very excited about the win, and more importantly that I had over 100 people from across La Trobe in different departments and schools watch it (plus many others via Zoom). I had a few people approach me afterward saying that they had never heard of ME/CFS before and thought the video was extremely impactful.”
Tina’s awareness-raising of ME/CFS has not been confined to this competition as she spoke briefly about her research on an Australian radio show called “Einstein A Go-Go” and also highlighted the complexity of ME/CFS, and the delays in the diagnostic process experienced by many people with the disease.
Congratulations to Tina, and many thanks to all the supporters who voted for her and to all the people with ME who contributed content.
