Linguistics student through to inter-university 3MT final

1 January 2022

The competition was a new challenge for Shannon. “It tested my ability to explain something I really care about in such a short amount of time, now I’m excited to represent the University and share what I’m doing,” she says.

Shannon’s thesis looks at the language of sexual pleasure and analyses the ways pairs of female friends discuss sex, pleasure, and their bodies. “My research prioritises a pleasure-centred approach, which pushes us to set new expectations of what sex should be like. So, I leaned into the strict time limit by asking myself, what do I want to get across here, and focused on conveying why my research matters more than the specific details of my findings,” she says.

For Shannon, she simply feels ‘lucky’ to talk about her thesis and have a 3-minute pitch for family dinners.

The inter-university finals will be held on 22 August at the University of Otago. The first place winner will be awarded $1000 towards their research, while the winner of the People’s Choice award will get $500.