„Science in 3 Minutes“ Finalists 2024

Country of origin: Azerbaijan

University of Tartu

Title: The Dating Game: Companies, Institutions, and the Flirt with Innovation

Elchin is a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Tartu and Senior Business Analyst at Swedbank Estonia. In his research, Elchin explores how institutional aspects like culture and corruption shape company innovation in surprising ways. By uncovering unexpected links between institutional quality and innovation, he offers fresh insights for policymakers and businesses.

Country of origin: Guatemala

Tallinn University of Technology

Title: Caring through quality: Enhancing Mammography from afar

Lucía Mariel is a proud representative of Guatemala, an enthusiastic medical physicist, an early-career researcher, a mother, and an advocate for women in science. Passionate about helping others through science, she has found her calling in medical physics. Committed to advancing the field, she focuses on the safe use of radiation to enhance breast imaging methodologies in healthcare while working as a medical physicist at Tartu University Hospital and Taltech.

Country of origin: India

University of Tartu

Title: Seeing through Fog, Mist and Skin Tissues

Francis Gracy is a second-year PhD student in physics in the field of “computational imaging” under the Computational imaging and processing at high resolution (CIPHR) research group at the Institute of Physics, University of Tartu. Francis is working on a technique to see through scattering media. Apart from research, she is a food blogger and loves cooking different cuisines. Francis envisioned pursuing a PhD at a leading university in Europe, and that became a reality, and here she is.

Country of origin: Brazil

Tallinn University Baltic Film and Media School

Title: Exploring Verbal Account Scenes in Horror Films

Popular science article on the Research in Estonia portal

Larissa is a screenwriter who turned to PhD student at Tallinn University Baltic Film and Media School. Her research explores horror films and the use of a narrative strategy called “verbal account”. This is when a film character tells another of a past event they witnessed or describes something they see (but the audience does not). She has taken a cognitive approach to understand how film viewers feel when they watch these scenes and learn how effective they are, allowing filmmakers to expand narrative strategies and make more interesting genre films.

Country of origin: Latvia

University of Tartu

Title: TRMT112 – the mysterious link between different diseases

Baibas’ research area is cancer research. She is especially interested in the molecular mechanisms of how proteins function inside different types of cancer cells. She hopes that her research will contribute to the development of more effective cancer treatment in the future. Apart from experiments in the lab, she also loves to experiment in the kitchen and to travel and explore different parts of the world. She came to study in Estonia because it’s a great place to live and it’s close to her home country Latvia

Country of origin: Ireland

Tallinn University

Title: So Why Games?

Peadar is a game designer and enthusiast who specializes in teaching people about cybersecurity. He has built a variety of games from simple two player card games to full wargames used by governments, all exploring different aspects of cybersecurity. These games help people to explore the complex topics in the field and understand them better thereby making themselves and the world around them a safer place.
When not building or playing games Peadar teaches people how to build games in Tallinn Universities Digital Learning Game Design masters program or is busy practicing martial arts or cooking.

Country of origin: Turkey

Estonian Academy of Arts

Title: Textile Companions: Promoting Body Awareness for Chronic Pain

Dila is a design researcher and artist focused on exploring creative methods to support individuals with chronic pain and gut diseases. Her work aims to challenge health stigma and provide social support for those affected by chronic illnesses. Having moved to Estonia for her MA and continuing her PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Dila now leads a research project at the institution. In her free time, she enjoys climbing, exploring Estonia’s nature, and rug weaving.

Country of origin: Italy

Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre

Title: Historical Clarinet in Modern Music

Vittorias’ field is artistic research in music performance. The focus of her work is her instrument, the clarinet, and in particular how practising different types of clarinets (modern and historical) can affect her playing and musical skills. The aim is to develop alternative uses for historical instruments, and alternative practice methods, focusing on developing a healthy relationship with the instrument and the classical music environment. This is very important to her because her approach to music has not always been healthy, and the results of the research could be explored and applied by other players.
Besides doing research, she works in the Estonian National Opera Orchestra. In her free time she loves reading, drawing, and cooking.
She applied to doctoral studies in Estonia after completing her master's degree here, because she liked her life in Tallinn, and also felt that this opportunity could give her more career options.

Country of origin: Bangladesh

Estonian Business School

Title: Redefining Beauty for Young Girls in the Age of Social Media

Popular science article on the Research in Estonia portal

Mehrubas’ research focuses on promoting positive body image through social media interventions. Her interest in this area began with the increasing influence of digitally altered images, prevalent on social media, which cause body and appearance dissatisfaction among women. As young girls are more engaged on social media during a critical developmental age, she believes it’s time for researchers to use these platforms as positive tools to educate them on a more realistic perception of self.

Country of origin: Iraan

Tallinn University of Technology

Title: Applying Reflexive-Adaptive Law. For Safeguarding the EU´s Security of Gas Supply during the Transition Era

Javads’ research focuses on energy security. Although he initially studied petrochemical engineering, he found the complexities of energy law and security, especially the oil price spikes and Russian gas disputes in the 2000s, more challenging, which led him to interdisciplinary energy issues. He moved to Estonia for PhD due to its strategic relevance in relations with Russia and its advanced position in renewable development among its neighbourns. Currently, he lectures at Taltech alongside the research.

Country of origin: India

Estonian University of Life Sciences

Title: If not plastics, then what?

Popular science article on the Research in Estonia portal

Sharib Khan is a dynamic junior researcher at the Institute of Forestry and Engineering in Estonian University of Life Sciences, where he is pioneering the development of bio-based technologies for sustainable plastics and pharmaceuticals. With a deep-seated passion for innovation since childhood, Sharib has always been fascinated by the potential of wood and agricultural waste. Today, his research focuses on biorefineries, emphasizing the transformative role of bio-based materials and chemicals in replacing traditional, fossil-fuel-based products. Sharib's work involves investigating innovative ways to convert wood waste and agricultural side streams into eco-friendly plastics and pharmaceutical compounds.

Country of origin: Ukraina

Tallinn University of Technology

Title: Metabolic engineering of non-conventional yeasts

Popular science article on the Research in Estonia portal

Her research area is biotechnology with focus on genetic engineering and microbiology. Inna wanted to become a scientist since she was 14 and started to study chemistry in school. She believes that biotechnology can give us a sustainable future. Her aim is to replace old unsustainable ways of producing valuable chemicals. In a free time she reads, swims and does open-source investigations. She came to Estonia from Ukraine 1 week before the war started and found a PhD position here after arrival.

Country of origin: Iran

Estonian University of Life Sciences

Title: The mother´s first hug

Omid is a dedicated PhD student at the Estonian University of Life Sciences. His Master’s research on cellular interactions between male gametes and maternal cells inspired him to join Prof. Fazeli’s research group in Estonia. His PhD work investigates embryo-maternal interactions mediated by extracellular vesicles under stress conditions, intending to advance the understanding of pregnancy complexity and improve fertility outcomes for families facing reproductive challenges.

Country of origin: Italy

Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre

Title: Borrowing Actions in Music Composition

Popular science article on the Research in Estonia portal

His research area focuses on the musical composition practice, specifically on the use of irony, borrowing actions, the cultural significance of symbols, and musical interpretation. While his interest in irony was natural and instinctive, his other interests have developed since moving to Estonia, where at the Academy he had the opportunity to directly engage with diverse cultures. Estonia offered a well-structured PhD program with knowledgeable faculty, allowing him to pursue his research rigorously while maintaining the freedom to choose his own direction.

Country of origin: Nigeria

University of Tartu

Title: Wetland restoration and management strategies

Isaac came to Estonia in 2019 for a master’s in geoinformatics at the University of Tartu. His interest in wetland studies grew during this time after taking a course on spatial data studies and running the analyses based on wetland data. Writing a MSc thesis on wetlands and greenhouse gas emissions led him to pursue a PhD in environmental technology. His research focuses on restoring wetlands to capture more carbon and reduce greenhouse gases, helping to combat global warming to make it possible to better understand the driving mechanisms behind greenhouse gas emissions and develop effective solutions to reduce them. Outside of research, he enjoys traveling, and playing badminton and soccer.

Country of origin: Ukraine

University of Tartu

Title: Hidden Bacteria that Shape Your Health

Kateryna is an Ukrainian bioinformatician and a 3rd-year PhD student at the University of Tartu. Her research focuses on reconstructing the genomes of unknown bacteria from the human gut. By studying these hidden microbes, she aims to understand their role in human health and disease. The ultimate goal is to use this knowledge to improve healthcare, particularly through personalized medicine and better disease prevention.

Country of origin: Finland

Estonian Business School

Title: From information to price, in time of social media

Samuli is a second year PhD student, studying the asset price formation and how the information from social media transfers into the asset pricing.

Country of origin: Georgia

Estonian Academy of Arts

Title: Scientific study of unique Gaji plaster may hold key to save Georgia's medieval paintings

Mariam is a Wall Painting Conservator dedicated to preserving cultural heritage. As a PhD candidate, she studies Gaji, a gypsum-earth plaster common in Georgian wall paintings since the Middle Ages, and is developing new conservation materials for it. She co-supervises the wall painting conservation program at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Gelati Monastery, and teaches cultural heritage conservation and environmental monitoring at Tbilisi State Academy of Art in Georgia.

Country of origin: India

Tallinn University of Technology

Title: Next generation solar powered forest fire detection system

Sajeesh is a fourth-year PhD student at Tallinn University of Technology. He holds a bachelor's and master's in physics from India and have three years of R&D experience in thin film solar cells. His current research involves developing antimony selenide solar cells. He is also a semi-professional badminton player ranked 75th in Estonia, a sports enthusiast, and a global movie lover.