What’s in a thesis? Better still, what’s in a three-minute thesis?
For Simona Strungaru, UNE Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition winner, the answer is years of research, spending over a decade living abroad, and the will to prevent tragedy.
Simona recently took first place against seven other finalists to win UNE’s 3MT, an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland. Its aim is to challenge research students to condense their 80,000-word thesis into a compelling three-minute video presentation for a general audience.
“My research aims to critically examine why sexual exploitation and abuse conducted by UN peacekeepers continues to be prevalent within peacekeeping operations,” Simona explains.
“The focus of my research lies in the discrepancy between the UN’s discourse of 'peace', and the actions and behaviours of some peacekeepers in violation of their mandates and of fundamental international human rights.”
A harrowing thesis topic for a presentation, but Simona is determined to help address issues of exploitation through her research.
"Understanding and effecting change often requires looking at the structural and foundational causes of why human rights abuses occur and continue."
Understanding and effecting change often requires looking at the structural and foundational causes of why human rights abuses occur and continue.
Having been born to immigrant parents, Simona grew up in Sydney with a keen interest in world cultures, politics and human rights through her Romanian heritage. This culminated with her moving to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where she lived as a permanent resident for 12 years.
“My time spent in Saudi Arabia was unique, incredible and unforgettable. I was exposed to a melting pot of people from all walks of life, each with incredible stories – some heartbreaking, but all captivating.
“Given that Saudi Arabia is a new country (less than 100 years old), I was privileged to witness some incredible transformations and social developments that the country underwent whilst I lived there. Particularly the progressive strides it made in human rights, such as women’s rights, progressive labour laws and employee rights, and the curtailment of powers of the religious police (formally known as the ‘Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice’ or CPVPV) - following years of misuse of power and incidents of abuse. I would definitely credit my exposure and experiences in Saudi as leading me to pursue my studies in sociology and human rights, and international relations and law.”
From this experience, Simona was inspired to begin her Master of Philosophy (UNE), her research focusing on child marriage among the Syrian refugee population in Jordan.
“My (3MT) thesis topic feels like a somewhat natural continuation from my master’s. My research focused extensively on what international human rights laws exist for the protection of stateless or refugee Syrian children, and what the UN’s involvement was in their protection - which I came to find was unfortunately quite limited.”
However, the catalyst for her choice of thesis topic came in the form of film.
“My research focus and interest on the UN was fresh in my mind when I happened to watch a biopic titled The Whistleblower (2010), starring Rachel Weisz. It tells the biographical story of a former peacekeeper who was privy to horrific cases of peacekeepers in Bosnia trafficking and sexually abusing children.
This true story sent me down a rabbit hole that led me to find out that Bosnia was not a one-off, isolated case, but rather, sexual exploitation and abuse still continues to occur to this day in various missions around the world."
This true story sent me down a rabbit hole that led me to find out that Bosnia was not a one-off, isolated case, but rather, sexual exploitation and abuse still continues to occur to this day in various missions around the world.
Simona’s presentation, Disrupting Peace: A Critical Inquiry into Power and the Prevalence of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Conducted by UN Peacekeepers was the first from the School of Humanities to win UNE’s 3MT competition.
“One of the most challenging parts of the competition was having to record myself while seeing myself on the screen at the same time… and then having to watch myself back over and over again. I have a renewed appreciation of actors now when they often say they don’t usually watch the movies that they play in.”
For people wanting to enter, Simona offers this piece of advice:
“Think of the 3MT not as a competition per se, but rather an opportunity to talk passionately about your research. It’s not only a fun project to distract you away from the endless hours spent working on your thesis, but it is incredibly rewarding and a great learning curve on sharpening your communication skills.
Try not to get too much into your own head, and most of all; be patient with yourself."
Try not to get too much into your own head, and most of all; be patient with yourself.
Simona went on to make the semi-finals in the Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition.
