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Falling Walls demolished by research students

Posted on 30 June 2017

Our brilliant research students broke through intellectual walls to victory, taking two of the top slots at the at Falling Walls Lab York.

Falling walls winners

Winners

  • 1st prize: Jet Sanders (Psychology), 'Breaking the wall of risky decisions'
  • 2nd prize: Christian Schuster (Physics), 'Breaking the wall of a nuclear decommissioning crisis'
  • 3rd prize: Viswadeep Sarangi (Electronic Engineering), 'Breaking the wall of medical diagnostics and recovery'
  • People's choice: Rowena Kasprowicz (Education), 'Breaking the wall of grammar learning'

All competitors received a certificate, with further prizes for the top three. In addition to their entry to the Falling Walls final, Jet and Christian will receive travel and accommodation for two nights in Berlin.

Winners from the York 3MT (Three Minute Thesis) competition, Jet Sanders, L Meghan Dennis and Viswadeep Sarangi, went on to compete in Falling Walls Lab York.

Falling walls

Falling walls winner Jet Sanders receiving an over-sized ticket to Berlin.

Our students faced off against research staff to present the impact of their research in an engaging and accessible way before a panel of judges and a diverse audience of researchers and the general public.

The event was a vibrant and engaging showcase of the best and brightest of up and coming York reserachers, and it is a phenomenal achievement that two of our research students went on to gain first and third place, with Jet Sanders as the overall winner.

Jet will deliver her presentation, 'Breaking the wall of risky behaviours', at the international Falling Walls final in Berlin, along with second place winner, Christian Schuster.

Jet's winning research

Jet's presentation outlined research showing that the attitude we show towards risk varies as we progress through the week, with Friday tending to reflect the most risky behaviour and Thursday the least.

She explores the wider effects of such a pattern, particularly in the context of UK elections and referendums, which are always held on a Thursday.