A PhD dissertation is roughly 80,000 words, and that figure usually excludes footnotes, references and bibliography. This usually takes the average academic four years to complete. Now imagine attempting to condense all of that information into 3 minutes and in a simplified language that the average, non-tech, person can understand. This is what 8 incredibly talented Researchers will be required to do at the 2019, annual, Inspirefest event.
The much anticipated competition, Reserchfest, will require these finalists to explain their Research as a 3 minute pitch in front of a panel of highly qualified judges. The judges included Prof Christine Loscher, associate dean for research at the School of Biotechnology in Dublin City University (DCU); Julie Byrne, head of external collaborations at Nokia Bell Labs; Ken Finnegan, CEO of Tangent; and Prof Arlene Gallagher, director of the Trinity Walton Club, assistant professor of the School of Physics Trinity College Dublin (TCD), and coordinator of the annual event.
Nimbus are incredibly proud as our own PhD researcher Yasantha Chamara, is one of 8 outstanding finalists that was chosen for the Researchfest Competition. Yasantha will be discussing how the new industrial revolution – referred to as industry 4.0 – has created a strong pull for wireless communication to replace cumbersome wired networks in industrial settings. Yasantha Chamara’s research at Nimbus is looking to utilise reliable broadcasting, flooding and retransmissions of data packets to achieve sub-millisecond latency. This offers significant advantages of lower cost, speed, seamless deployment, higher flexibility and scalability to eliminate existing drawbacks of wired industrial communications.
What’s most impressive is that Yasantha grew up in Sri Lanka, only learning English as he went to College to study his undergraduate in Electronics Engineering. He attributes a lot of his fast learning an confidence in English to joining ‘Toastmasters’ club in Sri Lanka, an organisation that supports leadership skills, communications and public speaking. Yasantha went on to study his Masters in Mobile Communication Systems at Loughborough University and is currently working on his PhD in Industrial communications at CIT. When asked how confident he was undergoing his undergraduate and postgraduates through a second language, Yasantha said it was initially a challenge however through Toastmaster and living in the UK & Ireland he has grown in confidence. This is perfectly illustrated by his nomination to such an intensely competitive event as Researchfest.
The finalists showcased the diversity and calibre of research happening across Ireland. This year’s winner will win one-to-one communication coaching, the starring role in a feature on Siliconrepublic.com and the chance to present on the main stage at Inspirefest on 17 May 2019. We wish Yasantha the best of luck and we at Nimbus are incredibly proud of his work.
