A chemical engineering student seeking ways to use blood polymers to make bioplastics was a double winner at the University of Waikato's recent Thesis in 3 competition.
Ten doctoral students each had three minutes and a single static powerpoint slide to talk about their research and why it was important.
Presentations were judged by a panel of experts and a full theatre at the Academy of Performing Arts.
Ku Marsilla Ku Ishak, from Malaysia, won the people's choice award and was judged the overall winner, taking away $5000 for her win. It's the first time in the competition's four-year history that one person has won both major prizes.
Her speech was titled, "Turning animal blood into bioplastics: A perfect marriage".
"With 39.5 million sheep and cattle in New Zealand there is plenty of opportunity to use animal blood in bioplastic manufacture. The trouble is, animal bloodmeal needs to be blended with other polymers, and it's a bit like finding a compatible partner to make that perfect marriage - sometimes it's like oil and water, and it doesn't work."
Economics student Alex Kravchenko was runner-up. He received $2500 for his presentation, "Nothing Trivial", which looked at New Zealand's fresh water shortage.
He says the "first come, first served" water allocation isn't working and he's developing an economic model to find better and cost-effective ways to allocate "our most valuable, but most undervalued resource".