Music Psychology student wins University’s Visualise Your Thesis competition

Music Psychology PhD student Sabrina McKenzie has recently won the University of Melbourne’s Visualise Your Thesis competition.

Visualise Your Thesis is a program that challenges graduate researchers to present their research in a 60-second audio-visual explainer. Sabrina will now be representing the University of Melbourne at the international Visualise Your Thesis competition, to be held later in the year.

Sabrina’s PhD research explores the role everyday music listening plays in cultivating self-compassion, which involves acknowledging and alleviating suffering within ourselves.

“Visualise Your Thesis was such an amazing experience. The tools provided in the learning modules leading up to submission were invaluable – I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow through this process,” says Sabrina.

Dr Solange Glasser, one of Sabrina’s supervisors, says Sabrina’s success in the competition is testament to her strengths as a researcher and science communicator.

“Sabrina is an incredible communicator who draws her audience in through her storytelling. She has a remarkable blend of sharp scientific focus, creative spark, grit and determination,” says Dr Glasser.

“Visualise Your Thesis has given her a fantastic opportunity to showcase her research to an international audience and extend the positive impact her research is already having.”

This is the second year in a row that a Music Psychology student from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music has won this award, which was won last year by Simone Maurer.