180 seconds was all they had.
In only 180 seconds, 64 students from 39 secondary schools across Malaysia had the challenge of expressing all their knowledge and passion for their favourite scientific topic—and they did so brilliantly.
This fascinating challenge was part of QIU’s “3 Min Sci-Story” competition that was held online earlier today. Organised by the QIU Foundation in Science (FIS) Raiders, the contest challenged the secondary school students to “speak science” in just 3 minutes.
The competition focused on improving science communication skills among the scientific minds of the future, teaching them how to convey scientific ideas and knowledge to the general public in an accessible and understandable way.
The day kicked off with an opening speech from QIU Vice-Chancellor Prof Zita Mohd Fahmi, followed by a coaching session from Dr Siti Khayriyyah Mohd Hanafiah, the first woman from Asia to be named champion of the world’s longest-running science communication competition, FameLab International.


The competition then began with some genuinely inspiring speeches from our participants. At the end of the day, however, there had to be only one winner.
That winner was Ariesya Saffiyah Abdul Jalil from SMK Putrajaya Presint 16(1), who stood out from the field with her speech on ‘Inflammation.’


The first runner-up spot was taken by Taqriz Fariz from MRSM Kuantan with his speech on ‘How Radiation Affects Our Daily Life’ while Kolej Yayasan Saad Melaka student Alisya Nur Insyirah Johan Shahril’s speech ‘Cracking Your Bones Isn’t That Bad’ netted her the second runner-up spot.
Congratulations to all of the participants for the great job they did, as well as the organising team from the FIS Raiders who put this great event together. Our scientific future is definitely in good hands!