PhD Student Emily Wood Takes 2nd Place at U of T’s 3MT Final
Emily Wood
By: Jessica Boafo
Where professional development meets a little friendly competition—that’s the essence of the University of Toronto’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Final. Each year, the School of Graduate Studies hosts this event to showcase some of the most exciting graduate research across the university. The challenge? Present your entire thesis in just three minutes, using one static PowerPoint slide, and explain it to a non-specialist audience.
This year, the Department of Speech-Language Pathology is proud to celebrate PhD student Emily Wood, who earned second place in the highly competitive 2025 U of T 3MT Final for her presentation titled: “Turning the Page on Unfair Reading Screening.”
The finals took place on March 26 at the William Doo Auditorium, following a highly competitive process involving 80 students, eight heats, and three semi-final rounds. Emily’s clear, thoughtful, and impactful presentation stood out among some truly incredible research.
“The overall experience was just really fun,” Emily shared. “It’s a great way to practice high-pressure, low-stakes presentations—and it was amazing to see all the exciting research happening at U of T.”
Emily is working under the supervision of Dr. Monika Molnar, and her research focuses on developing a dynamic assessment tool for early word reading in bilingual and multilingual kindergarten children. Her goal is to reduce bias in current screening tools and make reading assessments more fair, inclusive, and clinically useful—especially for children from diverse language backgrounds.
Before diving into her PhD, Emily completed her undergrad at Wilfrid Laurier University and earned her clinical Master’s at McGill University. She also worked seven years as a pediatric speech-language pathologist, which gives her research a strong connection to real-world clinical needs.
“As a PhD student, communicating the importance and impact of your research can be hard, but it’s critical—for public understanding, for building trust in science, and for making sure our findings make a difference in the real world,” she says.
Emily’s success at the 3MT is not only a personal milestone—it also highlights the excellence and relevance of research coming out of the Department of Speech-Language Pathology. Her work addresses a pressing need in both education and healthcare: ensuring that language and literacy assessments are inclusive, accurate, and culturally responsive. This achievement reinforces the department’s commitment to equity, innovation, and translational science, and exemplifies the impact that rehabilitation science can have beyond traditional clinical settings—from classrooms to policy development.
However, Emily’s journey doesn’t end here. As the first-place winner is unable to attend the next round, Emily will be representing U of T at the Ontario 3MT® Final on May 14!
Once again, we extend our congratulations to Emily and all the amazing 3MT® participants! To watch the recordings of all finalists, please visit the Centre for Graduate Development website.
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