For Debra Metcalf the virus has meant the sudden end to her travelling in search of experiential knowledge.

"In one respect, I would say I was actually quite lucky because in recent years I've travelled overseas, presenting my research in a conference in Perth, it's been a great experience," Ms Metcalf said.

"I would have missed out on that if I'd tried to do it this year."

By serendipitous timing, Ms Metcalf managed to conclude the bulk of her overseas-based research just before the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of international borders.

"I'm at the stage now that I'm writing, I have all my data," she said.

"I just beat COVID in some respects. I was delivering my Honours project from 2016 in Tokyo last year. In February this year, I went to Perth and I just got back in March just as it started. I'd just been home a few days.

"I also fit a cruise in that time too, in February. When we left Sydney, the cruise company told us the changes they made and we were conscious of the fact that there was a virus, but we got home before it all started."

Fellow PhD candidate Jennifer Schwartz was less fortunate, having to cancel her research trip to Poland which would have taken place this year.

She has also had her recent trip to Melbourne cancelled due to the restrictions.

"They are moving towards having an online version, but we're all still getting our head around it," Ms Schwartz said.

Ms Metcalf is conducting research into the consumer perceptions of future foods, including hemp-based products and "new foods that a lot of people haven't been introduced to before".

"It's driven by an increasing global population, and a need to source other foods," she said.

"In November 2017, hemp foods were legalised in Australia and with their legalisation came a perfect opportunity to evaluate consumer perceptions of accepting those novel foods."

So far, Ms Metcalf has found the uptake of hemp foods has been slow, and she is investigating the reasons for people's reticence to these products.

"There's been a lot of research lately particularly on crickets as an alternative protein source and the finding has been that you can introduce that through familiarity or using it in a familiar product," Ms Metcalf said.

Ms Schwartz from the faculty of business, justice and behavioural sciences is looking to complete her thesis on the experience of adults diagnosed with autism.

"I saw a lot of people who came across the idea of autism and thought, 'well that looks like me, what does that mean about me?'," Ms Schwartz said.

"I became interested in how that experience affected people. For some it's a fantastic experience, but for others it can be quite negative so I wanted to look at why it can be so different and how we can help."

As a student, Ms Schwartz said the virus "has not affected the research so much", with her still being able to conduct interviews online and off-campus.

But, with her children at home during the lockdown, her hours for researching were greatly affected.

"Being a parent, this has been hard. [Homeschooling] was extremely challenging, but a lot of people have been going through it and we're all just doing the best that we can," Ms Schwartz said.

"They were home for months."

On Wednesday, Ms Schwartz took out the $1000 prize in the annual three-minute thesis competition, beating five others, including Ms Metcalf.

For the first time, the competition had to migrate online, with candidates delivering a short synopsis of their projects to a virtual panel of judges in under three minutes.

Ms Schwartz will now represent CSU at the Asia Pacific finals later this year.