Mr Filmer, who was born in Malaysia and holds a prestigious New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarship, also won a return trip to compete in the Australasian Three Minute Thesis Competition finals in Brisbane early next month.
He was "quite humbled" by the win, given the high quality of his fellow contestants.
His research involved aspects of the tuning of classical stringed instruments, and he had emphasised links with musical creativity in his presentation, to help communicate better with people who did not have a classical music background.
About 200 people watched the finals, held at the Otago University College of Education Auditorium, at the end of Otago's annual Graduate Research Month.
Chief judge Prof Richard Blaikie said the eight finalists had reached a high standard, given the demanding task of summarising their thesis research in only three minutes.
A contest organiser, Chris Stoddart, who manages Otago's doctoral and scholarships office, was "delighted" at the success of Otago's fourth annual three-minute thesis contest.
Other prizewinners: Allamanda Faatoese, Christchurch campus, $750 study award, 2; Hemakumar Devan, schools' favourite, $250 and $500 study award, 3.
