Articles

Get involved with our 3 Minute Thesis competition

TLDRoffon

Whether as a PhD student that's by entering and sharing your thesis in just 3 minutes, or by voting in the People's Choice award at the faculty heats - all students and staff are welcome.

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition was developed by The University of Queensland in 2008 and is a research communication competition.  PhD students have 3 minutes to present their thesis and its significance to a panel of judges and an audience.  If you're a PhD student that wants to enter, see the details below on how to enter, and the competition rules.

At each stage of the competition there's a judges' winner and a people's choice award, so all students and staff are invited to attend the faculty heats, which start on Monday 11 February for the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

The prizes are £1,000 for the faculty judges' winner and £500 for the faculty people's choice and are funding towards a conference or training activity to further their research.  At the university final, which takes place on 4 April there's a further prize of £1,500 for the university judges' winner and £1,000 for the people's choice, again for funding towards a conference or training activity to further their research.  

An 80,000 word thesis would take 9 hours to present, in this competition PhD students have 3 minutes, and one static slide.

We're expecting the events to be fun and informative, and it'd be great to see as many of you there as possible.

To enter and attend faculty heats email:

Dates:

Eligibility and progression

To enter, you must be a current Greenwich postgraduate research student who has successfully transferred to PhD.

Includes postgraduate research students whose thesis is under submission but they must not have had your viva by the time of the final 4 April 2019. 

Students must hold this status at the date of their first presentation (i.e. Faculty heats). 

The 3MT® competition is best suited to researchers in second year or above (or part-time equivalent) as they tend to have a more fully formed project, but first-year doctoral or PhD students are also welcome to enter.

Judging criteria:

Comprehension - Content - Engagement - Communication

Competition rules:

A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted. No slide transitions, animations or 'movement' of any description are allowed. The slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration.

No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) and no additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment) are permitted.

Presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum and competitors exceeding 3 minutes are disqualified.

Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps or songs).

Presentations are to commence from the stage.

Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through either movement or speech. 

The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.