Three Minute Thesis 3MT™

Video courtesy of UQ's Office of Marketing & Communication

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is a research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland.

The exercise develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and supports the development of research students' capacity to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience.

Research higher degree (PhD and MPhil) students have three minutes to present a compelling oration on their thesis topic and its significance. 3MT is not an exercise in trivialising or ‘dumbing-down’ research but forces students to consolidate their ideas and crystalise their research discoveries.

About 3MT™

History

The first 3MT was held at UQ in 2008 with 160 RHD students competing. In 2009 and 2010 the 3MT concept was promoted to other Australian and New Zealand universities. Enthusiasm for the 3MT concept and its adoption in numerous universities led to the development of an international competition, with the Inaugural Australia & New Zealand 3MT competition held at UQ in 2010.

Eligibility

Anyone who is active in a *PhD or *MPhil program (including thesis under submission) will be eligible to participate in 3MT. Graduates are not eligible.

Competitors who are eligible on the date of their first presentation in their local competition shall remain so for the Australia and New Zealand Final irrespective of subsequent changes to their status (e.g. those who subsequently graduate before the date of the Australia and New Zealand final).

* Note: degree must be at least two thirds research (definition drawn from Grant Guidelines 2006 for Higher Education Support Act (HESA) 2003)

Prizes

Winner: $5000 research travel grant
Runner-up: $2000 research travel grant
People's Choice: $1000 research travel grant

Rules

a single static PowerPoint slide is permitted (no slide transitions, animations or 'movement' of any description)
no additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted
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
the decision of the adjudicating panel is final

Judging Criteria

Communication style: was the thesis topic and its significance communicated in language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience?
Comprehension: did the presentation help the audience understand the research?
Engagement: did the oration make the audience want to know more?

Australia & New Zealand 3MT™ Competition

UQ was honoured to host the Inaugural Australia & New Zealand Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition in 2010 after extending the 3MT concept/competition to other national and international universities. Thirty three universities, representing over 50,000 RHD students, competed in the inaugural competition.

Following the success of Balarka Banerjee from The University of Western Australia (UWA) in the inaugural competition, UWA hosted the 2011 Australia and New Zealand 3MT event.

2011 3MT Finalists

	Winner Matthew Thompson The University of Queensland Suspects, Science and CSI View Matthew's 3MT presentation
	Runner-up Suzie Ferrie The University of Sydney Measuring Nutrition in ICU View Suzie's 3MT presentation
	People's Choice Jack Rivers University of Otago Synthetic Cannabinoids Could Save Lives, the future of medicinal marijuana View Jack's 3MT presentation

All photos provided courtesy of Michael Sinclair-Jones (The University of Western Australia)

2012 Event

Following the success of Matthew Thompson in the 2011 Australia & New Zealand 3MT competition, The University of Queensland is proud to host the event in 2012.

Australia & New Zealand 3MT™ Honour Board

	Winner	Runner-up	People's Choice
2011 Competition	Matthew Thompson The University of Queensland	Suzie Ferrie The University of Sydney	Jack Rivers University of Otago
2010 Competition	Balarka Banerjee The University of Western Australia	Gabrielle Briggs The University of Newcastle	Alex Jordan The University of New South Wales

UQ 3MT™ Competition

UQ's 2011 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition was a huge success. With a large talent pool in all Faculty and Institute competitions, over 240 RHD students competed for a position in the UQ 3MT Final. Nine students were successful in reaching the UQ Finals held in September, showcasing some of the incredible research being undertaken by our RHD students.

	Winner Matthew Thompson School of Psychology Suspects, Science and CSI Matthew represented UQ in the Australia & New Zealand 3MT competition View Matthew's 3MT presentation
	Runner-up & People's Choice Ryan Stafford School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences The Fourth Man View Ryan's 3MT presentation

	Finalist Ali Habibi School of Civil Engineering View Ali's 3MT presentation
	Finalist Hanif Baharin School of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering View Hanif's 3MT presentation
	Finalist Julian Barr School of History, Philosophy, Religion & Classics View Julian's 3MT presentation
	Finalist Justin Yu School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
	Finalist Rand Low UQ Business School View Rand's 3MT presentation
	Finalist Dr Rumal Jayalath UQ Diamantina Institute View Rumal's 3MT presentation
	Finalist Sean Muir Australian Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology View Sean's 3MT presentation

All photos provided courtesy of David Liu

Sponsor

UQ 3MT™ Honour Board

	Winner	Runner-up	People's Choice
2011 UQ Competition	Matthew Thompson Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences	Ryan Stafford Faculty of Health Sciences	Ryan Stafford Faculty of Health Sciences
2010 UQ Competition	Tina Wu Faculty of Health Sciences	Will Harrison Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences	Tina Wu Faculty of Health Sciences
2009 UQ Competition	Richard Ronay Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences	David MacDonald Faculty of Health Sciences	Emma Gagen Faculty of Natural Resources, Agricultural & Veterinary Sciences
2008 UQ Competition	Michael Imelfort Faculty of Natural Resources, Agricultural & Veterinary Sciences	Ashley Wilkinson Faculty of Health Sciences	Michael Imelfort Faculty of Natural Resources, Agricultural & Veterinary Sciences

3MT™ Resources

Resources for Students

Our 3MT 2011 Student Handbook contains information on preparing for the 3MT competition including examples of previous slides and key points to remember when refining your 3MT oration.

If you are interested in participating in the 2012 UQ competition, please contact your School or Institutes 3MT Event Coordinator for further information.

Resources for Event Coordinators

Our 3MT 2011 Event Management Handbook contains additional information on the competition and promotional materials to help encourage RHD students to participate in the 3MT competition

Please download our 3MT materials pack which includes judging sheets, name tag template, people's choice ballot, PowerPoint presentation template and sample run sheet. These resources are designed to assist you in organising your School and/or Faculty competition.

We also have a 3 minute countdown timer which is helpful for students when presenting. This can simply be displayed on a laptop in the front row facing the student. Please note that this countdown is not compulsory and we recommend asking each student if they would like it or not. If a student does not want to see a countdown, the laptop can simply face the time keeper. If a student does want to see the countdown timer, simply angle the laptop slightly on the front row so both the student and the timekeeper are using the same clock. You may like to use a visual cue to illustrate a 20 second warning and a bell at the final 3 minute mark.

If you have any queries about 3MT, please email 3MT@gradschool.uq.edu.au or phone +61 7 3346 0510.

Resources for participating universities

The 3MT Trans-Tasman Final will be hosted by the University of Queensland in 2012. More information about the event will be made available on our website shortly.

Please feel free to download the 3MT materials pack for other universities which includes people's choice ballot, PowerPoint presentation template, sample run sheet, countdown timer presentation, 3MT logo and copy to accompany the logo. These resources are designed to assist you in organising your university competition.

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