Grad students invited to present research for cash and glory
Calling all graduate students: Sign up now for UBC Okanagan’s second-annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) academic competition and compete for $2,000 in prizes.
Grad students in all thesis-based programs, from all faculties and schools, have just three minutes and one slide to explain the depth and significance of their research to a non-specialized audience and panel of judges.
3MT participation fosters effective presentation and communication skills, adds experience of merit to CVs, and enables students to crystallize their research findings.
Preliminary rounds of 3MT presentations begin in January 2015. Top students from heats held by the faculties and schools will advance to the 3MT Final in March.
Competition host the College of Graduate Studies is currently helping faculties and schools to coordinate a heat in January and February to determine the finalists who will compete at the campus 3MT Final in March for titles and cash prizes.
Registration
Contact your heat organizer to participate in the 3MT.
To register a heat for your faculty or school, contact Kerry Panopoulos at kerry.panopoulos@ubc.ca or 250-807-8486.
3MT final
The 3MT final event is part of Celebrate Research 2015 in March. Winning students will be awarded prizes as follows:
Prizes: Winner – $1,000 | Runner-up – $600 | People’s Choice Award – $300
All heat participants and finalists eligible for $100 Best Title prize!
The winner will also receive a chance to attend the Western Regional 3MT competition in late spring 2015.
Schedule at a glance
3MT and Presentation Skills Bootcamps: January and February 2015
3MT Heats: January to February 2015 at various times and locations as organized by the faculties and schools
3MT Final: During Celebrate Research Week (March 2 to 6, 2015)
Participate
For graduate students interested in participating, bootcamps are an opportunity to learn how to prepare for the competition and create a winning entry! Bootcamps will be presented in collaboration with the Centre for Scholarly Communication.
For staff and faculty who want to be involved, contact Kerry Panopoulos from the College of Graduate Studies, at kerry.panopoulos@ubc.ca or 250-807-8486.
For more information about the competition at UBC’s Okanagan campus, see 3MT.ok.ubc.ca.
Background
3MT winners at UBC’s Okanagan campus in March 2014 were:
- First: Jennifer Forsythe, Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi: Nature’s Biofertilizer
- Second: Lindsay Spielman, Insulin: saving your brain, one memory at a time
- Third: Kaitlyn Bailey, Cindy Bourne, and Kaylee Larocque (People’s Choice award).
The College of Graduate Studies leads the event at UBC Okanagan. Graduate Studies is coordinating faculties and schools to each hold a heat in January-February to determine the finalists who will compete at the 3MT Final in March for titles and cash prizes. The winner will also have the opportunity to attend the Western Regional 3MT competition, to be held in late spring 2015.
In 2012, more than 30 universities across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the South Pacific participated in this fun, highly informative and very entertaining event. UBC is one of the first Universities in North America to host a 3MT competition.
Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) was developed by The University of Queensland, which challenges higher-degree research students to present a compelling oration on their thesis and its significance in just three minutes in language appropriate to a general audience. 3MT is not an exercise in trivializing or ‘dumbing-down’ research but forces students to consolidate their ideas and crystallize their research discoveries.
