Grad students invited to present research for cash and glory
Calling all graduate students: Sign up now for UBC Okanagan’s third-annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) academic competition and compete for $1,600 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 helps students crystallize their research findings.
Preliminary rounds of 3MT presentations begin in January 2016. Top students from heats held by the faculties and schools will advance to the 3MT final in March.
The College of Graduate Studies is the competition host and has offered to help faculties and schools coordinate their initial heats in January and February.
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 on March 10, 2016. Winning students will be awarded prizes as follows:
Prizes: Winner – $1,000 | Runner-up – $500 | People’s Choice Award – $100
The winner will also advance to the Western Regional 3MT competition in late spring 2016, which will be hosted at UBC Okanagan this year.
Schedule at a glance
- 3MT and Presentation Skills Information Sessions & Practice Sessions
January and February 2016 - 3MT Heats
January to February 2016 at various times and locations as organized by the faculties and schools - 3MT Final
March 10, 2016
Participate
For graduate students interested in participating, information sessions and practice sessions are an opportunity to learn how to prepare for the competition and create a winning entry. Sessions 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 2015 were:
- First
Carey Simpson, Stretching the limits of muscle growth: A new route to hypertrophy - Second and People’s Choice
Stephanie Schindler, Mitochondrial Transcription Factor A (TFAM): Novel Intercellular Signaling Molecule in the Brain
UBC Vancouver PhD student, Zoe Wai-Man Lam, received the 2nd place Highly Commended award from the judging panel in this year’s third annual Universitas 21 (U21) Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Global Final. The first Universitas 21 (U21) 3MT competition was held in 2013, allowing winners from several universities from around the world to compete in a virtual competition.
Since 2011 the popularity of the competition has increased and 3MT competitions are now held in over 200 universities across more than 18 countries worldwide.
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.
