Grad students invited to present research for cash and glory
Calling all graduate students: sign up now for UBC Okanagan’s fourth-annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) academic competition.
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, provides students with valuable publicity, enables students to crystallize their research findings and awards a cash prize to the winners.
Preliminary rounds of 3MT presentations begin this month. Top students from heats held by the faculties and schools will advance to the 3MT final on March 8, 2017.
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 Madalen Benson at madalen.benson@ubc.ca or 250-807-8481.
3MT final
The 3MT final event is on March 8, 2017. Winning students will be awarded cash prizes for winner, runner-up and people’s choice.
The winner will also advance to the Western Regional 3MT competition in late spring 2017.
Schedule at a glance
- How to Rock the 3MT: Competition and Presentation Skills Info Sessions: January 12 from 2:30 – 4 pm (EME 1151) and January 30 from 10 – 11:30 am – repeat (EME 2202). Register here.
- 3MT Heats: January to February 2017 at various times and locations as organized by the faculties and schools.
- 3MT Final: March 8, 2017, at 4 p.m. in the UNC Ballroom.
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 Madalen Benson from the College of Graduate Studies, at madalen.benson@ubc.ca or 250-807-8481.
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 2016 were:
- Winner: Michael Unrau, Scared Speechless? It’s More than a ‘Wicked Problem,’ It’s Habitualization.
- Runner-Up: Serveh Naghshbandi, Re-Designing Learning Spaces to Foster a New Culture of Learning
- People’s Choice: Megan Udala, The Mother of All Murders
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. 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.
