Registered logo for the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition founded by the University of Queensland featuring a green clock with the number 3 and writing in green and purple

 

Registration deadline Thursday 20 March, 12.00 (midday)!

The Research and Knowledge Exchange Nurturing Talent workstream group is pleased to announce the Doctoral College’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition for 2025.

This competition challenges doctoral candidates to present a compelling spoken presentation on their research topic and its significance in just three minutes, using only one slide.

As part of a wider Research and Knowledge Exchange Week, entrants will present their research on stage to the audience of the Festival of Postgraduate Research at Grand Parade on Thursday 03 April 2025, 2.15-3pm. Audience members will be able to vote for the People’s Prize in person while a judging panel will select their first and second place choices.

Winners will be announced at the Showcase Event taking place later on the same date and at the same venue as the Festival of Postgraduate Research. The judges’ winner will go forward to compete in the national 3MT competition hosted by Vitae where a top prize of £3,000 is at stake.

Eligibility

Doctoral students who have not had their viva by the time of the local competition (03 April 2025) are eligible to participate.

About 3MT

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is an academic competition developed by the University of Queensland, Australia, in 2008. Since then, 3MT competitions have been held at over 900 universities across more than 85 countries worldwide.

The 3MT aims to cultivate doctoral students’ academic, presentation and research communication skills. Participants are required to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience within three minutes. Only one static slide is permitted, and no additional props or electronic media are allowed. Any presenter who goes over the three-minute mark is disqualified from the competition. (See full competition rules below.)

The 3MT at Brighton is one of the highlights of the Doctoral College’s Festival of Postgraduate Research.

Judging criteria

See University of Queensland website

Prizes

There will be three categories for judging and prizes for research-related expenses as follows for each:

  • Judges’ First Prize £350
  • Judges’ Runner-up Prize £250
  • People’s Prize £150

How to enter

Complete the registration form for the Brighton 3MT competition by clicking on the REGISTER NOW link below. The form asks for a 3MT title and short summary (100 words) of your 3MT presentation. Don’t worry too much about the summary. It’s not part of the competition and we’ll check final wording with you if we need to use for publicity purposes.

The deadline for registration is 12.00 (midday) on Thursday 20 March 2025. Applications will not be accepted after this deadline.

Terms and conditions

See competition rules on the University of Queensland website.

REGISTER TO ENTER NOW!

For any queries relating to the 3MT competition, please email DoctoralCollegeFestival@brighton.ac.uk.

We look forward to receiving your registration form. Good luck!