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Doctoral College

Three Minute Thesis is back for 2025

Are you doing exciting research? Do you want to tell people about it?

Join the Doctoral College for this year’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition!   

Published:
Three Minute Thesis logo with 'Founded by the University of Queensland' written across the bottom

What is Three Minute Thesis? 

Three Minute Thesis (3MT) challenges doctoral candidates to present a compelling spoken presentation on their research topic and its significance in only three minutes. First developed by the University of Queensland, Australia, 3MT is now run across the UK by Vitae.

What do you get out of it? 

Being able to communicate your research to a broad audience is crucial. Communicating effectively and succinctly will help you:

  • to secure research funding;
  • to work with stakeholders and the public;
  • to ensure your research has the impact you want it to have. 

Communicating with non-specialist audiences is as much a skill as communicating with specialist audiences. You have to take very technical and specialised knowledge and turn it into information anyone can understand. Participating in 3MT gives you the opportunity to learn how to do this through supportive workshops.

How far into your research should you be? 

It doesn’t matter! You can be just starting out or close to submitting – as long as you have something interesting that you’d like to share and want to learn how to do so! 

Please note that the Vitae 3MT regulations do not allow us to submit a finalist for the national competition who has submitted their thesis for viva prior to the end of our internal competition. If you are submitting your thesis before 15 May, you can undertake the training but not participate in the competition. 

How do you sign up? 

As a first step, please register for one of the following 3MT Introduction sessions: 

These sessions will introduce you to the 3MT process and give you the opportunity to develop your research story.  

These sessions are in-person and are designed to give you time to practise presenting your research in three minutes. You do not need to prepare a presentation in advance, but you must come ready to participate. 

After you’ve completed the introductory training, if you decide you want to participate, you will develop your presentation and your slide and attend an all-day accelerator training on 5 March to support you in preparing for the internal QM competitions.* 

Key dates*: 

  • 3MT introductory training: 29 January, 30 January and 12 February
  • 3MT Accelerator training: 5 March
  • Filming for online competition: 24 March and 25 March
  • Online competition: 7-11 April
  • Queen Mary in-person final: 3.30-5pm on 15 May

*Full details about the competition will be provided in the introductory sessions. 

If you have any questions about the 3MT, you can email the Doctoral College: doctoralcollege@qmul.ac.uk

 

 

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