Three Minute Thesis 2012

2012 UOW Finals - When and Where?

27 June 2011 - Building 67

What is 'Three Minute Thesis'?

The Three Minute Thesis Competition supports the development of research students’ capacity to communicate ideas effectively to a range of non-specialist audiences and to the wider community.
It is an exercise in developing academic and research communication skills. Selected Higher Degree Research Students (PhD and Masters Research) have three minutes to present a compelling oration on their thesis topic and its significance, in language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience.

What it is not

It is not an exercise in trivialising or ‘dumbing-down’ research. The oration should engage the audience without reducing research to entertainment value alone.

Why do it?

Competitors commonly report the experience helped them ‘crystallize’ thoughts about their thesis and how they communicate their research;
Internal and external promotion of the value of PhD and Masters Research;
Can be mapped onto PhD and Masters Research progress/skills development;
It’s a lot of fun and generates public and media interest in what researchers do..

Register to attend as a Spectator

This is a great opportunity to network and for information sharing. Please come along and support our HDR students presenting exciting talks on their innovative research topics. Remember, these students will become our future experts in their chosen field of research – who knows, they may even make international headlines one day, and you’ll be able to say you saw it here first! To register as a spectator please fill in the online form (CURRENTLY CLOSED) .

Rules for Presenters

a single PowerPoint slide is permitted (no slide transitions are permitted)
no additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted
no additional props (e.g. costumes, instruments [musical, laboratory etc]) are permitted
presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum. Competitors exceeding 3 minutes will be disqualified
the decision of the adjudicating panel is final

Judging Criteria

1. Communication style: was the thesis topic and its significance communicated in language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience? For example:

Did the title of the talk give a clear picture of the topic and its importance?
Were all the technical or specialist words clearly explained for a non-specialist audience?
Was the communication style clear enough so that any intelligent person could now sum up the topic and its significance?

2. Comprehension: did the presentation help the audience understand the research? For example:

Did the speaker deliver their presentation at an appropriate pace?
Was there a storyline that helped the audience understand the research problem, its importance and how the research would or did address that problem?
Did the Powerpoint slide help the audience better understand the topic and its significance?

3. Engagement: did the oration make the audience want to know more? Three Minute Thesis comp

Did the speaker engage the audience with eye contact?
Did the speaker engage interest in the problem being researched?
Would you now like to join this research for further discussion about their work?

Who is eligible to enter?

Anyone who is active in a PhD or Masters Research program* (including thesis under submission). Graduates are not eligible.
The candidature of entrants will be between 1.5 and 4 years EFTSL for Doctoral Students, and 1.5 and 3 years EFTSL for Masters Research Students.
* Note: degree must be at least two thirds research (definition drawn from Grant Guidelines 2006 for Higher Education Support Act (HESA) 2003).

Competitors

Each Faculty will be conducting their own 3 Minute Thesis heats and the winner from each Faculty will compete against each other to be the UOW representative at the Grand Final Competition. Dates of Faculty heats will be available soon.

The Prizes

UOW Winners will be announced at the Cocktail Party following the presentations. The UOW winner and will receive $1,500, runner-up $750 and peoples choice prize $750.

2012 Grand Final in Queensland

The University of Queensland are holding the 2012 Australia and NZ 3MT Competition (date TBA).
The UOW Winner will automatically be entered into the National/Trans-Tasman competition at the University of Queensland, Travel and Accommodation costs will be covered by the Research Student Centre.
Note: It is a condition of entering this competition that the winner will compete in the National-Tasman Competition at the University of Queensland.