Three Minute Thesis

Three Minute Thesis logo & strapline

Previous winners

Call for entries

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic competition for doctoral research students. The very first 3MT® competition was held at the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2008. Since 2008, the popularity of the competition has greatly increased and more than 200 universities worldwide host the competition annually. The competition challenges PhD students to demonstrate their research and its importance/significance in three minutes.

Are you equal to the challenge of communicating the complexity and relevance of your research to a non-specialist audience, verbally, in just three minutes? Can you limit yourself to just one presentation slide? Of course you are/can.

Finalists will go on to represent the University at the National Final. Last year, the judges' choice winner received a £3K grant to spend on public engagement activity, sponsored by Research Councils UK (RCUK). 

Why enter?

  • To develop public speaking confidence
  • To develop public engagement and communication skills
  • To develop an accessible language to talk to non-specialists about your research
  • Share your ideas with a wider Aberystwyth audience
  • Exciting prizes - A prize of £100 to the winner of the Aberystwyth competition and two runners up prizes of £50.
  • Networking opportunities

Eligibility to Enter the 3MT Competition

  • To enter, you must be currently enrolled on the 2nd year or above of a doctoral programme at Aberystwyth University. You must not have had your viva before the date of the final in April 2023.
  • What are the judges looking for? Don’t submit your video without carefully reading the Rules of Entry and Judging Criteria

Key dates and how to enter

  • By Wednesday 1st February 2023: email the Graduate School (graduate.school@aber.ac.uk) to register your interest. You will then be registered on the Three Minute Thesis module on Blackboard

  • Wednesday 15th February 2023 - 14.10-1500 -  online workshop on format and rules of 3MT. Please book your place here: https://stafftraining.aber.ac.uk/pg/list_courses.php

  • Thursday 2nd March 2023 - 11.10-13.00 - online workshop on presentation skills for 3MT. Please book your place here: https://stafftraining.aber.ac.uk/pg/list_courses.php

  • Before Friday 10th March 2023 - Upload onto blackboard, a simple three minute “talking-head” style video, together with a 200-word research summary. Don’t worry about production values – a simple video recorded on your phone is perfectly acceptable. 

  • Monday 20th March 2023 - Finalists announced. 

  • Tuesday 4th April 2023  - Aberystwyth finals.  Main Hall, International Politics Building.

  • July 2023 - National quarter-final.
     
  • September 2023 -The final will take place during the Vitae International Researcher Development Conference

Useful links