3MT competition

Hello! Welcome to the Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition guide.

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by the University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. The 2023 Asia-Pacific 3MT competition will be held as a virtual event (video submission).

Interested to participate? Contact your Academic Unit for more information, and to register your interest.

In 2023, the UniSA 3MT® competition will be a live in-person event. Competing for a chance to represent UniSA in the Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition, our PhD candidates communicate their research using one slide, and non-technical language in just three minutes.

This guide has been designed to help you prepare for the live in-person 3MT presentation at UniSA. 

The winner of the UniSA 3MT competition will be required to produce a video for the Asia-Pacific competition. You will not be judged on your editing abilities or the quality of your video. The video must adhere to the competition rules to be eligible but you will be judged on your presentation, your slide and your ability to communicate your research to a non-specialist audience. For more information see the 3MT virtual competitor guide.

The 3MT® competition gives you a chance to promote your research and share its significance. It is also a great way to hone your presentation and communication skills, including communicating your research in a way that is accessible to the broader public. This is a great opportunity to develop important skills you can apply throughout your candidature and career, including:

• research communication skills
  • communicating with impact
  • promoting your research to a non-specialist audience
• increasing the visibility and reach of your research
• presentation skills
  • style and confidence 
• basic video editing skills

You are also competing for the chance to represent UniSA at the Asia Pacific 3MT® Final. See here more information on UniSA 3MT®, and to view the 2022 finalist presentations. 

 In this short video Dr Megan Rossi (winner of the 2014 University of Queensland 3MT®) talks about the benefits of participating in the competition.