Three Minute Thesis
The University of Waikato's 3MT: A challenge for PhD students to explain their research clearly and concisely in a three-minute presentation.
The University of Waikato runs the Three Minute Thesis competition which is designed to give doctoral students an opportunity to present their findings to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes.
Register for the 2025 3MT Doctoral Heats
What is 3MT?
3MT 2024 Winner
Meghan Rousseau from Te Aka Mātuatua School of Science was awarded the Professor John D McCraw Memorial Trophy for Outstanding Oratory Presentation of Doctoral Research.
3MT Doctoral Competition
The Three Minute Thesis is an academic competition developed by The University of Queensland, Australia for research students.
The 3MT competition is for higher degree research students enrolled in the PhD, EdD, SJD and DHSc programmes. The competition challenges students to present a compelling oration on their thesis and its significance in just three minutes in language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience.
This presentation should address the following questions:
- What are you researching?
- Why are you researching this topic?
- What are the values or outcomes of your research?
Through this competition, students will gain valuable experience in discussing and communicating effectively to a wide variety of audiences, both academic and non-academic, including the wider community.
3MT is not an exercise in trivialising or "dumbing-down" research but forces students to consolidate their ideas and crystallise their research discoveries.
3MT Doctoral Heats
The 2025 3MT Doctoral Heats will be held on Wednesday 02 July 2025 from 9am in Te Kōpūroa (The Pā), Hamilton campus.
3MT Doctoral Finals
The 2025 University of Waikato 3MT Doctoral Final will be held on Tuesday 05 August 2025 in the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts.
Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition
The winner of the 3MT Doctoral Final will represent the University of Waikato at the 2025 Virtual Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition.
The student may only use one static PowerPoint slide and the presentation should be pitched at a non-specialist, but generally intelligent, audience.
Students have three minutes to captivate the audience and communicate their research.
Each presentation will be judged by a mixed panel of academic and non-academic people looking at three areas of judging criteria – comprehension, engagement and communication.
All currently enrolled University of Waikato students in a PhD, EdD, DMA, SJD or DHSc programme who have reached Confirmed Enrolment (Part 2 EdD, SJD, DHSc), as well as those students whose thesis is under examination are eligible to enter.
Students must be currently enrolled during the heats and the Asia-Pacific 3MT final competition and are not eligible to enter if they are on suspension.
To be eligible for this event participants must agree to the Terms and conditions.
Graduates are not eligible to apply for this event.
The winner of the 3MT Doctoral Final will be awarded a $1000 cash prize, the Professor John D McCraw Memorial trophy and represent the University of Waikato at the 2025 Virtual Asia-Pacific 3MT Competition hosted by the University of Queensland.
The runner up of the 3MT Doctoral Final will be awarded a $500 cash prize and the winner of the People's Choice Award will also be awarded a $500 cash prize.
Comprehension and content:
- Presentation provided clear motivation, background, and significance to the research question.
- Presentation clearly described the research strategy/design and the results/findings of the research.
- Presentation clearly described the conclusions, outcomes, and impact of the research.
Engagement and communication:
- The oration was delivered clearly, and the language was appropriate for a non-specialist audience.
- The PowerPoint slide was well-defined and enhanced the presentation.
- The presenter conveyed enthusiasm for their research and captured and maintained the audience's attention.
- Presentations are limited to three minutes and competitors exceeding three minutes are disqualified.
- Presentations are to commence from stage.
- Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through speech — timing does not include the 3MT title slide and commences from when the competitor starts speaking.
- A single static slide is permitted in the presentation — no slide transitions, animations or "movement of any description". The slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration.
- The three-minute presentation must be continuous.
- No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment and animated backgrounds) are permitted.
- Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps or songs).
- No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
- The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.
Your presentation should take into account any Intellectual Property issues.
If content is embargoed or sensitive, your presentation will need to be structured to avoid compromising this.
The University of Waikato reserves the right to withdraw any candidate from this competition if they do not meet the eligibility criteria or are found to have breached University protocol, either by plagiarising part or all of their presentation or acting in a manner that does not promote fair competition.
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia.