National 3-MINUTE Thesis Competition

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) in Canada

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an internationally recognized competition for thesis-based graduate students in which participants present their scholarly and creative activity and its wider impact in 3 minutes or less.

The challenge is to present complex research in an accessible and compelling way with the assistance of only static slide. Created in 2008 at the University of Queensland, Australia, the competition celebrates exciting and innovative graduate student research while promoting communication, public speaking, and storytelling skills.

The first 3MT competition to be held in Canada took place at the University of British Columbia in 2011, and in 2014 the first national 3MT competition was held. Today, dozens of Canadian universities and research institutes host annual competitions, with winners moving on to one of three regional competitions (Western, Ontario, Eastern) before competing in the National 3MT Showcase. The latter event will be hosted by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS) in November 2022.

2022 National 3MT Showcase

2 November 2022 | 1:00-2:30 PM (ET)

Hybrid Format

Sheraton Hotel (Le Centre) Montréal | Virtual Conference Platform

The Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS) is excited to host the National Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) Showcase to honour the winners and top finalists of the 2022 Regional 3MT® Competitions.

The 3MT® competition celebrates exciting and innovative graduate student research while promoting communication, public speaking, and storytelling skills. The competition offers a unique opportunity for graduate students from all disciplines, pushing them to consolidate their ideas and crystallize their research discoveries while communicating across disciplines within the university and to the broader public. Presenting in a 3MT®competition increases the capacity of graduate students to effectively explain their scholarly and creative activity in a clear and concise manner, and in a language appropriate to a general audience.

Join us in this hybrid celebration of research communication excellence as we pay tribute to some of Canada’s most engaging and innovative graduate students. The event will feature a variety of live presentations delivered both in-person and virtually, including by the three winners of the 2022 regional competitions (Western, Ontario, Eastern). Attendees will have an opportunity to vote for their favourite video presented in the showcase, and the top two winners will receive a special People’s Choice prize.

The 2022 National 3MT® Showcase will take place on Wednesday, 2 November from 1:00-2:30 PM (ET) in a hybrid format. The showcase will be offered as part of our 60th Annual CAGS Conference programming, but it will also be open to the public. The main event will take place at the Sheraton Hotel (Le Centre) in Montreal, and the live stream of the proceedings will be available for our virtual conference attendees as well as remote audiences from across Canada and beyond. The showcase will be conducted primarily in English, and French interpretation will be provided simultaneously through a third-party service. Note that those who are not attending the CAGS conference but wish to attend the showcase must register in advance.

For further information about the 2022 National 3MT Showcase or the 60th Annual CAGS Conference, please write to info@cags.ca. You are kindly invited to share this announcement among your networks.

3MT Handbook for Participating Universities