Athens, Ga. – On April 8 at 6 p.m., 10 University of Georgia graduate students participating in a cross-disciplinary competition will have three minutes to present their thesis or dissertation topic and its significance to judges and audience members in the UGA Chapel.
UGA’s fourth annual Three Minute Thesis competition, originally developed by Australia’s University of Queensland in 2008, challenges students to consolidate their ideas and crystallize their research discoveries. Students must effectively and succinctly explain their research in language appropriate for a non-specialist audience.
Participants are judged on three criteria: their communication style, ability to help audience members comprehend their research and skill to engage listeners. They also have specific restrictions: Only a single static PowerPoint slide is permitted, and no props are allowed.
Four qualifying heats took place on March 23-26 at UGA, narrowing the number of contestants for the final competition of rapid-fire presentations.
The free event is one component of the UGA Graduate School’s celebration of Graduate and Professional Students Appreciation Week. Audience members will have the opportunity to vote for the People’s Choice award. The overall competition winner will receive $1,000, with the runner-up taking home $750 and a people’s choice awardee receiving $500.
For more information about the Three Minute Thesis competition, contact Meredith Welch-Devine at 706-542-1739 or mwdevine@uga.edu.
