Postgrad Researchers: get ready for 2025’s 3MT® competition

The Academy is excited to be hosting the third annual University of Liverpool Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition in 2025. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to develop your research communication, presentation and public-engagement skills, whilst representing your faculty and competing for prizes and the prestige of becoming this year’s 3MT® winner.

The faculty heat stage officially opens on Monday, 27 January 2025; find more details about this year’s competition on our PGR development webpages.  The deadline to submit your 3MT® entry for the Faculty heats is 5pm, Friday 11 April 2025.

What is the 3MT® competition?

It is increasingly important for PGRs to be able to communicate their research topic in an accessible and succinct style suitable for a range of audiences.

The 3MT® is a prestigious public engagement competition, developed by the University of Queensland in 2008, which challenges doctoral candidates to give a compelling spoken presentation of their research to a non-specialist audience in three minutes, with just one slide. You could win the chance to represent the University of Liverpool at the quarter-finals of the highly-regarded UK-wide national competition hosted by Vitae.

“The Three Minute Thesis provides a fantastic opportunity for PGRs to communicate their research and hone their presentation skills as part of an international competition. I hugely enjoyed last year’s Liverpool 3MT® final and the finalists’ presentations reflected the extraordinary quality of the research conducted by our PGR community. I would encourage all Liverpool PGRs to consider submitting an entry to 3MT® 2025 and engage with the support available from The Academy.”
Pro Vice Chancellor Tim Jones.

You can find more information about the competition rules, eligibility requirements and the entry process for the University of Liverpool 3MT® Competition 2025 by visiting this page. You can read about the experience of the 2024 and 2023 contestants including our previous 3MT® winners Dina-Leigh Simons and Fionnuala McCully here.

Dina-Leigh Simons (Dept. Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences) the 2024 University 3MT® winner receiving her winner’s certificate and £100 prize. Photo by Gareth Jones.

Prizes

There are a variety of prizes to be won, including:

  • £50 to £100 Amazon vouchers
  • One-to-one professional coaching from Dr Jamie Gallagher, a previous international 3MT® winner, Fame Lab runner up and award-winning public engagement expert
  • Presentation clickers for the first fifteen submissions

More prizes will be added in February 2025.

Online and in-person sessions information sessions

You can find out more about the competition by attending our Introduction to 3MT® 2025 session, delivered by The Academy Researcher Development team and our 2024 winner Dina-Leigh Simons. Dina-Leigh will be giving a 3MT® winners perspective with key tips on how to create a fantastic 3MT® presentation.

When: 14:00, Wednesday 12 February 2025
Where: online, via Zoom
Book here: https://PGRDevProg2425_Intro3MT_ON.eventbrite.co.uk

For expert guidance on how to prepare a winning entry, you can also sign up for the in-person 3MT®: Short Talk, Lasting Impression workshop delivered by Dr Jamie Gallagher, a previous international 3MT® winner and award-winning public engagement expert. This workshop is open to all University of Liverpool PGRs and will offer expert guidance on presentation narrative, slide design, and presentation style for the 3MT®.

When: 09:30, Tuesday 25 March 2025
Where: in person, venue TBC
Register now: https://UoL3MT_ShortTalk.eventbrite.co.uk

The deadline to submit your 3MT® entry for the Faculty Heats is 5pm, Friday 11 April 2025.

For further information about the University of Liverpool’s 3MT® competition visit:

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/pgr-development/3mt/