Student competing in our three-minute thesis competition

Three-Minute Thesis

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Can you explain your research in three minutes? 

The 3MT competition was founded in 2008 by the University of Queensland in Australia and is now held at more than 350 colleges and universities across 59 countries worldwide. At Hood, graduate students present their research projects each spring in three minutes using just one PowerPoint slide. No other resources or props are allowed. Students are judged on clarity, pace, audience engagement and stage presence. All audience members are then welcome to cast their votes for best presentation. There is a judge’s winner and two People’s Choice Awards. 

Our students across all programs have competed (and won!) in past events from cybersecuritycomputer science, information technology, biomedical science, and environmental biology to business administration, and humanities. Both master's and doctoral-level students are eligible to compete. Examples of past presentations include topics on the development of an all-inclusive database for the United States space launches; technological tools that help reforestation sites; how to move the United States toward sustainable energy production; racialized economic relationships from the Jim Crow era (domestic servitude) and many more. 

Hood College's 9th Annual 3MT competition will take place VIRTUALLY Spring 2024 (TBA).

To be eligible to compete you must fall into one of the following categories:

  • have advanced research to present from a course or thesis,
  • be graduating this coming May,
  • or completed your degree in the last year.
Sophie Staires

3MT Winner Spotlight | Sophie Staires

Sophie Staires, Humanities M.A.'20 Alumni Graduate School Graduate Student

Hood’s 5th annual Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, an internationally recognized event in which graduate students use one slide and three minutes to present their chosen research topic, was held virtually for the first time this spring due to COVID-19.

Sophie Staires, a May 2020 graduate of Hood’s humanities program, won 1st place for her talk, "Justice in The Round House: Literature as a Tool for Social Justice." Sophie has been invited to continue on to compete in the 2020 Northeastern Association of Graduate School (NAGS)’s 3MT competition!

We spoke with Sophie to get some insight on why she chose to compete in Hood’s 3MT and how she feels about the opportunity to take her talk to the next level.

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