Three Minute Thesis
UPEI’s Faculty of Graduate Studies hosts an annual 3MT (3 Minute Thesis) competition each Spring.
What Is 3 Minute Thesis?
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT™) is a skills development activity which challenges thesis-based graduate students to explain their research project to a non-specialist audience in just three minutes.
Participants are supported by three optional workshops:
- Planning your 3MT
- Designing your Visuals
- Presentation Skills and Practice
Eligibility
- Active Master’s or PhD candidates are eligible to participate.
- Presentations must be based on the primary research the student has conducted in their graduate program.
- Students who have already defended their thesis but have not yet graduated are eligible.
- Students with uncompleted projects are eligible to participate.
- Students in course-based programs, visiting students, exchange students, and students on leave are not eligible.
- Graduates are ineligible for competition.
- Students must present in person, agree to be photographed and video-taped, and allow any recordings to be made public.
Why Participate?
To develop presentation and communication skills - Learning to explain complex ideas to non-specialists is a valuable skill. This competition gives students the opportunity to practice making presentations in front of a large audience, without any gimmicks.
To share your research - The competition will present a unique and rare opportunity for the university community (faculty, staff, fellow students) to learn what UPEI's graduate students are working on and for students to actually be able to share the results of their hard work with more than their defence committees.
If you would like to read more about the 3 Minute Thesis competition and previous winners, please visit the National 3-MINUTE Thesis Competition | CAGS | ACES website.
Recent UPEI 3MT Winners:
Fourteen UPEI graduate students presented their research to judges, friends, fellow graduate students, faculty, staff, and UPEI senior administrators during the 2025 3-Minute Thesis competition on May 7.
Ant-inspired robots, the experiences of temporary foreign workers on PEI, and modelling for energy efficiency cost savings for property owners were the focus of prize-winning 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) presentations by UPEI graduate students on April 11, 2024.
Patients as people first, 3D-printed spinal surgical drill guides, ant-inspired robots, PEI’s retention of international graduates, and patient-reported experience measures for IBD were the focus of complex thesis research presentations delivered in three minutes or less by UPEI graduate students to a riveted audience on April 25.
