Graduate students will be on the hot seat as they compete for the Queen’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) title. With only one slide and no props, the finalists will have just three minutes to present their research to a generalist audience and a panel of non-specialist judges.

Students competing in the Queen’s 3MT Final

The graduate student presenters will represent diverse research interests and different graduate programs at Queen’s:

• Claire Boteler (Mathematics and Statistics) 
• Rosanna Brown (Art History) 
• Louise de Lannoy (Kinesiology & Health Studies) 
• Victoria Donovan (Neuroscience) 
• Brianne Gascho (Art History) 
• Amani Ibrahim (Computing) 
• Stephen MacGregor (Education) 
• Eric Rapos (Computing) 
• Caroline Wallace (Neuroscience) 
• Deyu Xing (Education) 
• Kassandra Yun (Environmental Studies)

“Distilling one’s research into just three minutes is a real challenge,” says Brenda Brouwer, Vice-Provost and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. “That being said, the skills these participants develop – coherently summarizing months or years of work, making tough decisions about what information to include and communicating complex ideas in a way that’s engaging and understandable – are highly sought after competencies. This competition gives the students the chance to hone these skills, while giving the Queen’s and Kingston community a sneak-peek at the exciting research our graduate students are involved in.”

A total of 23 graduate students competed in three semi-final heats between March 20-22 to determine the finalists. In the finals, the students will present in front of a panel of judges consisting of Queen’s Principal Daniel Woolf, Chancellor Jim Leech, president and chief executive officer of 8020Info Robert A Wood, media professional and coach JC Kenny, and Denise Cumming, CEO of the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation. CKWS Television host and local celebrity Bill Welychka will serve as the emcee for the event.

The 3MT is a communications competition for graduate students. Developed in Australia by the University of Queensland in 2008, it has expanded to a series of competitions held at universities around the globe. In 2012, Queen’s held the first 3MT competition in Ontario and since then, Queen’s students have consistently excelled at both provincial and national competitions, winning the National People’s Choice award in 2015 and finishing third in Ontario in 2016.

The competition takes place Thursday, March 30 in the Dupuis Hall Auditorium starting at 4:30. The winner will represent Queen's at the Ontario 3MT on April 12 in Waterloo and appear on the CKWS Morning Show in the coming weeks.