GRADflix offers an exciting opportunity for graduate students to share their current research in a dynamic and creative way, gain insights into the work of their peers and get a chance to win a prize for the best GRADflix showcase.
Registration for GRADflix 2025 opens January 1st and closes February 10th!
Why should you participate?
- Learn a new skill: use digital narrative to explain a complex idea, and develop your "elevator pitch" while doing so!
- Expand your network: having a video about your research will make it easier to network online. Add the video to your LinkedIn profile, or add a link to your resume. In addition, the GRADflix showcase event will allow you to network with other students, faculty members and community.
- Broaden your communication skills: you will be developing your research communication skills, while also teaching you how to communicate to non-specialist audiences.
- Gain greater exposure for your research: video is an accessible, easy-to-share format for telling your research story.
- Have the opportunity to be the People’s Choice winner.
- Apply the skills you learn through this competition to your teaching: many professors use technology in the classroom, and video is one way to integrate technology in to your teaching.
- Enter more competitions: depending on your field of study, your video may meet the criteria for submission to SSHRC's Storytellers competition as an example. Consider submitting your video to other competitions, too!
Important Dates for 2025
Workshops & Sessions:
- Information Session and Introduction to Storyboarding: January 14, 10 AM - 12 PM (room TBC)
- Information Session and Introduction to Storyboarding (Online): January 16, 2 - 4 PM
- Feedback on Your GRADflix Project: January 28th, 10 AM - 12 PM (room TBC)
- Feedback on Your GRADflix Project (Online): January 29th, 2 PM - 4 PM
Competition Dates:
- Intention to participate Registration Opens: January 1st
- Intention to participate Registration Closes: February 10th
- Deadline to submit your Video & Participant Information Form: February 14
- Deliberation of Judges: 17 - 21 February (Reading Week)
- GRADflix Showcase: February 26, starting at 12noon in Kinesiology room 100
Eligibility and video requirements
To be eligible to participate in GRADflix Showcase Event, you must meet the following criteria:
- Be a Queen’s University graduate student who is registered in a master's (thesis or MRP) or PhD program at the time of the GRADflix showcase.
- Master's and PhD students who have degree completed, but have not yet convocated, are eligible to participate.
- You must be willing to allow your video to be made public and provide a photo and short biography if you are selected as a finalist. Your photo and biography will also be made public.
- By submitting your video, you are agreeing that your submission is an original work created by you, and that you have all necessary rights in and to the submission.
- Videos can take many forms, but must include: movement (slide transitions, zoom, or a subject moving on video) and sound (voice over, sound, and/or music).
- Your video can be no more than 60 seconds. Acknowledgements/credits at the end of the video do not count as part of the 60 seconds limitation.
- Your video must focus on research conducted for your thesis, MRP or dissertation in your current graduate program at Queen’s University.
- All video submissions will be required to submit a script for closed captioning purposes for when we post on our YouTube account after the showcase event.
- When creating your video keep copyright in mind. As your video will be made available online, you need to make sure that you are using third party content properly. If you want to avoid copyright complications, take a look at the copyright resources below.
- Abstracts, oral descriptions, slides, pictures and videos can all constitute public disclosure and affect intellectual property rights and patentability. If this may be a concern, consult with your supervisor, or Queen’s Intellectual Property website for further information.
- You also agree that this submission does not infringe upon or violate any laws or any third party rights, including, but not limited to, copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights and must not constitute material that would be considered libelling, defamatory, a privacy violation, tortious or a contract breach.
The SGSPA has produced a helpful information session for students that want to participate in GRADflix.
You can check it out on our YouTube channel here.
Criteria to consider when producing your video
Communication (50%)
Your ability to communicate your research effectively and efficiently to a general audience through language and visuals. A strong video will demonstrate:
- Ability to explain complex ideas to a non-specialist audience
- Well-designed script with clear language and terminology
- Good pacing and sequencing of information (i.e. easy to follow)
- Audio and visuals that add information, clarify ideas, or complement the message
- Clear explanation of contribution(s) to research/scholarship
Creativity (30%)
Your ability to present your research in a unique and thoughtful way. A strong video will demonstrate:
- Creative use of (limited) time
- Novel and interesting presentation of information
- Engaging format that captures audience interest
Technical quality (20%)
Your ability to produce a video with quality visual and audio components. A strong video will demonstrate:
- High quality sound and images
- Integration of appealing audio/visual elements
Note: By submitting your video, you are agreeing that all sounds, images, information, etc. are cited or credited in the video, as required.
Resources and examples
We are currently producing our own resources, but the University of Waterloo has many great resources you can use and look at.
Waterloo Training session (YouTube Video Link)
Creating Copyright Conscious Videos (PDF, 260 KB)
Other tutorials can be found online covering storyboarding, stop motion animation and more. Here are two examples:
Stop Motion animation with cut paper
How I plan shots and transitions.
A guide to at Home Media (on the McMaster University Library website)
Examples of video styles
Wondering what we're looking for in terms of style? You have lots of options! Check out some of the following examples on Waterloo’s YouTube of grad student videos. Notice that some are animations, others are video-recorded, and some are made with PowerPoint or sketches.
| Video Type | Example |
| Animation |
The Impact of Workplace Fatalities on Leaders by Alyssa Grocutt (Queen's) Magazine project for newcomer children by Hasan Ahmet Gokce Rethinking women’s desire: The science behind low libido by Siobhan Sutherland |
| Video recording |
All About Ingenuity Labs by Francesco Marrato (Queen's) Research with the Shuar by Martina Jakubchik Paloheimo Unlocking meaning: Doors as a “key” to understanding Honoré de Balzac’s novels by Rachel Green |
| Stop motion |
Trust your gut... microbiota: It may be the key to uncovering childhood asthma risk by Sara Stickley Price prediction with machine learning by Muhammad Saad |
| Mixed media |
GitHub use for government related work by Jaydeep Mistry Making gay identities: Queer media practices queering media technologies by Jason Lajoie |