Birkbeck 3MT: Thursday 16 May 2024
Join a selection of Birkbeck PhD students as they compete to communicate their compelling thesis topics in just three minutes. This event is a fantastic opportunity to share and celebrate the interests and successes of PhD researchers from across the College and we invite all current Birkbeck PhD students to take part. The winner of the Birkbeck competition will be chosen by an expert panel of judges who will award:
- £500 to the overall winner
- £250 to the runner up
- The audience will also have their say by picking a People’s Choice winner who’ll win a special prize.
Training Sessions
As part of our support for the competition, a free programme of training sessions has been arranged. All potential 3MT competitors should attend these sessions. However, any or all of them are open to any doctoral researcher at Birkbeck who would like to gain skills in these areas:
- Session 1: An introduction to 3MT and how to present a lightning talk – Thursday 25 April 1-2pm
- Session 2: How to break down your PhD into a lightning talk – Wednesday 1 May 10.30am-12.30pm
- Session 3: Presenting Skills – Wednesday 8 May 1-2pm
2023 Competition
Please see this blog from last year in which competitors share how they chose to use their research to enter the competition. You can also watch a selection of Birkbeck 3MT videos here.
What is it like to take part in 3MT?
Some previous contenders have kindly shared what they gained from taking part.
Marie Houghton said that it ‘helped me to clarify exactly what I think the main message of my PhD is’ and that she ‘would definitely recommend taking part in the 3MT to any other PhD students.’
Hannah Reeves also said that the competition allowed her to ‘think about what matters most about my research – what do I care about, what do the community I’m working with care about, and what will this audience care about.’ She also described herself as nervous about the experience of being on stage but ‘the training helped to develop a mutually supportive atmosphere.’
Doyin Olorunfemi described how ‘the exercise of delivering a concise speech gives you clarity of mind as a researcher and clarifies your contribution.’ She would ‘highly recommend the competition.’
