The finals of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition are happening this week, and members of the UB campus community will have a chance to vote for their favorite project.

Since its inception in 2008 at the University of Queensland in Australia, 3MT has taken the academic world by storm, growing to more than 350 universities in 18 countries.

UB’s 3MT finals will take place from 3-5 p.m. April 7 in the Screening Room of the Center for the Arts, North Campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Audience members will be invited to vote for their favorite presentation to determine the People’s Choice award winner, which will receive a $250 prize. A panel of judges will award prizes for first- ($1,000), second- ($750) and third-place ($500) entries.

While the prize money is a nice perk, the larger goal is to help academics hone their communication skills so they can present their ideas to the public in an engaging, easy-to-understand way.

PhD students will be judged on their communication style based on how much it helped the audience understand their research and whether the audience was engaged. Students have three minutes to convey their idea and are allowed to use only one PowerPoint slide.

The competition is being co-sponsored by Blackstone LaunchPad at UB. Venture coaches at the LaunchPad office in the Student Union have been on hand to help students sharpen their presentations.

For more information, visit the 3MT page on the UB Graduate School website.