Got 3 minutes to spare? Want to learn something new?

Watch the UK Three Minute Thesis ®(3MT) finalists tell us about springs, ageing, AIDS and elephant poo – some of the topics from this year’s final held at the Vitae researcher development international conference in Manchester last week. Listen to all our judges express how impressed they were by the standard of presentations. 

The BBC’s Adrian Woolard said: “It’s so important to inspire people and the way you do it is storytelling”.

Robert Anderson, former director of the British Museum added that “research is not something that belongs to a small elite – it belongs to us all”.

The 2014 competition was run by Vitae in conjunction with the University of York, where the semi-final was held in July. Congratulations to Richard Middlemiss of Glasgow University, our 2014 judges’ choice winner. Richard wins £3K to spend on public engagement activity, sponsored by RCUK. Richard will also benefit from advice from NCCPE to develops his proposal to spend the prize money. Rhys Anderson from the University of Newcastle won our ‘people’s choice’ award, sponsored by 99Scholars, of an animation based on his research.

Our finalists told us after the event that they found the competition a worthwhile as well as an enjoyable experience. If you are thinking of running 3MT at your institution, Vitae will be running a UK competition again in 2015 open to all member organisations. More information, including timings has been posted on our website.