Graduate researchers: Visualise your thesis now!
As a PhD student at Deakin, you’ve most likely heard about the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition – it helps build research communications skills by requiring entrants to distil their research into a jargon-free three-minute presentation to a non-specialist audience.
But have you heard of VYT – or Visualise Your Thesis?
What can you do in 60 seconds?
Visualise Your Thesis (VYT) is an international competition developed by Melbourne University that challenges PhD and Masters researchers to present their project to a non-specialist audience in just 60 seconds.
Just like 3MT, VYT is designed to help graduate researchers develop the communication skills that are vital to a career in research. Unlike 3MT, there is no public speaking involved. Instead of memorising and presenting a three-minute script, VYT entrants create a unique one-minute audiovisual elevator pitch about their research, using a pre-supplied PowerPoint template.
You can see some examples from last year on YouTube.
Taking part in VYT helps participants develop crucial employability skills including effective communication, digital literacy and visual storytelling. They also build their awareness of open access to information and copyright.
Previous entrants have used their presentation as a tool for study recruitment, as an introduction to their research at conferences or to enhance their professional profile online.
PhD candidate Kaushalya Perera, who won Deakin’s VYT final last year, says she liked the creative aspect of putting together her VYT presentation. Along the way she learned how to animate, as well as the importance of copyright.
‘Being able to present my research within one minute in a way that non-scientific people can understand is really valuable, especially to explain what I do to my family or someone at a conference,’ she says.
There are prizes!
Deakin’s VYT competition is open to currently enrolled graduate researchers (including students enrolled in Master Philosophy, Masters by Research, PhD or Professional Doctorate programs) at any stage of their candidature who are active and attending.
Every entrant’s video will be played during Deakin’s 3MT/VYT 2024 Grand Final event on 7 August, showcasing their work to a live audience. Each entry is also uploaded to figshare, a research repository multimedia platform to help share it even further.
The Deakin winner will receive $1000, with $500 for the runner-up and $500 for the People’s Choice awarded by the audience.
Deakin’s winner will then enter the online International VYT Program. The winner of the People’s Choice Trending on VYT is selected based on how many views their video receives on the VYT International figshare repository.
Inspired to enter? There’s still time!
Entries close at 9am on Monday 8 July 2024. Deakin’s Researcher Development Academy and Library teams provide all the support you need to create a winning entry, including:
- 2024 VYT Presentation template
- help sessions
- tips and tricks
- personal consultations
- free photo, video and sound resources
- access to software
- copyright reviews.
Find out more on how to enter.