Trent Graduate Students Compete in Three Minute Thesis Competition

Students showcase their thesis research for a chance to represent Trent at provincial level in April

Friday, March 21, 2014, Peterborough

Twenty Trent University graduate students will compete in a Three Minute Thesis competition on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. at Market Hall in Peterborough. Each student will have just three minutes to explain their thesis research in lay-terms to a panel of local judges, with the aid of a single PowerPoint slide. Members of the public are encouraged to attend this free event.

“It would take hours to read a full Master or PhD dissertation full of complex research and discipline-specific jargon,” said Dana Capell, competition organizer and academic skills instructor at Trent. “The Three Minute Thesis competition is an exciting way to showcase some groundbreaking student research happening across all disciplines at Trent, in a way that requires no previous understanding of the topic.”

The first-place winner will move on to represent Trent at the provincial Three Minute Thesis competition being held in Hamilton, Ontario on April 24, 2014. Audience members will be asked to vote for the $250 Provost’s People’s Choice award. First and second-place winners will also receive cash prizes.

The judging panel in Peterborough includes Bruce Bonner, president, D.M. Wills Associates Ltd.; Jim Russell, CEO, United Way of Peterborough & District; and three Trent alumni, Bill Kimball, ’75, artistic producer, Public Energy; Carol Lawless, ’83, fundraising and communications coordinator, Greater Peterborough Health Services; and Dr. Tom Miller, ’82, physician, Peterborough Regional Health Centre.

The Trent University Three Minute Thesis competition is sponsored by the School of Graduate Studies, the Academic Skills Centre, Trent Graduate Student Association, Traill College, the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, and External Relations and Advancement.

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For more information, please contact:
Dana Capell, Academic Skills Centre, Trent University 705-748-1011, ext 7596 or danacapell@trentu.ca