3MT stand for "Three Minute Thesis". It is a pitch competition that was originally started by the University of Queensland, but has blossomed into an international competition with representatives of 900 universities from 85 countries all competing against each other. The pitches revolve around explaining your PhD research to a lay audience in a video of no more than three minutes.

This year, for the first time, the UvA has decided to join the competition. In the past few months researchers from five different UvA faculties were given the opportunity to sign up. All candidates received training and coaching to try and produce the best video.

UvA Final

Each faculty held a pre-round during which an independent jury selected the three best pitches. On September 7 these winning candidates from each faculty will compete against each other in the UvA Final. They will be judged by a jury consisting of Jan Lintsen (Member of the Board of the UvA), Henriëtte van Oosterzee (Director Alumni Office & University Fund) and Jim Jansen (Chief editor New Scientist NL). There are prizes for the top three competitors (first place: 1000 EUR, second & third place: 500 EUR) and the overall winner will represent the UvA at the International 3MT finals.

Do you want to watch the final? You can either join the Zoom event or watch the livestream on Instagram, both from 15:00-18:00.

Our finalists

The PhD students from the Faculty of Science who were selected as the best at Faculty level are: Grace Farmiloe (SILS), Yoni Schirris (IvI / NKI) and Susan Rigter (IoP / AMOLF). You can see their pitches in the videos below.