3 Minute Thesis

The 3 Minute Thesis competition celebrates graduate student scholarship; cultivates students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills; and supports students’ capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes, in a language appropriate to a general audience.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 3MT competition!

Ibukun Ajifolokun

2nd Place and People's Choice Award

No Antigen Left Behind: How Injectable Hydrogels Improve Combination Vaccine Delivery

Why Compete?

Connect with scholars across disciplines: the final competitors will be chosen from across the schools.
Professional development: students will receive personalized support for communicating their scholarship.
Show off your scholarship: in addition to exposure to an in-person audience, students will receive a professionally-cut video of their talk for personal use.

Who is Eligible?

Current Stanford graduate students who have successfully advanced to candidacy by the start of the fall quarter. Students can check My Academic Path (MAP) for candidacy qualification.
Must be enrolled as a student at time of competition to be eligible.
Presentations must be based on original dissertation research, showcase new knowledge, and provide research results.

Submission Process / Dates

Informational workshop on October 21.
Meet the 2025 3MT Finalists on November 4.
Application opens on December 2.
Informational workshop on December 2.
To enter the competition, graduate students must submit a three-minute (maximum) video file of their presentation. Please note: Submissions will not be judged on the video recording quality or editing capabilities.
Video submissions are due January 20.
10 finalists will be selected by February 16.
Technical rehearsal for all finalists on April 3, 2026 12-1pm at Hauck Auditorium.
Finalists must be available to present in the final competition on April 16, 2026, from 4-6pm.