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Three Minute Thesis
3MT Events
To participate in SFU 3MT Finals, you must first compete in your faculty 3MT event or the Open Wildcard Heat. If you are a winner in your heat, you will be invited to compete in the SFU 3MT Finals. SFU Finalists are then invited to participate in regional events.
Learn from the 2026 SFU Finalists!
Check out this year's competitors participating in the Finals.
Faculty Heats
| Date & Time | Location | Registration |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, March 10, 10am-12:30pm | Big Data Hub (ASB 10900) | Sign Up Today |
Organizer's Contact: fassau7@sfu.ca
Cash Prizes:
- First Place - $600
- Runner Up - $300
- People's Choice Award - $200
| Date & Time | Location | Registration |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, March 9, 1:00-3:00pm | Big Data Hub (ASB 10900) | Sign Up Today |
Organizer's Contact: fasssec@sfu.ca
Cash Prizes:
- First Place - $400
- Second Place - $200
- People's Choice Award - $200
| Date & Time | Location | Registration |
|---|---|---|
| TBD | TBD |
TBD |
Organizer's Contact:
Cash Prizes:
- First Place -
- Second Place -
- People's Choice -
| Date & Time | Location | Registration |
|---|---|---|
| March 30, 5:30pm | EDB 8620, Education Building, SFU Burnaby | Sign Up Today |
Organizer's Contact: educ_edd@sfu.ca
Cash Prizes:
- First Place - $400
- Runner up - $300
- People's Choice - $100-$150
| Date & Time | Location | Registration |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, March 9, 1:30-3:00pm | Halpern Centre | Please consult "Gear Up for Graduate Research" |
Organizer's Contact: lauriew@sfu.ca
Cash Prizes:
- First Place - $400
- Second Place - $200
- People's Choice - $100
| Date & Time | Location | Registration |
|---|---|---|
| TBD |
Organizer's Contact:
Cash Prizes:
- First Place -
- Second Place -
- People's Choice -
| Date & Time | Location | Registration |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, March 11, 11:30am-1:30pm | SSB 7172 - Large Seminar Room | More Info |
Organizer's Contact: scirec@sfu.ca
Cash Prizes:
- First Place - $500
- Second Place - $200
- People's Choice - $200
Ma thèse en 180 secondes (MT180)
French speaking master's and doctoral students can compete in the Ma thèse en 180 secondes (MT180) competition, even if you're participating in a Faculty Heat!
| Date & Time | Location | Registration /More Information |
|---|---|---|
| TBA | SFU TBD |
Timeline of Events:
- May 13, 2026: National final of My thesis in 180 seconds, which will take place as part of the 93rd Acfas Congress in Trois-Rivières.
More Information & Updates:
https://www.acfas.ca/prix-concours/ma-these-en-180-secondes
Graduate Studies 3MT
| Date & Time | Location | Registration |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, March 16, 2:00-3:00 pm |
Online - Zoom | Sign Up Today! |
The wildcard competition is open to graduate students who can't attend their faculty heat or whose faculty did not have a heat. Participants are only allowed to compete once in either their faculty heat or the wildcard competition. Cash Prizes are available for the winners of Wildcard heat.
Organizer's Contact: Charity Slobod at grad_prod@sfu.ca
Deadline to submit Title Slide + Presentation Slide: March 13, 2026
| Date & Time | Location | RSVP |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, April 9, 5:30-7:30 pm |
SYRE Theatre 1002 and SYRE Atrium | Join us in person or online |
The winners of each faculty heat and the Wildcard heat will be invited to compete in the SFU 3MT Finals. Finalists competing and registration details coming soon!
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Deborah is a Graduate Liberal Studies Master's student. Three research keywords: Dementia, Life-writing, Crosswords.
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Erin is a master's student in Geography. Three research keywords: Rivers, Constrictions, Sediment.
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Grace is a Physics master's student. Research keywords: Arctic, Geophysics, Permafrost.
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Jeremy is a Applied and Computational Mathematics doctoral student. Research keywords: Healthcare Operations Research, Mathematical Modelling, Machine Learning.
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Jonas is a Earth Sciences doctoral student. Research keywords: Permafrost, Sediment Transport, Climate Change.
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Kumar is a PhD student researching medical image analysis methods for dermatological applications, particularly, skin cancer detection. (Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship)
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Maggie is a School of Criminology Master's student. Three research keywords: wrongful convictions & forensic science.
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Negar is a Sustainable Energy Engineering doctoral student. Three research keywords: Transportation, Emission, Cold climate.
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Nima is a Molecular Biology and Biochemistry master's student. Research keywords: Wastewater, Public health, Data science.
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Sadra is a Mechatronic Systems Engineering master's student. Three research keywords: Inertial Sensors, Engineering Optimization, Computational Mechanics.
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Stella is a Biological Sciences master's student. Research keywords: Microbial ecology, Bioinformatics, Public health.
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Tomos is a Political Science Master's student. Three research keywords: Interdisciplinary, Timely and Actionable.
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Zahraa is a Public Policy Master's student. Three research keywords: Fertility gap, employment, policy.
WESTERN REGIONALS
Organized by the Western Canadian Deans of Graduate Studies (WCDGS), up to 17 graduate students from Western Canadian Deans' Agreement participating universities are eligible to participate. The top three competitors at the Western Regional 3MT Competition will go on to compete at the National Canadian Competition.
NATIONALS
Sponsored by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS), two graduate students will move forward from the Western Regional competition to the nationals.