Designed to feature the work of UI humanities grad students

NOTE: The Obermann Center's 2023 Humanities Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) has been canceled.

Our 3MT is specially designed to feature the work of UI humanities graduate students. The 3MT event challenges graduate students to articulate their complex research clearly and concisely to non-specialist audiences in three minutes or fewer.

The presented research can be a student’s thesis or PhD work, research related to an internship or other outside project, or research pertaining to a specific class. The only requirement is that it is the student’s research and that it has a humanities focus. 

The winner of the Obermann Humanities 3MT receives $250 and directly advances to the campus-wide 3MT final on November 10, 2023. (Obermann Humanities 3MT participants may or may not choose to participate in the campus-wide preliminary 3MT contest on October 5 and 6. The winner of the Obermann Humanities 3MT, however, will advance to and be required to participate in the UI finals.)

The Obermann Humanities 3MT uses the same rules and judging criteria as the campus-wide 3MT hosted by the UI Graduate College. View the full judging criteria on the Grad College website. Our judges will be Christine Getz (Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Outreach and Engagement, CLAS), Roland Racevskis (Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities, CLAS), and Kristy Nabhan-Warren (Associate Vice President for Research, OVPR). 

Several pre-recorded workshops are available to help participants prepare for the 3MT.