Eleven of the University's upcoming champions of public speaking have been chosen to battle it out for the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) crown on Wednesday 17 September at Union Court.
The 3MT is a competition allowing PhD students just three minutes to summarise their research projects being conducted on campus.
The winner will take away $4,000 in prize money and a ticket to the International 3MT final, which will be held at the University of Western Australia later this year.
"The rules are pretty simple - explain what you are researching, how you are doing the research and why it is important in three minutes for an intelligent, but non disciplinary audience," says ANU Director of Research Training, Dr Inger Mewburn, who is also referred to as the 'Thesis Whisperer'.
The finalists only get to use one powerpoint slide which isn't allowed to move or make noise.
"I think we would all feel better knowing that the people spending the tax dollars we give to research are doing really interesting and important work," Dr Mewburn says.
"The 3MT is the perfect way to do this because it's about the length of time you can stand to listen to a PhD student talk about their work - especially if it is done badly!"
Details on the 3MTcan be found at the Research Skills and Training website. A list of finalists is also online.
