Visualise your thesis

logoVYT

Visualise your Thesis™! An international program for graduate researchers

Visualise Your Thesis™ (VYT) is an international program that challenges graduate researchers to present their research in a 60-second audio-visual explainer. The program provides an opportunity for universities from across the world to showcase their graduate research and for the participants to build essential information and digital literacy skills to effectively communicate complex research to a general audience.

Macquarie University is excited to participate in Visualise Your Thesis again in 2025!

Eligibility

Entry is open to currently-enrolled PhD, MPhil, and MRes students. It is suitable for all disciplines and for students at any stage of their candidature. Visit this site to view past entries.

If you are interested in participating in the VYT, please submit an Expression of Interest form by 30 May 2025.

2025 Competition dates

18 March	Storytelling your thesis VYT info session (see Training tab for details)
3 June	VYT Crafting Clinic (see Training tab for details)
17 June	VYT Crafting Clinic (see Training tab for details)
19 June	Storytell your thesis (see Training tab for details)
4 July	Deadline to submit entry to gr.development@mq.edu.au
11 July	Deadline to receive final copyright approval
31 July	2:00 - 3:00pm Macquarie Theatre MQ Finals winners announced - register to attend and vote for the People's Choice winner
1 September	Deadline for winning entry to VYT team at the University of Melbourne
Oct (TBC)	International VYT Final

Prizes for the Macquarie Winners 2025:

Winner: $500
Second Place: $250
Third Place: $125
People's Choice Winner: $125

Note: Prize money is to be used for research costs only and is not a cash prize.

2025 International Prize Pool:

1st Prize: AUD $5000
2nd Prize: AUD $2000
3rd Prize: AUD $1000

Judging panel

TBC

The following resources can be accessed here

MQ VYT presentation template
Entrant Pack for MQ presenters
Terms and Conditions for Entrants
Submission Checklist for Entrants

CATEGORY	CRITERIA
TOPIC UNDERSTANDING	Does the video leave you with a better understanding of the topic?
COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE	Is the research communicated / presented in language appropriate for a non-specialist audience?
CREATIVITY AND ENGAGEMENT	Is the video creative and engaging (e.g. visually striking and memorable)?
TOPIC SIGNIFICANCE	Is the significance of the research clearly explained

Storytelling Your Thesis workshop

Communicating your research to a non-specialist audience is a valuable skill that can help broaden the reach and impact of your research. However, it can be a challenge, distilling the essence of your research into a cohesive story using language that a non-specialist audience can understand.

In this workshop we will discuss key components and considerations when communicating your research to non-specialist audiences, as well as explore the narrative of your own research.

Tuesday 18 March, 10:00am - 11:30am
Thursday 19 June, 10:00am - 12:00pm - This workshop targets 3MT participants, but can also help students who are participating in the VYT.

Visualise Your Thesis Info Session

To help you prepare your VYT entry, this info session will cover important competition details including entry requirements, judging criteria, and key dates.

Tuesday 18 March. 11.30am - 12.00pm

VYT Crafting Clinics

***This is NOT a workshop***

Working on your Visualise Your Thesis submission? Finding yourself a little stuck? Or having difficulties carving out time to work on your entry?

Consider coming along to one (or both) of our scheduled VYT Crafting Clinics.

These crafting clinics will be set up similar to a writing retreat (but with a few more discussion opportunities). During the session, you will have the opportunity to work on your submission, discuss your ideas and troubleshoot your issues with fellow participants and a GRD Advisor.

What to bring:

Laptop and power cord
Draft submission
Water bottle
Seat cushion, headphones (optional)

Training resources

MQ Faculty of Arts
- Adobe Creative Cloud
Visualise Your Thesis copyright and video storytelling videos
- https://sites.research.unimelb.edu.au/visualise-your-thesis#resources

2019-2023 International Visualise Your Thesis figshare site (finalists’ showcase)
- https://visualiseyourthesis.figshare.com/

Anitra Nottingham’s Visualising Your Thesis workshop slides
- https://www.slideshare.net/AnitraNottingham/visualise-your-thesis-presentationworkshop

CC Search – “Find content you can share, use and remix”
- https://search.creativecommons.org/

Microsoft PowerPoint training resources
- https://support.office.com/en-us/article/powerpoint-for-windows-training-40e8c930-cb0b-40d8-82c4-bd53d3398787?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

#TrendingOnVYT will be won by the participant who achieves the highest number of views for their video on the Figshare repository.

On 1 August 2024, we announced the winners of the MQ VYT program! We would like to thank our fantastic judges and finalists for their enthusiastic involvement and support. Thank you to our People's Choice voters too - we are so pleased you participated.

Congratulations to our MQ finalists and winners:

MQ VYT Winner

Natasha Delgado (School of Natural Sciences) ($500 research grant)

Presentation title: Investigating Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole Combination Therapy in Acinetobacter baumannii

2^nd Place

Selina Zhang (Macquarie Medical School) ($250 research grant)

Presentation title: Facilitating the degradation of toxic proteins within Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

3^rd Place (tied)

Rebecca Sachse (Department of History and Archaeology) ($125 research grant)

Presentation title: Early Christian Perceptions of Infertility and its Social Impacts in the Roman Empire (2nd Century AD - 6th Century AD)

Kanesha Ward (Australian Institute of Health Innovation) ($125 research grant)

Presentation title: Patient Experience and the Role of Companions and Caregivers

People's Choice Winner

Anindya Pradipta Susanto (Australian Institute of Health Innovation) ($125 research grant)

Presentation title: Leveraging AI to prevent heart disease in resource-limited settings

Finalists

Prapti Chakraborty (Macquarie Medical School)

Presentation title: Butyrate, a potential therapy for Machado Joseph Disease

Somayeh Farahani (Australian Institute of Health Innovation)

Presentation title: Deep Learning-based Prediction of Molecular Markers in Glioma on Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Peng Liang (Macquarie School of Education)

Presentation title: An Exploration of the Experience of Parents and Carers, When Supervising Autistic Children in a Playground

Mahdi Nouraie (School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences)

Presentation title: Better Variable Selection in Complex Regression Models through Combining and Generalising Bayesian and Frequentist Approaches

Nazanin Sadeghi (Department of Applied Finance)

Presentation title: Resilience of Small Businesses to Climate-induced Flood Risks

Ting Zhou (Macquarie School of Education)

Presentation title: Shared reading for supporting children’s multilingual development

Congratulations to our 2023 MQ finalists and winners:

VYT Winner

Khalia Ackermann (AIHI) ($500 research grant)
Presentation title: Investigating the Health of Australian Sepsis Survivors

1^st Runner-up

Fabiha Farzana (MMS) ($250 research grant)
Presentation title: Investigating DNA Damage in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

2^nd Runner-up

Haiting Lan (Linguistics) ($125 research grant)
Presentation title: Reading online text content in the presence of visual distraction: Eye movements and comprehension

People's Choice Winner

Khalia Ackermann (AIHI) ($125 research grant)

View the full list of 2023 winners that competed in the international competition on the VYT 2023 figshare repository

Graduate Research Academy
Level 2, 16 Wally's Walk
Macquarie University NSW 2109

Home page Skill development