Expression of Interest Link: https://forms.office.com/r/FGefeeYhpv

ADC 2025 will host the inaugural ADC Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition for PhD students, an opportunity for young researchers in the international Database community to challenge their peers to describe their research in only three minutes. In order to encourage students internationally, the competition will be held in a Hybrid format meaning students can participate from both Sydney and Bali venues, or online via Zoom.

The competition will challenge students in their communication skills, particularly in their clarity. However, unlike a traditional university-wide 3MT competition, the ADC 3MT competition will be judged by a panel of established Database researchers allowing for a more domain-specific presentation (to be announced).

Cash prizes will be awarded for the Best Presentation and multiple Runner-Ups. All participants will receive a certificate of participation.

This competition is open only to PhD students, preferably in their third or fourth year of study.

Rules

The rules of the competition are as follows:

• You will have only three minutes to present, starting from when you begin speaking. If you exceed three minutes, you will be disqualified.
• You are allowed only one single static slide for your presentation (meaning no animations, transitions or movement of any kind).
• Your talk must be related to Database research. It must also predominately be about your own research (i.e. not summarising the current field).
• Presentations must be delivered in English and cannot contain pre-recorded video or audio.

Expression of Interest

To express your interest, please enter by filling in the form (https://forms.office.com/r/FGefeeYhpv) before the deadline of 29th of October, 2025. The final list of participants will be announced after the deadline.

Please note that there will be a separate registration option for online students attending ADC at a significantly discounted rate which will cover this competition as well as other exciting events for student development.

Contact

For any queries regarding this competition, please contact the Special Interest Track Chairs:

• Alexander Zhou (alexander.zhou@polyu.edu.hk, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
• Zijian Wang (zijian.wang@uq.edu.au, The University of Queensland)