Entries will be judged against the following criteria:

Content

• Does the entry provide an understanding of the research question being addressed, its significance, and potential impact?
• Is the research communicated in a format and uses language appropriate for non-specialist audiences?
• Is the entry free from jargon, unexplained acronyms and incomprehensible technical terms?
• Is the entry accessible to and respectful of diverse audiences?
• Does the entry leave you inspired and curious?

Impact

• Is the entry well designed, creative, innovative and engaging?
• Is it visually striking and memorable?
• Does it make best use of screen space available?
• Does it make a good first impression and then offer rich content on further examination?
• Were the timings, transitions and effects aligned to fit the 60 second timeframe?

Sound (optional)

If included,

• If sound was used to convey information, was accessibility considered, e.g. by providing captions for voiceovers?
• Did the music/sound contribute to the impact of the presentation?
• Was the sound/music in keeping with the mood/style of the presentation?

Download the Visualise Your Thesis PowerPoint template (in Canvas and your welcome email)

Delete the text, images and video in the template and add your own content.

You may add additional slides to the template

A video on how to do this is available in Canva, How to make a VYT Video.

However:

• Your presentation (excluding the formatted bookend slides, i.e. title and reference slides) will be displayed for a maximum of 60 seconds, and
• The bookend slides are set to display for 5 seconds - you can add additional reference slides if required

Please ensure that your video file is .mp4 and compatiable with size requirements (100 MB). For further instructions, see Canvas, How to make a VYT video.

Important: You are responsible for proof-reading and testing your entry before submission.

Yes and no! As long as you retain the pre-formatted bookend slides (= the title and references) you are free to add your own content – this can be in the form of images, video and/or audio, and does not have to be just text.

Yes, you can include audio in your entry but consider that the maximum file size for your entry is 100 MB. Please make sure that any audio material is copyright compliant and referenced appropriately. Considering the nature of the competition, which emphasises visualising your thesis, we recommend that audio is used to enhance, not carry an entry – your entry should able to stand on its own, without the audio elements.

The University of Melbourne is committed to creating an accessible International Competition gallery, so if your entry progresses to the International Competition you may be required to provide an audio transcript.

You can, provided that the material is copyright compliant and/or you have the appropriate licences and permissions to reproduce it. Broad categories that web-sourced material you use should fall into are

• Creative Commons licensed material (excluding material with a Share-alike (SA) or Noncommercial (NC) licence)
• Public Domain works (= materials which are not protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws)
• Material under license or with permission

For more information refer to the copyright resources and videos on the 2019 Visualise Your Thesis International Competition website. Also check the resources the UniMelb Copyright Office site.

Make sure that all materials used in your entry are be cited, regardless of source.

There are numerous websites which provide access to Open Access images – Pixabay, Unsplash, and Snappy Goat are a few examples. Many archives and libraries (including the British Library) make their digitised collections available via Flickr Commons – Flickr being another popular image hosting website.

For music, sites like Incompetech, MuseOpen and ccMixter offer Creative Commons-licenced content. CC Search links to media, image and music platforms with content you can use and remix.

Make sure to check the individual licence of any object you are thinking of using, and include appropriate citations in the reference slide of your entry.

The Visualise Your Thesis competition is open to currently-enrolled graduate researchers (i.e. students enrolled in M.Phil., Masters by Research, Ph.D. or Professional Doctorate programmes) at any stage of their candidature who are active and attending.

Not eligible to enter the competition are:

• Honours students
• Masters by coursework students (even if their program has a research/thesis component).

No. You can only enter once, so you will have to decide whether you’d like to represent your university or research institute.

Entries should be unique and original. The resubmission of previous entries is only permitted where substantial revision has occurred. And no doubt your research has progressed significantly, and you’d like your entry to reflect this!

Replace the text in the template by typing or pasting in your own text.

Remove the images in the template and add your own images to support your descriptions such as data visualisations, graphs, an infographic, tables, or photos.

Be creative and change the layout, text boxes, colours and fonts, just make sure you:

• Do not change the layout, design, or colours of the title slide, and the references slide (i.e. the first and last slides).
• Do not use a body text font size smaller than 14 pt.
• Do not change the Page Setup in PowerPoint (your ePoster will be displayed on an screen in widescreen format).
• Include the required information on the poster as specified in the template: Introduction, Research Significance, Method, Results, Conclusion, however note that:
  • You may include this information in the form of text, images, video and/or audio.
  • If you use text, you can modify the headings in the template to suit your project, for example: 'Background' instead of 'Introduction', ‘Approach’ instead of ‘Method’, or ‘Implications’ instead of ‘Conclusion'.
  • Depending on the stage of your project, you may not have results or a conclusion yet, however you can state this and include any information or ideas you have at this stage.
• Consider copyright, particularly when adding images, audio or video to your poster, see the advice on the University of Melbourne Copyright Office website.
• Include a valid Twitter handle or Instagram handle: people will be encouraged to tweet to poster authors with questions and comments, and to post photos of the awards event.

Set your slides to advance automatically in PowerPoint:

1. Select the Transitions tab.
2. Tick the After checkbox.
3. Enter the number of seconds you wish to display the slide for.

For further instructions, see: Set the speed and timing of transitions

Note: your entire PowerPoint presentation should display for a maximum total time of 60 seconds.

Your poster will be displayed using Microsoft (PowerPoint 2016) for Windows, ensure that any audio or video files you embed in your poster are in formats supported.

Supported audio and video file formats: Video and audio file formats supported in (PowerPoint 2016)

Note that embedded online videos, such as YouTube or Vimeo videos or similar will not work, as the screens will not be connected to the internet.

If animations or videos do not run, they may be removed without discussion with you. Therefore it is recommended that you provide a representative image in the correct place, in case this is necessary.

Make sure your audio and video:

1. Is embedded in the PowerPoint file. Do not submit separate media files.
2. Starts automatically and loops continuously. Your e-poster will be displayed in rotation with a number of other posters on a screen in slide show mode. No interaction will be possible.
3. Is optimised and compressed.

Further instructions

• Compress the media files in your presentation
• Are you having video or audio playback issues?

For further help with PowerPoint, see:

• PowerPoint training: tutorials for all versions of PowerPoint for Mac and Windows

This competition does not have a verbal presentation component and relies purely on each submission's visual presentation. Students who are in earlier stages of research (have not reached confirmation/ before writing up) are also welcome to enter the competition.

Please email us at: visualise-thesis@unimelb.edu.au