HPS Graduate Student Research Day- Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
Abstract Submission Deadline: Submissions for the 2024 event are now closed.
Graduate education is the heart of every great university. Graduate students come to UNT to make creative contributions and research discoveries that advance human knowledge.
Graduate Student Research Day is a HPS-wide poster and presentation session that showcases and awards research by graduate students. The day aims to strengthen graduate students’ presentation and networking skills, as well as their ability to distill down and articulate their research concisely and effectively to a non-specialist audience.
Am I Eligible?
- The competition is open to all currently registered and enrolled UNT Master’s and Doctoral graduate students in the College of Health and Public Service.
- Students must be registered and enrolled during Spring 2024 and be in good academic standing in order to participate and to be eligible to receive any prize.
- Students on an official leave of absence, or with lapsed status in Spring 2024 are not eligible to compete for prizes. Also, while previous prize winners are encouraged to participate, they are not eligible to win prizes again.
- Presentations must be on research. Projects and business plans are not eligible.
- Students must meet the guiding principles of the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance.
Why Should I Enter Student Research Day?
- PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Student Research Day will strengthen your presentation skills, as well as your ability to distill down and articulate your research concisely and effectively to a non-specialist audience.
- NETWORKING: Student Research Day provides an opportunity for you to directly meet and engage with valued UNT associates (faculty, alumni, and administration).
- MARKETING OPPORTUNITY: Student Research Day showcases the excellence, importance and relevance of your research!
- RESEARCH SWAG & PRIZES!
How Do I Present at Student Research Day?
- Call for Abstracts is NOW CLOSED.
- Posters are required.
The suggested poster size is 36 by 48 inches (portrait format). Students are encouraged to work with their advisors to assure the standard elements are included in the poster.
Poster presentations are visual representations of field studies or research projects. Attendees include incoming and continuing students, and faculty with varying degrees of interest and experience.
Posters will be printed for free in the HPS GIS lab. After you submit your abstract, you will receive a link to sign up for poster printing.
Poster design:
Need UNT logos for your poster? Click here!
How to Create a Research Poster
Students will be expected to stand next to their posters between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to answer questions about their research. Here are some tips on effectively communicating your research:
- Remember that people viewing your poster, including the poster judges, may not work in your discipline. Try to make your work understandable to experts in other fields.
Additional Tips
- Student Research Day is about effective COMMUNICATION– engaging your audience in one or two aspects of your research that excite you, that tell the best story to people outside of your field.
- Think about what sets your research apart from what has already been done already. What makes your work unique and valuable to your field?
- The images you use on your poster should complement or illustrate what you are communicating verbally. Make sure they are relevant to your message.
- Do not fill your poster with so much content that the audience will be spending time trying to it all figure it out.
- Stay away from acronyms unless they are well-known or you can quickly explain them. Same with jargon and complex terms. You will need to briefly define them.
- Slow down and relax. Don’t speak too fast. Clarity and being comfortable with your content is key.
- Practice presenting in front of your roommate, friends, or family members — people who are not greatly familiar with your topic/research. They are great sounding boards.
- Have fun with this! Your work is valuable and YOU are the expert. You have a lot to teach the rest of us and we’re here to listen.
Judging panels for Graduate Student Research Day will be comprised of faculty, deans, alumni, administrative staff, and postdoctoral scholars. The judges will be selected to ensure disciplinary diversity and every effort will be made to avoid conflicts of interest.
Posters will be judged on the clarity and presentation, and ability to provide context for a non-specialist audience helping others understand and appreciate their research.
Points will be awarded based on the following criteria:
- Clarity
- Organization
- Visuals
- Appropriateness
- Intellectual Significance
Prizes!
- Best Poster: 1st Place ($750), 2nd Place ($500), and 3rd place ($250).
- Please note - We are not able to give out cash prizes. Instead UNT prize monies may go towards the following:
- Conference travel in the year following Graduate Student Research Day (April 2024 through March 2025)
- Professional memberships
- Other research expenses (books, data costs, software)
- For returning students, monies may go towards a scholarship next year
- UNT Swag
How to Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo, article by Guy Kawasaki
Giving an Academic Talk by Jonathan Shewchuk, Associate Professor in Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley
Don’t Be Such a Scientist by Randy Olson
Giving Oral Presentations from English Communication for Scientists by Jean-Luc Doumont (ed.), Nature (2010)
Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea, from TED’s in-house expert by Aaron Weyenberg
TED Talks (up to 6 minutes in length): Brief talks on “ideas worth spreading.”
PhD Comics Two-Minute Thesis: PhD Comics challenged graduate students to explain their work in two minutes – the best have been turned into videos!
3 Minute Thesis Competition Winners: Winning presentations from a multi-university thesis competition in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and the South Pacific.