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Visualise Your Thesis competition

Overview of Visualise Your Thesis (VYT) competition for RMIT HDR candidates

RMIT competition

What is Visualise Your Thesis?

The Visualise Your Thesis (VYT) competition is a program for graduate researchers developed by The University of Melbourne.

This international competition challenges our graduate research students to present their projects in a 60-second, eye-catching digital display.

Potential benefits of the research must be explained for a general audience.

Competition overview 

RMIT University is thrilled to announce the Visualise Your Thesis (VYT) competition.

The competition is open to all currently-enrolled HDR students (Masters by Research, Ph.D.) at any stage of their candidature who are active and attending.

Note: Honours students, Masters by coursework students, graduate researchers on a leave of absence, lapsed candidates, and graduate researchers employed by RMIT University with potential influence over the competition outcome are not eligible to enter. 

See previous entries at the Visualise Your Thesis repository.

Why participate?

Participating in VYT offers you the opportunity to build skills and knowledge: 

  • Develop essential digital and visual communication skills 
  • Build awareness of open access and copyright
  • Present complex research to a general audience
  • Showcase your research to a broader audience
  • Promote research through channels such as ORCID and social media
  • Monitor the engagement and reach of the videos that will be available via the RMIT Research Repository

Reflections from 2025 winner

Persia Anderton, winner of the 2025 Visualise Your Thesis competition, transformed her PhD research on developing a new scale that measures perceived social endorsement of sexual double standards. She states: "it requires you to break down some pretty complicated concepts into simple terms that anyone can understand and then string them together to form a coherent narrative in just 60 seconds." Persia encourages others to embrace the competition as a creative and rewarding way to share their work.

Reflections from previous winner Persia Anderton-2025 (2:25 mins) by RMIT University Library, Microsoft Stream (RMIT login required)

Training, documentation, dates and prizes

Key dates

  • Registrations open: Date TBA
  • Information session: Date TBA (Register via the EOI form)
  • Effective storytelling for researchers: Date TBA (Register via Inkpath)
  • Copyright session: Date TBA (Register via the EOI form)
  • Adobe Express training: Date TBA (Register via the EOI form)
  • Submissions open: Date TBA (Submit here)
  • Submissions close: Date TBA 
  • Showcase event: Date and Venue TBA (Register to attend in-person or online)
  • International competition winner announced: October 2025
The 2025 RMIT Visualise Your Thesis competition has concluded. If you're interested in the 2026 competition, contact the Library's Research Services team at library.researchservices@rmit.edu.au to be kept up to date.

Training program

Recordings from training sessions are available from the Library Media Hub Visualise Your Thesis playlist. They include:

  1. General introductory session - find out about competition requirements, timelines, training and support resources
  2. Developing an online presentation - guides you in creating an engaging short video, including sourcing and attributing media such as images and audio to enhance your entry
  3. Presenting to a general audience - interactive workshop assisting entrants in transforming their research into a compelling, accessible narrative for a broad audience.
  4. Copyright - The session covers copyright basics, the importance of ensuring all content is compliant, and where to find copyright-friendly materials. Participants must cite all sources and ensure their entries do not infringe on third-party rights. The session also discusses seeking permissions for use, and the importance of adhering to the competition's referencing guidelines.

Prizes

RMIT University Visualise Your Thesis competition:

  • First place: $1,200
  • Second place: $600
  • Third place: $300
  • People's choice: $250 

The RMIT winner will represent the university in the Visualise Your Thesis International Competition and compete for the following prizes:

  • First place: $5,000
  • Second place: $2,000
  • Third place: $1,000

Key documents

Before submitting your VYT entry, ensure you have completed the following:

  • See the Entrant Pack for detailed information on eligibility, judging criteria and technical instructions
  • Read and agree to the Terms and Conditions of the Programme for Entrants
  • Make sure your entry includes the title and reference slides from the Presentation template