Participants will have just three minutes to present the significance of their thesis work to a non-specialist audience—an invaluable experience that builds confidence, clarity, and academic presence.

The deadline to apply is January 19, 2026.

Why Participate?

The 3MT® competition is more than just a challenge—it’s an opportunity to:

• Refine Communication Skills: Learn to articulate complex ideas in a clear and easy to understand manner
• Build Confidence: Gain experience presenting to diverse audiences.
• Enhance Career Development: Develop essential skills for both academic and non-academic careers.
• Win Prizes: Compete for cash awards and the chance to represent the University of Manitoba at the Western Regional 3MT® Competition.

Who Can Apply?

The competition is open to all graduate students currently enrolled in thesis-based programs (Master’s or PhD) at the University of Manitoba.

How to Apply

Interested students can access the application form via the UM 3MT® website and submit their application by January 19th, 2026 by 4:00pm. Challengers accepted to compete will be notified in early February.

About the 3MT® Competition

Originating at the University of Queensland, Australia, the 3MT® competition has grown into a global event that challenges students to present their research concisely, using just one static slide and no props. The University of Manitoba has proudly participated in this initiative, showcasing the outstanding research conducted by its graduate students since 2013. “This is an opportunity for students to step into the research spotlight and expand the audience for their work across the UM and beyond”, says Kelley Main, Dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

The event will once again be hosted by Colleen Bready, CTV News Weather Specialist, returning as emcee for the fifth year in a row. Her energy, professionalism, and long-standing support of the competition continue to elevate the experience for participants and audience members alike.

For More Information

Visit umanitoba.ca/3mt for details on eligibility, application requirements, and key dates. Previous years recordings of the events can also be found on the website.

Don’t miss this chance to share your passion for research and make your mark in the 2026 3MT® Competition!

Dr. Jennifer L. Schulz, Associate Dean of the JD Program at Robson Hall, is thrilled to see the competition’s return to Manitoba, where the inaugural event was held in 2020. Having hosted the event in 2023, Winkler Institute Co-Academic Directors Professors Patricia McMahon and Shelley Kierstead are equally delighted to have the Institute provide a home for the NFLNC. Both institutions believe in the importance of negotiation and other non-adversarial approaches as the key to future legal practice, especially in the area of family law. Developing the skills that promote access to more effective forms of dispute resolution is consistent with the mandates of both schools, including improving access to justice. 

Dr. Schulz praises the work of Robson Hall’s Dr. Lorna Turnbull and the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution, an organization that she has long supported in her capacity as one of its fellows. “Negotiation and other non-adversarial forms of dispute resolution are the future of legal practice in Canada. No where is this more important than in family law. Students should be lining up to participate in this national negotiation competition, and Robson Hall students in particular should be proud of their law school’s foundational involvement in the competition.”

Dr. Lorna Turnbull sees family law as an important area of practice. “Manitoba is a leader in modernizing the family justice system to better meet the needs of children and to improve access to justice,” Turnbull says. “Providing students the opportunity to participate in family negotiation allows them to develop those important skills while working with coaches from the profession and also building important professional relationships.”

The NFLNC provides students from across Canada the opportunity to experience first-hand how effective negotiation skills can help families going through difficult life transitions. Participating in the NFLNC gives students the chance to further develop their skills through the preparation and presentation of mock negotiations and receipt of feedback from highly skilled professionals. 

This year’s competition will be held virtually from February 29 to March 2, 2024. Team registration is due by December 1 – please find details here: National Family Law Negotiation Competition Tickets, Thu, 29 Feb 2024 at 9:00 AM | Eventbrite.

(If any team encounters a problem with the December 1 registration deadline, please reach out to Shelley Kierstead at skierstead@osgoode.yorku.ca).

Each student successfully participated in a competition, and both were selected as representatives of the ceramics program at School of Art. 

The International Ceramic Art Fair (ICAF) is a 10-day celebration of some of the most compelling recent ceramic art, featuring works by emerging and established artists from a wide range of backgrounds and online and in-person programming by artists and curators. The Fair is hosted by The Gardiner, one of the world’s leading specialty museums and is Canada’s only museum dedicated to the ceramic medium.

We invite you to visit the 2023 ICAF Next Generation website and join us in celebrating the next generation of talent across Canada!

Webpage link: https://icaf2023.squarespace.com/icaf-next-generation

Congratulations to Caleigh and Jasmine!

Meet the artists:

Caleigh Stillwater is an emerging artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is currently completing her BFA at the University of Manitoba. She works in a variety of mediums with a focus in ceramic sculpture and painting. Her work often explores the ethics of the meat industry and its connection to environmental destruction. Her sculptures aim to raise awareness about important issues, while making viewers confront the uncomfortable truths of an industry that many willfully ignore.

Stillwater’s recent body of work, Butcher’s Trio I and II features an installation of lifelike hand-built ceramic sculptures. Three sculptures of meat; a steak, a sausage link and a ham hang on meat hooks above a butcher’s table. Sculptures of a chicken, a piglet and a lamb sit on the table, plastic wrapped on foam trays like grocery store meat. The ceramic installation aims to critique the commodification of animals within the meat industry, and the disconnect that consumers have between the food they eat and where it comes from.

Jasmine Prior is an interdisciplinary artist currently residing in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Coming from outside a small town she is influenced heavily by nature, from the largest tree to the smallest insect. Prior is completing an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and hopes to continue her studies in anthropology and psychology as well. She has been creating for as long as she can remember. When she wasn’t creating, she was studying outside by collecting bones, dead insects and feathers on walks through the bush with her dog. Prior hopes to bring a sense of pause and reflection to notice the simple treasures nature gives us daily and to remember the connections we all have to this planet and the tiniest creatures on it.

Zero Waste Canada, an advocacy group based in Vancouver, estimates that each Canadian will throw away around 50 kilograms of garbage over the holidays. This waste comes from the purchase of 3,000 tonnes of foil, 2.6 billion Christmas cards and six million rolls of tape. Additionally, 540,000 tonnes of wrapping paper and gift bags are thrown out each year. By being more eco-conscious, we can prevent garbage and promote sustainability. Not only is this the season of giving, but also the season of reducing and reusing!

Here are some tips to become more environmentally conscious and reduce your waste this holiday season:

• Gift a donation or experience instead of a material item.
• Buy secondhand decorations, or get creative with DIY crafts to make your own.
• Use LED holiday lights, which use 80 per cent less energy and last longer than incandescent lights. Make sure to look for the ENERGY STAR designation on the box.
• Cut down on waste by reusing gift bags, boxes, wrapping paper and decor.
• Or, opt for alternative gift wrapping, such as non-disposable materials like burlap, cloth or fabric. Traditional wrapping paper cannot be recycled in the City of Winnipeg due to the high amount of dye content.
• Prevent food waste. Make sure to carefully plan meals, take home tasty leftovers or compost the rest of your holiday feast!

A gripping fear of being caught in a rampage has entrenched itself firmly in peoples’ minds. Large outdoor gatherings like the Winnipeg Jets White Out Party or other festivals have become sites of potential security threats. Municipal leaders around the world have been forced to listen to the rising public concerns. Common security measures invoked include greater presence of police, and temporary installations of physical barriers in areas where a high volume of pedestrian traffic is anticipated.

How can barricades make places welcoming and permeable for pedestrians while also providing protection? How can concrete units act as safety shields without highlighting the potential danger?

The Barkman Concrete Design Competition of 2017-2018 challenged students of the Faculty of Architecture through the Construction Materials Course to explore critical solutions to physically bolstering potential targets by responding to pedestrian behaviour and designing moveable concrete objects.

Out of the four winning teams, it was the ZigZag barrier, the second prize that was chosen for prototype construction and possible commercialization. The ZigZag design of Andrea Doussis, Abduselam Yussuf, Haim Chernyakov, and Justin Munonye aims to temporarily block vehicular traffic and secure pedestrian movement in an aesthetically pleasing way. The placement of the ZigZag barriers generates barricades for vehicles and creates a safe space for pedestrians to travel through changing viewpoints. Rendering and physical models convinced the competition jury that advertisement could easily be placed in the 2” insets provided. The height of the concrete object works as a bench or a spot to pause and lean.

Based on its function, aesthetics, and marketability, the Barkman team approved the ZigZag design and built two full sized models. They invited the four student designers and myself to review these prototypes in January. Barkman’s Product Development Manager walked us through the casting process from mold to end product. As their former instructor, it was rewarding to witness Andrea, Abduselam, Haim, and Justin’s reactions upon entering the Product Development Department and seeing the eight foot long and three foot high concrete objects in real scale: “I am struck by its size!” “I did not think one would actually be built!”

As a remarkable result, an agreement between the University of Manitoba and Barkman Concrete Ltd. has been reached to exclusively licence the students’ design to the company in Western Canada. As well, two Industrial Design Patent Applications on the ZigZag were filed in both the US and Canada with the assistance of the University’s Technology Transfer Office.  The Canadian Patent Office registered the design on July 19, 2019. If the design proves profitable the firm has the ability to add additional sales territories at a later date. Further, this unique competition on precast concrete design has spread to other campuses and is now being held in a second institution in Canada.

Integrating craft, art and technology into design education of our Environmental Design and Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Manitoba embraces the limitless potential of interdisciplinary university and business venture collaborations. The promising ZigZag prototype will not only curb devastating societal behaviour and shape future urban design, it is also a profound milestone experience for the students delivering exciting career possibilities.

CREDITS
Competition Entry of the ZigZag Design by: Andrea Doussis, Abduselam Yussuf, Haim Chernyakov, and Justin Munonye

Course: EVLU 4012 Construction Materials, Faculty of Architecture
Instructor: Prof. Anna Thurmayr
TA in 2017-2018: Sujana Devabhaktuni and Kris Mariah

Barkman’s jury members in 2017-2018:
Adrian Price
Alan Barkman
Anthony Militano
August Wiens
Brian Pries
Garry Funk
Wayne Patram
Wayne Wiebe

On April 5, 2018, Mayor Bowman and his Chief of Staff, Mr. Jason Fuith, visited the Faculty of Engineering to meet with the UMSAE teams.  The two-hour visit, included presentations from UMSAE Formula Lead, Kevin Mazur, and Aero Design Lead, Jasjyot (Jas) Barmi. 

Mayor Bowman and Mr. Fuith were then taken on tours of the shops where the design teams fabricate their aircrafts and vehicles used for competitions.  The visit concluded with Mayor Bowman presenting the Outstanding Achievement Award Medal (pictured above) to the UMSAE Polar Air Team for their recent accomplishment at the global Aero Design Competition in which the team took home the top prize. 

Photo credits: Mike Latschislaw 

UofM Team Testing their retaining wall

On March 24, 2017, students from the Faculty of Engineering traveled down south of the border to participate in the 2017 GeoWall competition hosted by the Minnesota State University, Mankato.  The objective of the GeoWall competition was to design and build a model mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall using paper reinforcement taped to a posterboard wall facing. The design goal was to use the least amount of reinforcement to support the retained soil and design loads. The team from U of M was the only Canadian Team to participate out of the seven universities participating in the event and placed 3rd in the competition and placed 2nd on their report.  This was the first time a U of M team has competed.

Team members included Graduate Students: Earl de Guzman and Samuel Kaluzny and Undergraduate Students: Dylan Stafford and Devon Adamson.  Dr. Alfaro was the Team’s Faculty Advisor. Team captain of the group Earl reports that “for our team, this competition was a good exercise to apply what we’ve learned in theory to a small-scale physical model.  It allowed us to observe behaviour and mechanisms that otherwise won’t be appreciated if only calculated on paper… As engineers, we design our structures to satisfy serviceability requirements and anticipate conditions that will make our structures susceptible to failure and prevent such conditions from happening. The competition allowed us to demonstrate our knowledge, communicate our analysis and design processes, and most importantly share and enjoy a friendly competition among other universities.”

The team was sponsored by the Canadian Geotechnical Society – Manitoba Section, TREK Geotechnical Inc., and the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Manitoba.

Congratulations to the team and thank you to the sponsors that made their participation possible.

First prize is $300, second prize is $200, and third prize is $100, as determined by a selected jury.

Who: Any University of Manitoba student registered during the 2016- 2017 school year.

What: Submissions accepted include: wall pieces, prints, paintings, and photographs. Please provide your full name, title of the piece, artistic medium, phone or email, and the price if you wish to sell your piece, so that facilitators can create a tag to hang beside the artwork. Be sure that your art is prepared for hanging on a picture rail system. Multiple submissions will be considered as a single entry.

Where: All submissions must be dropped off in the General Office, 214 St John’s College. Please contact Michael Minor at minorm@myumanitoba.ca before dropping off your submission.

When: The submission deadline is Friday, March 10, 2017.

The submissions will be showcased in the Daily Bread Café at St John’s College.

Winners will be announced on Thursday, April 6, 2017 at a public reception in the Café sponsored by Food Services Manager Ian Park.

Contestants must retrieve their work on Tuesday, April 11 between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. All work is to be dropped off and picked up by the artist. St John’s College is not responsible for any damaged or missing items and is not responsible for any work left in the Daily Bead Café following the competition.

If you have any questions regarding this competition, please contact Michael Minor at minorm@myumanitoba.ca.

St John’s College · 92 Dysart Road · University of Manitoba www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_johns