Graduate School

Research Matters

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Research Matters

Graduate Student Talks: Celebrating Ideas and Discoveries
Coming April 2026

Research Matters, hosted by the Graduate School, features short talks by graduate students in a live event for a general audience. This program promotes research communication, with student speakers participating in workshops and receiving feedback to help hone their skills. The final talks celebrate graduate student research and demonstrate why it matters.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JNLmqL0Rizk

What’s Involved

  1. Nomination. Faculty, staff, and students are invited to nominate a graduate student with a compelling research story to tell. Graduate students may also self-nominate.
  2. Application submission. Graduate students (no nomination required) are invited to apply with a submission of their research and talk description and short video of themselves presenting their scholarship.
  3. Selection and Semi-finals. Semi-finalists will be invited to give a live talk (no more than 5 min.) at a scheduled session(s) in mid-February. The selection panel will be comprised of faculty, graduate students and the Graduate School.
  4. Final selections. Those selected to speak at the live event are expected to attend a number of training, practice, and mentoring sessions, including a rehearsal scheduled the day before the main event.
  5. Research Matters. All talks from the final live event will be video recorded and will be featured on the Graduate School website.

Key Dates

  • Nominations due January 23, 2026
  • Applications due January 30, 2026
  • Semi-Finals TBD
  • Final Selections TBD
  • Final Event TBD

What Makes a Compelling Research Matters Talk

Research Matters talks should be geared towards a multi-disciplinary, non-specialist audience. Use the power of storytelling by focusing on specific examples, including both failures and successes, and seek ways to explain complex ideas clearly. Connect with your audience by framing your research in ways that make your audience care and let your passion for the subject shine through. Finally, rehearsal is essential: develop an outline of your talk and practice your performance in front of others to hone your content, clarity, and impact. 

Questions

Please contact: Vanessa Ryan, Senior Associate Dean of Student Development and Byrd McDaniel, Assistant Dean of Student Development at Graduate_Dean@brown.edu.

Nominations

Applications

Have you been nominated? Are you interested in applying? Submit an application. Applications are due January 30, 2026 and consist of the following: 

  • A 350-word description of your talk and research project.
  • A short video: Give us a sense of you speaking about your innovative idea and research project. This can be as short as one-minute, but no more than 3 minutes. You can use a smartphone or built-in webcam. Video quality is not the priority, as long as you are audible. We just want to get a brief sense of you as a speaker.

If you are unable to submit a short video, please email graduate_dean@brown.edu.

Get Inspired

Watch videos from previous Research Matters events.

Research Matters 2025

Watch the videos from Brown University's PhD candidates and recent graduates presenting their cutting-edge research across diverse fields—from healthcare equity and optical imaging techniques to bacterial motility, AI ethics, and Afrosurrealism. These talks showcase innovative work in health services, cognitive science, physics, engineering, philosophy, and cultural studies.

Research Matters 2024

Watch the videos from the Research Matters event on April 18, 2024, featuring research across diverse disciplines. Topics include schistosome immune evasion, 17th-century imperialism, AI robotics, prostate cancer treatment, women's experiences with policy in Qatar, sea level projections, dramatizing plagues, particle systems, e-cigarettes, symbolic reparations in Latin America, and lead absorption.

Research Matters 2023

Watch the videos from the Graduate School's Research Matters event, which was held on April 19, 2023. The event featured 12 graduate students presenting their research across diverse fields, including computer science, public health, mathematics, philosophy, archaeology, neuroscience, chemistry, and economics.

Research Matters 2022

Watch the videos from the Graduate School's Research Matters event, which was held on April 21, 2022. Presenters explore the topics of brain simulation, air pollution analysis, medieval women's histories, Russian cultural memory, green nanocatalysts, economic inequality, paleoclimate research, Arctic wetlands, tuberculosis, bacteriophages, Black American Protestant traditions, and medieval Asian manuscripts.

Research Matters 2019

Watch the videos from the Graduate School's Research Matters event held on April 9, 2019. Twelve graduate students presented their research, including topics ranging from urban governance and cryptography to fish biology, nano-catalyst design, planetary science, and Africana studies, fostering intellectual exchange among diverse fields.

Research Matters 2017

Watch the videos from the Graduate School's Research Matters event held on November 4, 2017. Eleven graduate students presented their research on topics including artificial intelligence, Southern nostalgia narratives, planetary ice, aerial robotics, osteoarthritis prevention, machine learning in physics, health geography, pain measurement, HIV humanization, disaster semiotics, and migration in India.

Research Matters 2016

Watch the videos from the Graduate School's Research Matters event, which was held on November 5, 2016. Ten graduate students and one postdoctoral researcher presented research on topics including food and gender, antibiotic resistance, street performers, women's theatre, battery safety, Egyptian archaeology, STEM education, neural circuits, emergency management, and robot perspective-taking.

Research Matters 2014

Watch the videos from the inaugural event, which was held as part of the 250th Anniversary Fall Celebration on September 27, 2014. Ten presenters discuss topics including visual neuroscience, civic education, ancient childbirth, chemistry, visual preference research, medical history, autism research using tadpoles, Renaissance literature, global infections, and non-traditional career paths for PhDs.