If you want to share your research with an audience, you may want to consider presenting your work at an event or conference on- or off-campus, either as a poster or an oral presentation.
The following list of events and conferences to consider when presenting your work is always being updated but is not exhaustive. If you have a research event in your department or college that doesn’t appear below, please contact our office and we’ll be glad to add it to the list.
If you have been collaborating with a faculty member or research team, always clear your ideas with your faculty supervisor.
Finding Opportunities
Make sure to talk to your academic advisor and professors about programs offered through departments and colleges. Search online for the latest and most complete offerings.
When you clear your proposed presentation ideas with your faculty supervisor, he or she may have recommendations about where you can share your work. Depending on the quality and significance of the work, your supervisor may recommend that you submit it for presentation at a regional or national conference specific to the discipline.
Poster Presentations
Undergraduate students may choose to present their research at a conference, symposium, or other research-related event or forum. Students typically communicate and present their work using a scholarly poster or an oral presentation. You’ll find comprehensive information about creating a poster in the Poster-making Guide.
If you have been collaborating with a faculty member or a research team, be sure to clear your proposed ideas with your faculty supervisor. Your supervisor might have feedback on your poster presentation and recommendations regarding where you submit your work.
Why create a poster presentation?
- Unlike traditional oral presentations that create a lecture atmosphere, a poster easily engages the presenter and the audience in a discussion of the topic.
- A poster can be created at any stage of the research project. Your project does not need to be complete, and creating a poster can aid in focusing your research.
- Poster sessions give you the opportunity to brainstorm with others who share your interests.
- A poster invites collaboration. It allows the audience to offer answers to questions you have or ideas for future research directions.
Oral Presentations
Undergraduate students may choose to present their research at a conference, symposium, or other research-related event or forum. Students typically communicate and present their work in the form of an oral presentation or a scholarly poster.
If you have been collaborating with a faculty member or a research team, be sure to clear your proposed ideas with your faculty supervisor. Your supervisor might have feedback about your oral presentation and recommendations about where to submit your work.
Oral presentations are more formal than poster presentations and allow you to practice your public speaking skills and display your expertise. Many professors prefer that their students conduct oral presentations rather than poster presentations so students will be better prepared for graduate study and beyond. In some disciplines, oral presentations are more common than posters.
On-campus Research Events
- Research Week: Research Week is a campus-wide celebration of undergraduate research and creative activity. It unites existing programs, events, and activities that showcase undergraduate work. It also highlights the many research opportunities available to students.
- Longhorn Research Bazaar: The Longhorn Research Bazaar is a festive event where colleges, departments, research units, programs, and student organizations from across campus provide information for students about their undergraduate research activities and opportunities.
- Texas Student Research Showdown: The Texas Student Research Showdown is a fall research communication competition. Student researchers make short videos explaining their research to a mass audience, and give TED-style talks in a live competition.
- Plan II Senior Thesis Symposium: Every November and April, seniors in the Plan II Honors Program present their original thesis research in a series of oral presentations. The Senior Thesis Symposium typically has multiple sessions covering a wide range of interdisciplinary topics including literature, science, history, creative writing, music, health care, engineering, philosophy, business, and politics.
- College of Liberal Arts Undergraduate Research Symposium: Each spring, the College of Liberal Arts hosts the Undergraduate Research Oral Presentation Symposium in conjunction with Research Week activities.
- College of Natural Sciences Annual Undergraduate Research Forum: The Undergraduate Research Forum, held each spring, is an opportunity for students to present and share the research they’ve done over the past semester or year(s). Faculty and other students are able to see and celebrate the cutting edge research that undergraduate students are doing, and representatives from industry get a taste of where science is going and who’s taking it there.
- Department of Art and Art History Studio Art Student Exhibitions: This exhibition, held in the spring as part of Research Week, features student work in photography, printmaking, painting, sculpture, and other media.
- Student Engineering Council Research Symposium: The Research Symposium is a TED Talk-inspired set of speaker presentations held during Research Week by the Academic Affairs Committee in the Student Engineering Council.
- The Capital of Texas Undergraduate Research Conference: The Capital of Texas Undergraduate Research Conference is a student organized and run event hosted at The University of Texas at Austin. CTURC allows undergraduate researchers from all majors and universities in Texas to present their original research in three different presentation styles include poster presentations, oral Google Slides presentations or oral presentations of creative works.
Off-campus Research Events
- The National Conferences on Undergraduate Research, established in 1987, promotes undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity in all fields of study by sponsoring an annual conference for students. NCUR welcomes presenters from all institutions of higher learning and from all corners of academic curriculum.