European Union Contest for Young Scientists' 2018

Project Information

EUCYS2018

Grant agreement ID: 811143

DOI

10.3030/811143

Project closed

EC signature date 25 July 2018

Start date 1 January 2018

End date 31 October 2018

Funded under

• Make scientific and technological careers attractive to young students, and forster sustainable interaction between schools, research institutions, industry and civil society organisations

Total cost

€ 1 251 250,00

EU contribution

€ 800 000,00

Coordinated by

YOUNG SCIENTIST AND TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EUCYS2018 (European Union Contest for Young Scientists' 2018)

Reporting period: 2018-01-01 to 2018-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The 30th European Union Contest for Young Scientists was hosted in Dublin, Ireland from 14-18th September 2018.
The contest, which takes place in a different European city each year, is one of the core initiatives of the European Commission to support students with an interest in science and technology. The contest aims to nurture the talents and passions of the students by making science more appealing and accessible and to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and technology. EUCYS also offers the unique opportunity for students to share their knowledge and ideas among their peers and develop long-lasting friendships with like-minded people. EUCYS is part of the Science with and for Society activities managed by the Directorate-General for Research of the European Commission. Within Horizon 2020, Science with and for Society aims to foster the growth of a more harmonious relationship between science and the European Society as a whole.

135 contestants aged 14-20 from 38 countries and the European Schools attended the event and showcased the results of 89 projects at the exhibition held in the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) in Ballsbridge, Dublin City.
An additional programme was organised for the participants in parallel with the contest.

Thanks to the implementation of a well-planned communication strategy the general public, as one of the core target groups, was engaged in science and technology which lead to an increase in public awareness of science development. Thus, by organizing the 30th EUCYS 2018, the project contributed to raise the interest of young students in science and raise public understanding of science and technology which are the long-term goals of the European Research Area in general.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition Limited (YSE Ltd) offered full attention to organise the best possible experience exchange for talented youth.
The Host Organiser carried out all of the necessary actions including:
● The management of the contest including the H2020 call and its reporting, the setup of the Organisation Committee as well as the team on the event, the administrative work related to the contest, the communication with the European Commission;
● The setup of the budget and the financial follow up of the Contest;
● The setup of the scientific and cultural programme and the different activities including the opening ceremony, the awards ceremony, the exhibition, the EIROForum lecture, the National Organisers meeting and visits to the EPIC Museum, Dublin Science Gallery, Glendalough, the Cool Plant Exhibition and Microsoft EMEA headquarters as well as the guided tour of Dublin.
● The support to all the National organisers, contestants, accompanying persons, jury members, journalists and partners in all aspects on a daily basis;
● The realisation of the information system in line with the needs;
● The setup of the exhibition and the different meetings at the RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin.
● The organisation of the accommodation for all participants;
● The organisation of the local transport for all participants as well as the international transports for the included participants;
● The organisation of the meals for all participants;
● The creation of communication material, including a website, a poster, invitations, etc.;
● The setup of a dissemination and communication plan to engage the public to visit the exhibition;
● The follow up with national and international journalists, as per the list defined by the European Commission, to report about the contest;
● The follow up with the partners of their participation.
- how would you rate your overall experience, including information, awards and prize giving? The Average answer was 8.9 / 10
- How would you rate the transport and food at the event? The Average was 8.5 / 10
- How would you rate the EUCYS team? 66.6% gave the EUCYs Ireland team a 10/ 10 rating
- How would you rate the EUCYS Student Helpers? 88% Rated our student volunteers 8 or above out of 10


The official participants were:
Contestants 135
Projects 89
Escorts and accompanying visitors 42
Countries 38 + European schools:
Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA
Jury members 20
International Journalists 6
Commission Staff 2
Media Team 7
Partners 27
Team including the Executive Committee, the Organising Committee and the volunteers 26

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The main objective of the project was the organization of the European Union Contest for Young Scientists 2018.
The Science with and for Society (SwafS) Programme addresses – among others - societal engagement from many perspectives, such as encouraging dialogue between scientists and the general public, by promoting compliance to ethical standards, and by providing better access to research results. The SwafS Programme also supports new ways to attract and engage young people to science and technology and to encourage them to pursue careers in science. The other goal is to stimulate, with a view to building an open, effective and democratic European knowledge-based society, the harmonious integration of scientific and technological endeavor, and associated research policies in the European social web. The SwafS Programme also promotes gender equality.
One of the most important goals of the European Commission is to support the dialogue between scientists and the public and to make science more appealing to young people while fostering their talents. One of the core initiatives that aim to achieve this is the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) which was set up in 1989 to promote the ideals of cooperation and interchange between young scientists. EUCYS is an annual showcase of the best of European student scientific achievement and as such attracts wide media interest.
EUCYS 2018 gave students the opportunity to compete with the best of their contemporaries at the European level. The young scientists also had the chance to meet others with similar interests and to be guided by some of the most prominent scientists in Europe.
EUCYS has been organized in countries across Europe with the aim of promoting science and research in different countries and bringing research and young talents into the spotlight in these countries. Ireland organized EUCYS for the second time in 2018 and gained a wider attention to student research and EU initiatives supporting the youth in research.
EUCYS 2018 brought together excellent young researchers from 38 countries. During the 4 days, jury members interviewed the participating projects and decisions about European Union prizes, special prizes and host organization prizes were made. The EUCYS participants were offered the opportunity to get acquainted Irish research through Science Foundation Ireland along with many of their funded partners.

EUCYS 2018 Participants

Eucys 2018 Logo