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Arushi Nath, Grade 9 Student, Toronto

The 34th edition of the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) took place in Brussels, Belgium, from 12 to 17 September 2023. EUCYS is the most important annual student science fair in the EU, showcasing the best student scientific achievement in the EU and beyond. EUCYS 2023 brought together over 130 youth from 36 countries from the EU as well as from  Canada, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Japan, Israel, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the USA. The event was organized by Jeunesses Scientifiques de Belgique and EU Science, Research and Innovation.

National Participant Selections for EUCYS 2023

Only “National Science Fair Organisers” can submit student entries for the EUCYS. These students are usually the winners of Science Contests held at the national level. Each country may submit up to 3 projects, with a maximum of 6 contestants (aged between 14 and 20). In Canada, the top two winners of the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) – the Best Project Award (Discovery) and the Best Project Award (Innovation) are selected to attend EUCYS.

I won the Best Project Award at the CWSF in 2022 and 2023. I was 13 years old in 2022 and did not meet the minimum age requirement of 14 years to participate in EUCYS 2022 and had to miss it. I was determined to try once more. I worked hard and won the top award again in 2023, becoming the first back-to-back winner in 33 years and the youngest to do so. It also meant I could now participate in EUCYS 2023, making me the youngest national and international participant.

I was very excited to represent my country through my project in the international arena! My project was “Creating Algorithms to Determine an Asteroid’s Physical Properties and Applying Them to Measure the Success of Asteroid Deflection.” This project won the Best Project Award (Innovation) at the 61st edition of the Canada-Wide Science Fair held in Edmonton, Alberta, along with five other awards. The second participant from Canada was Elizabeth Chen, who had won the Best Project Award (Discovery) at the 2023 CWSF. Her project was “Optimization of CAR-T Cell Therapy using RNA-Sequencing Analysis for Biomarker Identification.”

We travelled to Belgium from Toronto with Reni Barlow, the director of Youth Science Canada and Canada’s national representation to the EUCYS. The Gwyn Morgan And Patricia Trottier Foundation sponsored the participation of the Canadian team at the 2023 EUCYS.

The EUCYS Competition: Five Days of Fun, Friendships, Science and Awards

The competition was spread across five days filled with exciting activities, including ice breakers, setting up posters and displays, interacting with judges, browsing displays of other participants and listening to their presentations, award presentations, and lots of social activities, including a visit to the town, dinners, music and dance.

Day 1, 12 September 2023: Arrival and Setting up Posters

We arrived in Belgium early morning. Team Canada was the first team to arrive. EUCYS volunteers welcomed us. Many of them were more comfortable speaking French than English, which was awesome as we were able to converse in French.

After waiting a few hours at the airport for teams from China and other countries to arrive, we headed by bus to the Convention Center in Brussels Square. The Square was the main venue of the 2023 EUCYS and was right in the city centre. On arrival, we got our welcome swag that included an EUCYS bag, Program Booklet, T-shirt, Stickers and Pins.

Then, it was time to find the allotted stands for national participants to set up posters and displays. The stands were organized based on the nine themes under which the EUCYS accepts the projects. These were Biology, Chemistry, Computing, Engineering, Environment, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics, and Social Sciences.

My project came under the “Physics” theme at 2023 EUCYS and was allotted a stand in that section. Adjacent to me were projects by contestants from Sweden, Armenia, and Denmark. Each project was given a table, one chair and three stands in the form of a cubicle on which to fix the poster. You can see a short video of my display stand  https://eucys2023.eu/physics-05/ 

It took an hour to set up the poster and the display table. Participants and volunteers helped each other to set up the stands. The rest of the afternoon saw us playing ice-breaker activities and eating lunch. Afterward, we headed to our hotels to unpack and prepare for the next day.

Day 2, 13 September 2023: First Day of Judging and Visits of School Children

The competition was officially kick-started with an opening ceremony held in the auditorium at the Convention Centre. All the national participants, national organizers, EUCYS staff and local organizers were present. There were introductory speeches from the organizing committee, including Karen Slavin, EUCYS Project Officer; Antoine Van Ruymbeke, Director of EUCYS 2023 and host organization Jeunesses Scientifiques de Belgique and Mariya Lyubenova, head judge of EUCYS 2023. 

The opening ceremony ended with a representative from each participant country going up on the stage carrying their national flag. I was happy to carry the Canadian flag to the stage. It was a joyous atmosphere and our first chance to see participants from all other countries competing at EUCYS. After the opening ceremony, the participants returned to their stands as it was the first day of judging. The judging was spread over three days, and each participant would get five judges. The participants did not know in advance what days the judging of our project would happen.

EUCYS was a big event in Brussels. School kids and the general public were invited to visit the event and look at the science projects from international participants on the display. It was wonderful to see so many schools bringing their students  in grades 9 to 12 to attend the EUCYS

In Belgium, people speak many languages, including English, French, Dutch and German. While the main posters of all the contestants were in English, we were encouraged to create a smaller poster with a summary of our project in languages other than English. I prepared the summary of my poster in all three national languages: Dutch, French and German and kept it on the display table.

When the school kids and judges were not present, we had an opportunity to look at the projects of other contestants and learn about their project goals, their methodologies and the results they got. I had my first judging interview in the morning. It was an exciting feeling to be explaining my project to an international judge. The interview lasted 30 minutes, and it was a wonderful experience.

In the middle of the day, we got a lunch break, where we went to the patio of a nearby restaurant and ate sandwiches. The judging and public visits resumed after lunch. Toward the end of the day, everyone went to the auditorium again to view a short documentary about the history of EIROFusion. It showed the team behind the project and the struggles they faced while trying to produce Fusion Energy. After that we got to ask questions to Morten Lindholm, one of the key members of the team.

For dinner, all the participants walked to the Albert restaurant in Brussels Square, close to the Convention Centre. We sat at round tables in groups of 10 participants. It was an opportunity to mix with participants from other countries. I sat with teams from Switzerland and Estonia. It was fun talking to youth worldwide and learning about the countries they came from.  Post-dinner, we walked back to the hotel.

Day 3, 14 September 2023:  Second Day of Judging and City Tour

The judging and public visits resumed. I found it very interesting that judging and public visits could happen simultaneously. In our national competitions, the judging days were separate from the days on which the fair was open to the public. Having public visits at the same time allowed us to stay busy while waiting for judges. It was an opportunity for a more relaxed discussion.

The judges all wore red T-shirts, so when judges came to our stall, most of the public knew that judging was underway and moved on to the next stands. This was also a shorter judging day, so I only got one of my judges.

After lunch, the organizers arranged for a tour of the city for the participants. We divided ourselves into smaller groups to explore the city. Volunteers were spread out at key landmarks around the city and gave us tips and guidance on where to go. I went alongside participants from Estonia and Austria. We had a wonderful time walking along cobbled paths. We got to visit famous landmarks, like the Grand Place, Manneken Pis and Royal Galleries, and take pictures. We also saw street performances while walking from one landmark to the next. I enjoyed the city very much. In downtown, there were close to no cars, which was a welcoming change. After the tour, we headed back to the Albert restaurant once again for dinner.

Day 4, 15 September 2023: Last Day of Judging and Taking Down of Posters

This was the last day of judging and public visits. More school children accompanied by teachers and even families came in. It was much busier than the first and second days. Those who had already completed their five judging interviews were more relaxed. While others had to stay near their stands, prepared for the judging. I still had 2 of my 5 judges left, so I kept near my stand most of the morning. By lunchtime. all the interviews were done for the contestants, and the judges could now proceed with the jury deliberations.

Post lunch, there was still a steady stream of public visitors coming through. But it was quieter, and we got a lot of time to chat with each other and form friendships. 

At 4.30 pm, the EUCYS exhibits ended, and it was time to start dismantling the posters and displays. It also meant that EUCYS was slowly coming to an end. This was an opportunity for participants to trade pins, food and stickers from their home country.

Day 5, 16 September 2023: Award Ceremony and Saying Goodbyes

This was the final day. In the morning, we had some free time, so we decided to go and buy souvenirs. 

Awards Ceremony

In the afternoon, everyone took shuttle buses to “The Egg,” where the award ceremony would be held. We got the chance to eat lunch first, before going to sit in the auditorium for the award ceremony.

It was an amazing week of getting to know each other and their projects. We were simply excited to have had this opportunity to come together from so many countries because of our shared love for science, technology and innovations. This meeting of minds, friendships, and potential for future collaborations were the biggest rewards in itself, and everyone was a winner. The award ceremony featured live music onstage to accompany the award announcements, which was cool.

They first started out with special prizes. Most of them were given out by Euroforum. The awards were sponsored visits to different European science laboratories like the European Space Observatory, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, EuroFusion and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Others included participation at Expo-Sciences Luxembourg and a free entrance to the Bulgarian Workshop on Coding Theory.

After that, the Core prizes were called out. There were four 3rd place winners (3500 euros), four 2nd place winners (5000 euros)  and four 1st place winners (7000 euros).

Winning the Second Prize

I was honoured to have my project on “Creating Algorithms to Determine an Asteroid’s Physical Properties and Applying Them to Measure the Success of Asteroid Deflection” win the 2nd core prize. See the press release by Youth Science Canada.

My team mate Elizabeth Chen, won the 1st core prize for her project on “Optimization of CAR-T Cell Therapy using RNA-Sequencing Analysis for Biomarker Identification.”

The complete list of 2023 EUCYS winners is available at: https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-09/EUCYS2023_Winners_List.pdf 

Watch the 2023 EUCYS Awards Ceremony at https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=325494863352844 

A Note about Judging:

Every project was judged based on a technical written report (sent in advance), posters and displays, and their performance during interviews by the judges. There were five judges allotted to each project. Each judge came at separate times and spent about 30 minutes on the project.  For the first 5 minutes, they would let you explain your project, and then the judges would ask you questions for the remaining 25 minutes. I got questions about the challenges I faced doing the project, external help I received along the way, outreach I performed, Inspiration behind the project and clarifications on the methodology. I would also get the chance to show my supplementary material like robotic telescope proposals, training modules and publications.

I really enjoyed the judging process. It was more of a conversation where the judges tried to assess your passion and the pathway you took to develop your science project. The judges were top experts in their respective fields, and many of them had past experiences in judging science fair projects. I found all the judges had closely read your technical report sent in advance and were very knowledgeable about your project.

End Note: A Once in A Lifetime Experience

Participating in EUCYS is a wonderful experience. It is also a once-in-a-lifetime experience as participants are only allowed to compete in EUCYS once to have as many young people as possible benefit from this community and meet ignited STEM minds.

I made friends around the world, got to present my project to many judges, and had an opportunity to talk about my passion for astronomy with hundreds of students, teachers, and families who visited the public exhibition of our projects.

Links

Meeting all the teams: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxLE27BPtgA/

Day 1: https://twitter.com/EUScienceInnov/status/1701983765684179311

Closing Ceremony: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=325494863352844