Welcome to The Science Challenge 2013!

What is The Science Challenge?

The RCSU Science Challenge is an annual competition run by the Royal College of Science Faculty Union, and generously sponsored by the Faculty of Natural Sciences here at Imperial College London.The challenge aims to encourage scientific debate, reasoning and the communication of science in a public-friendly context.

The challenge is an essay competition that aims to encourage scientific debate, reasoning and the communication of science in a public-friendly context. The deadline for the Science Challenge this year is the 12th of March

The Science Challenge 2013 introduces for the first time a new competition stream in the form of a video category, to stand alongside the essay category. Entrants must answer one of the questions set by our Judges, with the essay category open to all students of Imperial College (not Faculty specific) and (in a separately judged category) students at secondary schools or colleges in the United Kingdom. The video category is again open to all, and all entries from both Imperial College and Secondary Schools and Colleges will be marked together.

Entries in this two-category competition are open to all students of Imperial College (not Faculty specific) and (in a separately judged category) students at secondary-school or colleges in the United Kingdom. The competition opens on the 24th January 2013 and will close on the 12th March at 5pm.

The Judges

Each year, The Science Challenge questions are set and judged by four high profile scientists, academics, editors & business leaders. Our judges kindly give up their time freely to review the finalist entries and come to our Launch & Final to give a speech on their experiences with science communication and award the prizes to the competitors. Thanks also go to our small team of Doctoral students who review every entry on submission. This year, our judges are:

Essay Question Category

Professor Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Science and Society, Imperial College London

Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Imperial College London

Professor Sir Roy Anderson, Chair in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Imperial College London

Video Question Category

Dr Jad Marrouche, Research Associate and Deputy President of the Royal College of Science Association, Imperial College London.



I wish you all good luck this year!
Kind regards,

Ryan Browne
Science Challenge Chair
rscu.vpo@imperial.ac.uk