Scaled-down Science Challenge launches
Reduced funding means this year's Science Challenge is a distinctly sober affair
The Royal College of Science Union (RCSU) Science Challenge finally launched last week. The essay writing competition offers cash prizes of up to £2,000 and is open to Imperial students and students from schools in the UK. However, the competition this year is vastly scaled-down in comparison with previous years and has faced delays due to funding problems.
Entrants have until 6pm on the 3rd of June to submit an 800-word answer to one of four questions. The Science Challenge is not usually held during the exam period, in previous years it has been announced in January and held in the Spring term. Additionally it is traditional for prominent scientists to pose the questions based on their field of interest and then judge the entries, something that is not present this year.
The prize money this year is also substantially smaller. In previous years the totally prize pot has been up to £16,000, while this year it is £5,000. It is also unclear what sort of awards ceremony there will be, if any at all, as the winners will be announced at the very end of the year on the 24th of June.
RCSU President Scott Heath explained that they faced difficulties in securing funding for the competition and that there was some doubt whether it would go ahead at all. Both Shell and Winton Capital Management, who have generously funded the competition in previous years, declined to sponsor the Science Challenge this year. He said that they were left scrambling for sponsorship after Shell pulled out in October, but that they were unsuccessful. The only funding for the competition this year is £5,000 from the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
The uncertainty over funding meant that they were unable to confirm that the competition would go ahead until April, by which point it was too late to book prominent judges. It was decided that running a down-scaled competition would be better than not running the competition at all.
For more information about how to enter, go to: www.rcsu.org.uk/sciencechallenge
