REGULATIONS OF THE COMPETITION
Article 1 – Goal and Participation
1. The Asia Pacific Conference of Young Scientists (APCYS) science project competition is carried out by secondary school students which are evaluated by an International Jury.
2. On the date of the opening (ceremony) of the Conference the students have not entered any kind of higher education nor will their age exceed 19 years.
3. Each participating country is allowed to send one delegation, consisting of up to 6 (six) teams and one team leader.
4. For participating countries who have previously hosted the APCYS, the delegation may consist of up to 8 (eight) teams and one team leaders. For participating countries who current host of the APCYS, the delegation may consist of up to 10 (ten) teams and 2 (two) team leaders.
5. Every year the secretary of the Steering Committee (SC) draws up a list of countries with their respective acknowledged contact persons that have the right to be invited to send a delegation to the APCYS. This list shall be officially sent to the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) within 2 months before the current Conference.
6. Countries who are interested in sending a delegation and who have had no contact with any previous APCYS should first send an observer to the next Conference.
7. All members of the SC have the right to be invited as individuals by the LOC of the host country.
Article 2 – The Local Organizing Committee
All proposals and decisions made by the LOC regarding the organization of the APCYS shall be taken in close coordination with the president and/or the secretary of the SC.
1. The first announcement of the APCYS shall be published after decision by the Steering Committee (SC) of the APCYS.
2. The first announcement shall contain information about the location and data of the Conference as well as deadlines for the submission of the contributions and guidelines.
3. The LOC shall, based on the SC’s list of countries to be invited, invite the Country Representatives to register their respective country’s delegation members.
4. Any changes suggested by the LOC to Article 1 points 3 and/or 4 above must be submitted to the SC for approval beforehand.
5. The LOC guarantees proper conditions for all the participating students and shall provide audio-visual means and also poster exhibits in order to assure the best possible presentations and also poster exhibits by the participating students.
6. The LOC has the right to propose new countries to be invited. A list of such countries shall be submitted to the secretary of the SC prior to the opening of the Conference. After consultation with the members of the SC, the President of the SC shall take a decision on the proposed invitation of new countries. The final decision shall be officially sent by email and/or in writing to the LOC prior to the opening of the Conference. This decision shall be deemed final.
7. The LOC shall, with the SC’s agreement, appoint a competent International Jury able to evaluate the presentations and posters during the APCYS, prior to the Conference.
8. The LOC shall provide awards for the winners of the APCYS.
9. The LOC shall, with the SC’s agreement, provide guidelines to assess the presentations.
These guidelines shall normally involve such items as:
a) clarity of the problem statement and research question
b) justification of methods and techniques applied by the presenter in order to solve the problem
c) results and conclusions.
These guidelines shall be published on the central website of the APCYS as well as on the website of the LOC for the next conference.
10. Every APCYS has the following elements of which the LOC shall be aware of:
a) a poster session/exhibition, attended by the jury and all participants, evaluated by the jury. It would be highly beneficial for local students and teachers to attend this poster exhibition, subject to the LOC’s ability to organize.
b) project presentations by all participants, attended by the jury and participants, evaluated by the jury.
c) popular science lectures, attended by all participants. It would be highly beneficial for local students and teachers to attend these science lectures, subject to the LOC’s ability to organize.
d) a teachers’ sharing session, which should begin with the sharing of educational experiences amongst the team leaders/teachers, and move on to a discussion of APCYS’ future.
e) a cultural performance, of which all delegations are encouraged to contribute.
f) sports/fun activities amongst the participants, usually used as ice-breaking sessions.
g) excursion for all APCYS attendees.
11. The LOC shall allocate a time slot for the SC meeting, also to be attended by the current LOC and upcoming LOC.
Article 3 – Submission of abstracts (& paper)
1. Extended abstracts of the presentations shall be submitted to the LOC by digital means and, if possible, in writing prior to a deadline fixed by the LOC. Supervisors of the research should be acknowledged in the extended abstracts. Extended abstracts shall be no more than 3 (three) pages.
2. The categorization of the presentations shall be made according to the following fields:
a) Mathematics & Computer Science
b) Physical Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, etc.)
c) Life Sciences (Biochemistry, Medicine, Bioinformatics, etc.)
d) Environmental Science (Ecological Science, etc.)
*The Local Organizing Committee reserves the right to re-categorize submissions.
3. The submitted abstracts shall be judged by the LOC, at least one week prior to the Conference, in order to make the division as balanced as possible where the competition categories are of more or less equal size.
Article 4 – Presentations and Posters
1. The working language of the APCYS is English.
2. Each research project will be communicated through a poster and an oral presentation. The author(s) shall present the research work and respond to questions posed by members of the jury. 3. The poster shall be exhibited throughout the Conference.
4. The presentations shall describe the results of their research that was carried out by the presenter(s) or in collaboration with other school students.
5. Every presentation shall last no longer than 10 minutes. Extra time for the preparation may be allowed by the head of the jury.
6. Questions can be put to the presenter after the presentation for a limited time fixed by the head of the jury, maximum five minutes.
7. The audience is allowed to pose questions to the presenter(s). The jury may not take such questions into the judging.
8. Medals shall be awarded to the winning presented research projects.
9. Each member of the winning research project team shall receive a certificate.
10. Awards from sponsors, if any, shall be additional to the main award including special prizes. 11. The participation fee of this conference is 20 USD for each student.
Article 5 – The International Jury
1. The International Jury shall be appointed by the LOC with the SC’s agreement.
2. The members of the International Jury shall be experts in the corresponding category.
3. The jury for each category shall consist of at least three members. The jury shall not be changed during the APCYS.
4. In each category of APCYS the LOC, with the SC’s agreement, appoints the head of the jury prior to the conference. The head of the jury should have had previous experience as head of the jury or jury member in (a) previous APCYS.
5. The International Jury for each category shall meet at the latest, the day before the first round of presentations.
6. The assessment of each presentation involves:
a) Research topic and statement which clarify the question of problem;
b) Innovative methods and techniques, with scientific approach to solve the problem;
c) Experimental results and conclusions.
d) Prestation and QA.
7. The members of the International Jury shall evaluate the presentations individually by allotting marks between 1 and 10 according with the following scheme:
a) very poor 1 or 2
b) poor 3 or 4
c) satisfactory 5 or 6
d) good 7 or 8
e) excellent 9 or 10
8. The evaluation of the members of Jury shall be done consistent to the guidelines provided by the LOC. The head of the jury may ask members of the jury to clarify their marking.
9. The score for every presentation is the algebraic sum of the marks of the members of jury. When the jury consists of six or more members the lowest mark is left out. In addition to this the highest mark is left out when the jury consists of seven or more members.
10. The final results of the marking (expressed as a percentage of the maximum points achievable) of the winning presentations shall be announced at the awarding ceremony. These final results shall be published in the LOC website.
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