Computational Modelling Group

Iridis Student Project contest 2013 - a chance to present your work and win an iPod

This year once again the Computational Modelling Group and iSolutions invite PhD students to participate in the Iridis Student Project Contest. We seek the best presentation demonstrating how Iridis is exploited to support subject specific research.

when: 3rd CMG Annual Meeting, 22nd March 2013
where: Nuffield Theatre, Lecture Theatre A (6/1077)
deadline for project submissions: noon 26/02/2013
deadline for poster submissions: noon 11/03/2013


Your presentation should:

  • introduce the research project;
  • feature and explain the role of Computational Methods and use of Iridis Cluster in your work;
  • be aimed at a general audience;

A panel of academics and computing experts will do the short listing and choose winners to be awarded the Iridis PhD Competition Prizes during the 3rd CMG Annual Meeting on March 22nd. This year we will award two prizes: for the Best Oral Presentation and for the Best Poster.

The contest is open to all PhD students in the University of Southampton (including those who have completed their degree in 2012).

Submission method

To enter the contest, students must submit a short (two to three paragraphs) written project description that includes

  • A title
  • A short summary (two or three sentences)
  • A brief overview of the project and its goals (two to three paragraphs)
  • An image illustrating the research subject with a caption
  • The name of supervisor and other team members if applicable.

This summary should take into account the objectives listed above and should be an introduction to the topic, with an explanation of the role played by computation. It must be accessible to a non-expert audience.

The preferred form of the project description is a project entry on the CMG website (this manual explains how to create a project). You can see a number of other research projects in this alphabetically sorted list (or sorted by topic).

If you would like to take part in the competition but consider your work confidential or prefer not to submit a project to the CMG pages, please enquire about alternative submission methods by emailing cmg@soton.ac.uk.

If you have already created such a project page about your work in the past and would like to enter your project as a candidate for the contest, you can simply email the URL (see 'Submission deadline').

Please indicate in your submission email in which competition you wish to take part. It is possible to apply for both competitions, however if you are short-listed for the oral presentation then you can not participate in the Best Poster competition. You still may present a poster outside of this contest.

The Best Oral Presentation competition

The competition for the Best Oral Presentation will take place in two stages:

  1. A project description should be submitted by noon on February, 26th 2013 (see Submission method).
  2. Three finalists will be selected from all the submissions and invited to deliver a presentation at the CMG Annual Meeting on March 22nd.

If your submission is shortlisted, you will be informed in the first week of March and asked to prepare a 10 minute presentation on your research topic. The list of three finalists will be published on the CMG site by March 8th, 2013.

The best presentation delivered at the CMG Annual Meeting will be selected by a panel and the presenter will be awarded the Iridis PhD Competition Prize for the Best Oral Presentation - an iPod touch.

The Best Poster competition

In order to take part in the Best Poster competition a project description should be submitted by no later than noon on Monday, March 11th, 2013 (see Submission method for details about project description). The suggested poster sizes are either A1 or A0.

A panel of academics and computing experts will select the winner to be awarded the Iridis PhD Competition Prize for the Best Poster - an iPod nano.

In order to secure a place for your poster during CMG annual meeting, please send an email to Alison Simmance (a.simmance@soton.ac.uk) with subject "CMG Annual meeting 2013" and include the lead author name, title and size of your poster.

Submission deadline
Submission deadline for the Best Oral Presentation competition

An email to cmg@soton.ac.uk that contains an URL of the project webpage should be received by noon on 26th of February 2013. The subject of the email should be "Iridis student project contest". Please, state clearly in your email whether you want your project to be considered for:

  • The Best Oral Presentation competition
  • The Best Poster competition
  • Both (Please note that anyone who is short-listed for the oral presentation competition can not participate in the Best Poster competition, although the poster may still be shown.)

Submission deadline for the Best Poster competition

An email to cmg@soton.ac.uk that contains an URL of the project webpage should be received by noon on Monday, 11th of March 2013. The subject of the email should be "Iridis student project contest".

Please, make sure that you secure a poster space by emailing to Alison Simmance a.simmance@soton.ac.uk with subject "CMG Annual meeting 2013" and include the lead author name, title and size of your poster.

Assessment criteria

Entries will be judged based on the following criteria:

  • Whether it allows non-experts to gain insight into the research subject;
  • Demonstration and importance of Iridis usage in achieving research goals;
  • Clarity, organization and visual design of the presentation;
  • Presentation skills (for the Best Oral Presentation competition only)

The decision of the panel (both for shortlisting and the selection of best presentation on March 22nd, 2013) is non-negotiable and final.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact us at cmg@soton.ac.uk

Elena Vataga (iSolutions) Hans Fangohr (Computational Modelling Group)