Computational Modelling Group

Iridis Student Project contest 2018 - a chance to present your work and win a prize

The Computational Modelling Group and iSolutions invite PhD students to participate in the Iridis Student Project Contest. We seek the best presentation displaying a role of Iridis supercomputer in your research project.

when: 7th CMG Annual Meeting, 27th of November 2018
where: Nuffield Theatre, Lecture Theatre A (6/1077)
deadline for submissions: noon 15/11/2018


The contest is open to all PhD students in the University of Southampton (including those who have completed their degree in 2017).

Your entry 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;

The competition will take place in two stages:

A project description should be submitted by noon on November, 15th 2018 (see Submission method). Four finalists will be selected from all the submissions and invited to deliver a presentation at the 6th CMG Annual Meeting which will be announced shortly. If your submission is shortlisted, you will be asked to prepare a 10 minute presentation on your research topic.

A panel of academics and computing experts will do the short listing. The list of finalists will be published on the CMG site by November, 20th.

The prize for the best oral presentation will be awarded at the 7th CMG Annual Meeting on November 27th.

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 page explains how to create a project). Exemplar projects can be seen here and here. All projects on the site can be seen here.

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 inquire about alternative submission methods by emailing hpc@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').

Submission deadline

An email to hpc@soton.ac.uk that contains an URL of the project webpage should be received by noon on 15th of November 2018. The subject of the email should be "Iridis student project contest".

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 oral presentations)

The decision of the panel is non-negotiable and final.

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