REGULATIONS

International Conference of Young Social Scientists (ICYSS)

REGULATIONS

1 GENERAL

International competitions play a vital role in educating students and open possibilities for expanding their knowledge of natural sciences.

Such competitions play a significant part in teaching students to:

  • Conduct research
  • Show their knowledge and creativity
  • Present and discuss about their studies
  • Formulate research reports
  • Present their projects in English
  • Exchange experiences with their peers from other countries
  • Meet new peoples and cultures

The International Conference of Young Social Scientists (ICYSS) is a special competition where students were to present their research projects in the fields of psychology, sociology, history, geography, and economics. Participants will be classified into subject-based categories by a committee comprising scientists and experts in each relevant field. If there is insufficient number of participants in one field, it can be put together with other fields of study.

The official language of the conference is English.

All participants must be between 13 and 19 years of age. Students who had graduated from high school but have not yet begun their university may take part in the competition depending on the date of the conference.

Each student must prepare a research project on a certain field of study as mentioned above.

In case of co-authorship, only one author may present the research project.

Students are required to present their findings and research in a twelve-minutes presentation in front of the international panel of judges, consisting of experts in certain field. After the presentation the judges will give questions (but not if the judge is the team leader of the presenter). Extra time for the preparation may be allowed only by the head of the jury.

The competition rules are to be published and made available to everyone so as to provide equal opportunities for international communications among all partners.

 2 PARTICIPANT

Each country can take part in the competition with at least one and maximum of six research projects (one team).

Students shall be accompanied by their Team Leader(s). A team leader is a person who officially leads students during the conference.

The number of team leaders attending the competition shall be decided based on the number of students from the given country and the organisers’ capacities.

The following table gives an overview upon the allowed combinations of numbers of students, research projects and team leaders:

Students Research Projects (max) Team Leaders
2 2 1
3 3 1 or 2
4 4 1 or 2
5 5 1 or 2
6 6 1 or 2

Additional members to the delegation should be requested by the Country Representative to the LOC.

Each country shall have a country coordinator who is to organise and prepare students and team leaders for the competition.

The country coordinator can be the same person as the team leader.

The country coordinator should be confirmed by the Steering Committee (SC).

The names of country coordinator and their affiliations will be on the main page of ICYSS website.

Observer is a person who is chosen by the country coordinator and confirmed by the Local Organising Committee (LOC).

LOC is a group of people who organises the conference.

3 RESPONSIBILITY OF LOC

The first announcement of the conference is to be published at least half a year before the date of the conference.

The first announcement is to provide information about the location, general information, and deadlines for submitting abstracts.

The LOC may change the limitations on the number of participants and research projects.

The LOC guarantees to provide appropriate conditions for all participants, as well as prepare audio-visual equipment in order to ensure the best conditions for delivering presentations.

The LOC shall follow the rules and regulation, namely the panel of judges who will assess the research projects.

The Organising Committee shall decide on the guidelines for assessing presentations. These guidelines usually include points such as:

  • Background of study: motivation, problem
  • Methodology used in order to solve the research problem
  • The presentation of the paper
  • the ability to answer the judges’ questions

The LOC shall provide awards for 60% of the whole research projects.

4 ORGANIZATIONAL BODIES

 The ICYSS has one president, steering committees (SC), international committee (IC). The roles of each are stated in the statute.

5 JUDGES

The set of judges consist of international and local judges.

The international judges are confirmed by SC and the local judges by LOC.

The LOC provides short CV of the judges.

Each field of study must have member of judges who are eminent university experts and scientists in the respective field.

The number of the judges of each field of study are at least five persons.

The SC can appoint at least five judges for each field of study.

The SC shall determine the head of judges in each field.

The judges will assess each presentation individually, with marks ranging from 1 to 10, in compliance with the following grading curve:

Very bad:        1-2

Bad:                3-4

Satisfactory:    5-6

Good:              7-8

Excellent:        9-10

The overall score shall be calculated as the sum total of the marks given by each member of the judges, divided by the number of judges.

The head of the judges may ask other members to clarify their marks.

If the judges are more than six members, the lowest mark shall not be taken into consideration.

Additionally, if the Committee comprises more than seven members, the highest mark shall not be taken into consideration.

If one of the members is the team leader of the team presenting in the conference, the marks of that member must not be taken into consideration for the respective presentation.

6 ABSTRACT BOOK

 Each research project must be written in an extended abstract and be sent in accordance to the specific deadline to LOC.

Extended abstract consists of: introduction, methodology, results and discussion, conclusions, and references. The template of the extended abstract must be downloaded from the current website.

Extended abstracts are to be submitted to the LOC in digital format.

The LOC will not consider extending abstracts, which are not in compliance with the Rules and regulation and the writing guidelines.

The LOC will oversee and lead every aspect of the competition under the supervision of the Steering Committee.

7 AWARDS

Participants shall be ranked within their respective study field based on the average grade. The awards shall be given as follows:

First place – Gold medal

Second places – Silver medal

Third places – Bronze medal

Special awards for outstanding project, presentation, poster presentation.

Depending on the possible problematic situations /same average grade etc/, the CS may, in agreement with the judges, increase the number of medals awarded.

If the research project awarded one of the three places was co-authored, the student presenter will be given the medal and the diploma for his or her accomplishment, whereas the co-authors will be given participation certificates for the research project, which was awarded.

Authors will be ranked based on the average grade.

All participants will receive participation certificates.

8 POSTER PRESNTATION

 All participants, who will present their research projects, shall present them through the means of poster presentations in a special poster presentation event.

Each project shall be presented on a single A0 sheet of paper, vertically placed.

Posters are not included in the evaluation criteria, but the most attractive ones shall receive special awards.

The LOC will hold the exhibition of all poster presentations and choose the way of voting.

Best poster presentations will receive special diplomas.

9 CULTURAL PERFORMANCE

 Each country shall prepare a cultural presentation of 3-5 minutes about uniqueness of their country on the request of the LOC.

10 PARTICIPATION FEE

Participants are required to pay for the participation fees, which will be proposed by the LOC and approved by the SC.

The LOC must provide a bank account to receive the participation fee before the competition.