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Space Factor contest

Since 2011, the EANA Students Contest "Space Factor" has been organized during the annual EANA Astrobiology Conference as one of several EANA education and support activities for young scientists in Astrobiology. Each EANA conference holds a session dedicated solely to the Space Factor contest, where early-career scientists (MSc students, PhD candidates or Post-Docs) present their research to all other participants of the conference, being evaluated by at least five different astrobiology experts.

Organization

Ralf Moeller, from the Aerospace Microbiology, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR) founded the student contest at EANA 2011, and organized the student contest every year until 2020, since 2017 together with Lena Noack from the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. From 2020 to 2023 Dr. Marta Cortesão, from the Aerospace Microbiology, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR) took over the organization of Space Factor. From 2024 onwards Stella Timofeev from the Aerospace Microbiology, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, German Aerospace Center (DLR) will continue to organize the student contest.

Participation

The Space Factor participants apply as part of the EANA conference, by registering in the EANA platform, submitting an abstract and indicating they want to be part of the student contest. Additionally, to the abstract submitted, the participants will be asked to send in a graphical abstract where they are encouraged to visualize the topic of their talk in a creative way. Participants are selected by the Space Factor organization and are informed by e-mail. The number of participants selected ranges from 8 to 15, depending on the number of applications. Selected students and early-career researchers have the chance to present their research to the Astrobiology community, demonstrating their science communication skills toward a multi-disciplinary audience.

Who can participate?

PhD candidates with an ongoing thesis are the main early career scientists wished for to participate, but Master students in their last year (with a thesis/project) as well as first-year Post-Docs (presenting their PhD thesis) from all fields covering astrobiology and space-related sciences, are welcome to apply.

Format

Each participant will have 12 min total for their presentation (incl. 3 to 4 min for questions). The presentation will consist of 6 min live talking + 3-min video (as a creative and original part of their presentation, that should work as a valuable aid in communicating the science). The 3-min video can be inserted however the participant prefers (e.g. in the beginning, middle or end of the presentation).

Evaluation Criteria for Scientific Student Contest Presentations

A Jury panel consisting of at least 5 interdisciplinary experts will evaluate the contributions of all participants according to pre-established criteria, with a total of 30 points available. These criteria encompass three main aspects: Overall Presentation, Research Quality, and Originality and Creativity.

Awards

Award certificates, book vouchers sponsored by Cambridge University Press and monetary prizes will be granted to the best presentations*.

There will be another prize (monetary as well as a certificate) in the Category "Best Outreach Talk", which will be voted on by the audience based on the Science Outreach Video implemented within the Talk. The audience will vote for the best videos online, after the presentations. The best Science Outreach Video will be visible on the official EANA Website afterwards in the "Space Factor Hall of Fame".

*monetary prizes for the 1st and 2nd place