IAC Student Paper Competition – UK Selection

IAC ANNUAL Student Paper Competition

Every year, the IAF run an annual international competition.
The UK selection of two entrants for the international finals at the IAC is carried out by the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) Space Education and Outreach Committee in joint partnership with the Institution of Engineering and Technology's (IET) Satellite Technical Network.

The UK selection process extends until after the main IAC abstract submission activity to allow students to make as much progress as possible on their project work before our selection takes place.

The annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is the world’s largest astronautics/space engineering conference, organised by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF).

As part of each IAC, there is a student paper competition (the E2.1 Student Conference) with prizes for best papers/presentation. Papers may be on any subject related to space sciences, industry or technology and must be the work of the author(s) (no more than two students).

There are two categories: a) Undergraduate b) Postgraduate.

For both categories, there is an age limit – entrants must have been no more that 28 years old on 1 January

Please click on the title or + button to reveal extra information for the section below.

The 2024 call for submissions is now CLOSED.

GOOD LUCK to all 2024 entrants!

Please try again in 2025.
More Information: The IAC Student Paper Competition – UK SELECTION 

This Year’s competition is currently

CLOSED FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS

Prize fund: £750

DEADLINE:  24 April 2023 (5pm BST)

Shortlisting: 26-30 April 2023

UK Selection Final: 13 May 2023

International Finals take place at the IAC2023 in Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 Oct 2023

This Year’s competition is currently

CLOSED for submissions

Prize fund: £750

DEADLINE:  10 June 2022

Shortlisting: 13-24 June 2022

UK Selection Final: 2 July 2022

International Finals take place at the IAC2022 in Paris, 18-22 Sept 2022

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 UK competition winners were not able to present their work in the International Astronautical Congress student competition. 

The 2020 winners presented their papers at IAC2021.

As a result, there was no UK selection for the IAC2021 Student Paper Competition.

UK Selection Winners 2020

James McKevitt of Loughborough University won the Undergraduate competition with his paper ASTrAEUS: AERIAL-AQUATIC TITAN MISSION PROFILE

Alexander Schwertheim won the Postgraduate prize with his paper, The Water ElecTrolysis Hall Effect Thruster (WET-HET): Unlocking Chemical-Electrical Hybrid Propulsion with Water.

Each winner received £1,000, and joined the Council of the Society for a celebration following the IAC Cyber Edition.

Please allow 3-5 working days for your question to be answered during the main renewal period (Nov – Mar).