Student Poster Competition

Sponsored trip to the May 2023 conference at ESTEC for students

The European New Capabilities and Countries Space Conference in May 2023 organizes a student poster competition and will offer a travel sponsorship to the conference at ESTEC to the winners. The goal of this competition is to create awareness, already at university level, about the importance of international cooperation in the entire space sector.

1. Student poster competition

The student poster competition encourages students to come up with ideas or concepts that would enhance such international cooperation in 4 categories:  

1. ISRU + intelligent planetary exploration (incl. automation & robotics, flying machines)
2. Sustainable long-term life support for moon, Mars, or space stations
3. Novel Earth observation applications
4. Ownership and exploitation of space objects (incl. recovered debris/samples, asteroids, planets)

The posters should clearly show and demonstrate the worked-out idea/concept and should be understandable for a larger audience. Both new, innovative ideas with the potential to lead to something useful as well as ideas that complement existing ESA mission and activities are welcomed, however shall not duplicate any of the ongoing work.   

The purpose of this student competition is to create awareness about the importance of international cooperation amongst participants. For the winners, the purpose is that after the conference, they will return and bring back motivation, enthusiasm and contacts as an incentive and stimulant to be involved in further space activities in their professional careers, as well as sharing their experiences with their fellow students.

2. Who can apply

Teams of two shall be formed, and one of them must be a national from the following countries::

Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia or Slovenia

The applicants must be enrolled as a full-time undergraduate, graduate or PhD student in a university in one of the countries listed above, and in one of the following study programs:

1. Engineering
2. Science
3. Business Administration
4. Law & Legal

Each group must consist of two students and in order to be eligible for the sponsorship, the team members must:

• Be enrolled at two different universities in an ESA member state or Associate Member State (including Canada) and/or one of the countries listed above (but priority will be given if both students are from different universities in the countries listed above)

• Be over the age of 18 at the time of application

• Be from different countries but may be from similar study programs

3. How to participate and the result

Interested teams are invited to notify ESA to participate in the student competition by filling out the form available via this link. The privacy notice related to your consent can be retrieved here. Upon completion, your team will receive an email with detailed information and poster requirements. Your team poster must then be submitted before Monday 17 April 2023 (the deadline has been extended) for evaluation by an ESA expert jury panel.

After evaluation, all teams will be notified of the result before Monday 1 May 2023. Four winning teams (each consisting of 2 students) will receive a scholarship to the conference from 22-24 May 2023 at ESTEC in the Netherlands, covering up to 1000 EUR to support the travel and accommodation expenses.

At the conference, among other things, they will be able to:

• Receive a tour of ESTEC facilities
• Receive a tour of the high bay, including a 3D tour of the ISS in the auditorium
• Full participation to the conference
• Receive a certificate during the award ceremony
• Exhibit their poster during a poster session

The student competition milestones are:

• Competition launches: 15 October 2022
• Competition closes: 17 April 2023
• Winners announced and all teams notified: 1 May 2023
• Conference: 22-24 May 2023

In case of questions, please contact Kim Johnson (responsible for the student competition) via kim.johnson@esa.int with the following email subject ‘[Student competition 2023 Question] - …’. 

4. Matchmaking

As the competition requires to team up with a student from another university, ECSECO and ECSL support the initiative by offering matchmaking between students from different universities. If you want to participate in the competition but you encounter difficulties finding a team member from a different university or study programme, please fill in this form and we will facilitate the matchmaking. For questions concerning matchmaking, please contact the ECSECO Secretariat (ecseco@esa.int) or the ECSL Executive Officer (ecsl@esa.int) and we will facilitate the matchmaking.

5. ECSECO and ECSL support

The European Centre for Space Economy and Commerce (ECSECO) provides an interdisciplinary network which connects individuals from the private sector, public institutions, international organisations and academia. By joining ECSECO you will become a part of a vibrant community which fosters European collaboration toward the further development of the space sector. Members of ECSECO participate in a variety of exclusive events to exchange, collaborate and contribute to space economy and commerce research. To learn more visit www.ecseco.org  The European Centre for Space Law provides a forum for all those wishing to participate in constructive dialogue related to space law, and to encourage interdisciplinary exchange among members that include professionals working in a wide range of areas within the private space sector, as well as public institutions, international organisations, lawyers, university professors and students. By joining ECSL you will become a part of a diverse community which fosters space law and policy, as well as capacity building, in Europe. ECSL members have access to a variety of workshops and seminars in order to exchange on various legal aspects of current topics of interest for the space sector. To learn more visit www.esa.int/ecsl