Eligibility / limitations

Eligibility / limitations

  1. A student must be selected by an DSEF-affiliated fair, and meet both of the following:
  • a. be in grades 10-12 or equivalent; and
  • b. not have reached age 20 on or before May 1 preceding the DSEF.
  1. English is the official language of the DSEF” International Fair “. Student project boards and abstracts must be in English, otherwise, they can be in the Arabic language for the local or regional fair.
  2. Each student is only allowed to enter one project. That project may include no more than 12 months of continuous research and may not include research performed before January 2022.
  3. Team projects must have no more than three members. Teams competing at DSEF must be composed of members whom all meet DSEF eligibility.
  4. Students may compete in only one DSEF-affiliated fair, except when proceeding to a state/national fair affiliated with the DSEF from an affiliated regional fair.
  5. Projects that are demonstrations, ‘library’ research or informational projects, and/or ‘explanation’ models or kit building are not appropriate for the DSEF.
  6. Online project submissions will close on April 24th.
  7. All submitted projects will undergo online judging.
  8. The shortlisted teams will be announced on April 26th and 27th.
  9. All sciences and engineering disciplines are represented at DSEF and projects compete in one of the 21 categories.
  • The following 21 categories are those that will be used at DSEF 2023.
    • Animal Sciences (ANIM)
    • Behavioral and Social Sciences (BEHA)
    • Biochemistry (BCHM)
    • Biomedical and Health Sciences (BMED)
    • Biomedical Engineering (ENBM)
    • Cellular and Molecular Biology (CELL)
    • Chemistry (CHEM)
    • Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (CBIO)
    • Earth and Environmental Sciences (EAEV)
    • Embedded Systems (EBED)
    • Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design (EGSD)
    • Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics (ETSD)
    • Environmental Engineering (ENEV)
    • Materials Science (MATS)
    • Mathematics (MATH)
    • Microbiology (MCRO)
    • Physics and Astronomy (PHYS)
    • Plant Sciences (PLNT)
    • Robotics and Intelligent Machines (ROBO)
    • Systems Software (SOFT)
    • Translational Medical Science (TMED)
  1. A research project may be a part of a larger study performed by professional scientists, but the project presented by the student must be only their own portion of the complete study.
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