Contest

Are you a PhD student? Or a post-doc with no more than 3 years since you got your PhD? Do you want to present your research work in front of the audience of the Scientific Meeting?

If yes, do not hesitate to participate to the contest.

There will be a pre-selection in Brussels (ERM/KMS) on March 24, 2026 , and the best three candidates will then have to present their talk during the morning session of the Meeting in Brussels, where the jury will make the final decision on their ranking: there is a 500EUR prize money for the winner!

Important dates are:

– March 13, 2026, 2PM: deadline for contest application

– March 24, 2026: pre-selection (ERM/KMS, Brussels)

– May 27, 2026: BPS Scientific Meeting

Regulations

1. On the occasion of the annual General Scientific meeting of the Belgian Physical Society (BPS), a prize will be awarded for the best oral presentation given by a young scientist. This contest aims at younger colleagues, especially those in their final years of a Ph.D. program or post-doctoral researchers with no more than 3 years of professional experience after their Ph.D. The presentation has to focus on the own scientific work of the candidate.
2. The prize will be awarded to the best oral contribution in the framework of a special, plenary competition, during the yearly BPS Scientific Meeting organized this year on Wednesday 27 May 2026 at the KU Leuven, There will be three finalists giving a talk competing for the final Prize. The prize for the best oral contribution, the “Young Scientist Award”, consists of a prize money of 500 EUR and a certificate. Second and third prizes are 300 EUR and 200 EUR respectively
3. Each presentation should last at most 15 minutes and will be followed by a 5-minute question-and-answer session.
4. A jury will shortlist candidates for the final competition based on the scientific merit of their work,
   their presentation skills, and the technical and pedagogical quality of their contributions. If the
   number of applicants is too high, an initial screening based on the abstract and the applicant’s CV
   may be carried out before this stage to determine who will be invited to present to the jury. The oral
   pre-selection will occur on Tuesday 24 March 2026 at the Department of Physics of the Royal Military Academy in Brussels.
5. In order to participate in the Young Speaker Contest, the candidates must send the abstract of their talk (max. 1 A4 page) with a CV and a list of publications to the following email address: . The deadline for application is Wednesday 13 March 2026, 2PM.  The participant should never have been selected for the final session of the contest before.
6. The outcome will be announced at the closing ceremony of the BPS General Scientific meeting, unless no suitable candidate is found. The prize cannot be split and will only be awarded to the first author of the presentation.
7. Winners agree to write a paper on the subject of their presentation for the BPS journal before receiving the prize money. This article is intended for a broad audience of physicists and therefore should not be too technical. The paper will be reviewed by the BPS board before being published. It should meet standard quality criteria for scientific publication. If modifications are deemed necessary, the winner has one month to provide the BPS with an appropriately revised version of the manuscript, in order to receive the prize. The deadline for submission of this paper is December 1st, 2026. Extensions of this deadline can be exceptionally granted on request, but any paper submitted later than end of March 2027 will no longer be considered, and the prize will be lost.