Requirements

All participants have to be at least 18 years old, have to be employed or enrolled at the University of Tulsa for the Spring Term 2022 and must have at least completed a Bachelor’s degree. The registration for the Science Slam must be submitted via an official UT-mail-account until March 25, 2022.

All participants have to present their research topic for a minimum of 6 minutes up to a maximum of 10 minutes. The goal of the contribution is both explaining as well as entertaining. Participants must win over the audience and convince the judges of their academic prowess as well as their communication skills.

All subjects are eligible for participation (Humanities, Social Sciences, the Arts, Business and Economics to Natural Sciences and Engineering). Interdisciplinary contributions are also possible.

Registration

In order to sign up participants must submit the following information:

  1. First and Last Name
  2. Date of Birth
  3. Current Address
  4. Research Field/ Field of Study
  5. Current Status at UT (employed or enrolled)
  6. Title of their contribution
  7. Confirmation that participants are not presenting trademarked or copyrighted knowledge or materials or that they have obtained the temporary rights of use for such materials or knowledge.

 

There are 10 slots available in the Science Slam. Should more contributions be submitted, the 10 participants will be chosen by lot.

 

Jury

A jury will judge all contributions of the Science Slam. The jury consists of three people, one member of the University of Siegen, one member of the University of Tulsa and one volunteer from the audience. The judges will each assess which Science Slammer won over the audience e. g. (Who best informed and entertained the audience? Who was able to provide a short, scientifically correct yet passionate insight into their research?).  The Judges will base their assessment on the overall impression of the Slammer’s contribution, their commitment to science communication and the effort to explain factual knowledge in an entertaining manner.

The judges will each award points from 1-10 to each participant. The participant with the highest score wins. Should two participants have been awarded the same number of points, a coin toss will break the tie. The participants do not have to repeat their presentation.

The jury will announce the winner of the competition as well as second and third place. The jury’s verdict is binding and cannot be appealed.

 

Award

The winner of the Science Slam will receive up to 2.000 EUR (limited to the costs incurred up to 2.000 EUR) for airfare and accommodation in Siegen, Germany to finance a two-week long research stay at the University of Siegen. The International Office will support the arrangements. This awarded support cannot be paid out in cash, it will reimburse the cost the participants accrued during booking.

In addition to the travel support, the winner will receive an award of 1.000 EUR, paid out in cash at the beginning of the stay in Siegen. The award is designated to cover all incidentals during the research stay and is limited to the amount stated above.

Due to third-party funding constraints, the research stay in Siegen has to take place between May 01 and June 30, 2022.

The winner has to confirm that they have a valid international passport, have been fully vaccinated and that they will comply with all travel regulations governing the entry into Germany.

Should the research stay in Siegen not take place due to pandemic-induced travel restrictions, only the award of 1.000 EUR will be paid out to the winner.

If the winner of the competition is not able to claim the prize or does not meet the formal requirements mentioned above and is not able to travel, the award will revert to the second-placed candidate. Should the second-placed candidate not be able to claim the prize and travel, the award will revert to the third-placed candidate.

All participants confirm that they will cooperate with the Marketing Department of the University of Siegen and the University of Tulsa for a short interviews  and or social media post about their research and the research stay.