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Science in Medicine School Teams Prize 2024

In 2024, the National Heart and Lung Institute and the British Heart Foundation’s Centre of Research Excellence at Imperial College London offered our 4^th Annual Science in Medicine School Teams Prize to engage sixth form school students with science in medicine.

The aims were to encourage students to:

stretch beyond the school curriculum, think outside the bubble of traditional biomedical fields, and learn about the excitement of research.
consider how trends in science and engineering will impact on health and medicine in the future.
understand the importance of a multidisciplinary approach and teamwork to effective research and development for improvements in public and individual health.
forward think realistically by realising the importance of affordability, availability and acceptability in translating inventions towards a reduction in inequality-related poor health outcomes.
appreciate the importance of effective communication in rolling out scientific developments, via the use of art and design.

Any educational organisation in the UK with sixth form students could participate and collaborations between UK schools or between a UK organisation and an equivalent organisation outside the UK were welcome. Schools could enter one team into each contest, and many conducted an internal selection process. Each team could be composed of up to six members, ideally with varied interests to provide a multidisciplinary approach. Examples of possible student scientific interests include biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, maths, computing, data science, social science, and economics. Judges were looking for communication skills and inclusion of a team member with art or design interests was recommended.

The challenge:

Teams had to design an ePoster which illustrated a strategy for combining science with biomedicine to improve health and reduce deaths and disabilities. They were free to choose the design of the poster but were advised to describe clearly what problem was addressed, the anticipated innovation(s), and steps along the way to implementation.

The judges were looking for evidence that the vision considers affordability, availability, and acceptability in translating science and/or engineering towards improved health.
Teams were advised to indicate how each member contributed to the poster so that teamwork could be scored.
Students had to be less than 19 years old at the start of the school year (September 2023)
The poster needed to be pitched to communicate to non-experts, for example fellow sixth form students.

There were five separate contests:

Cardiovascular Health This year submissions focused on any topic relevant to cardiovascular health. Suggestions included interfaces with other systems (e.g. nervous, immune, respiratory, and endocrine systems), nutrition, the application of artificial intelligence, and telemedicine. The prize was funded and administered by the British Heart Foundation’s Centre of Research Excellence.
Lung disease Submissions could focus on any aspect of the prevention or treatment of respiratory disease. The prize was funded by the National Heart and Lung Institute and the Respiratory Theme of the Imperial NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.
Scleroderma & Raynaud’s Disease Teams could provide a novel vision on how to promote the health and well-being of individuals with scleroderma. Possible topics to focus on included early diagnosis, disease monitoring, drug treatment and non-pharmacological measures. This prize was supported by the Immunology Theme of the Imperial NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and sponsored by Scleroderma and Raynaud’s UK.
Vasculitis The challenge was to provide a novel vision of how science could improve the health and wellbeing of patients with vasculitis. The focus could be on a particular subtype of vasculitis or on vasculitis in general. There was no fixed topic, but suggestions included: helping earlier diagnosis; providing effective disease monitoring; reducing infections and/or improve patient response to vaccines whilst on drugs that suppressed the immune system. Teams could research the disease using reliable sources. This prize was supported by the Immunology Theme of the Imperial NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and sponsored by Vasculitis UK.
Global Health The challenge was to submit a vision of how health science and technology could protect the health of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and / or refugees in the weeks and months following a major natural or human-made disaster. Teams were advised to focus on a specific aspect of communicable or non-communicable disease relevant to the type of disaster chosen. Proposed solutions could be at the level of the individual or seek to address wider determinants (such as water, sanitation, and hygiene). This prize was supported by the Imperial Health Charity and the Imperial College School of Public Health.

Awards:

Prizes for each contest were £3000 - 1^st, £2000 - 2^nd and £1000 - 3^rd and were intended for supporting science-related activities in the winning schools.
Shortlisted teams were offered the opportunity for online mentoring session with an academic.
All team members received personal certificates of participation.
Participation helps strengthen university or job applications and preparation for interviews.

Short-listing

The submitted version without the identification of the educational organisation were scored by the short-listing panel.
Judges evaluated each of the following domains:

Definition and importance of the problem
Scientific and technological approach
Novelty and vision
Feasibility
Insight into testing efficacy
Affordability and availability
Social acceptability
Poster design
Original illustrations
Evidence of teamwork

The top scoring teams in each of the five contests were invited to a finals event.

Finals Event

Top scoring teams from the short-listing were invited to present their posters at online finals events, which were held in late September – early October.
Short-listed teams were asked to give a Power Point presentation lasting seven minutes, which was followed by three minutes of questions and answers. Judges scored using the same domains as were used for the short-listing.

The 2024 prizes were awarded to: