These skills will be assessed across your whole entry 

They reflect how you approached your project, worked with others or independently, responded to challenges and brought your ideas to life.  

• clear communication: explaining your ideas clearly and helping others understand your work. 

• enthusiasm for your project: showcasing your interest and passion for your topic and inspiring judges to want to find out more.  

• innovation and creativity: bringing original ideas or new ways of thinking to your project. 

• problem finding and solving: identifying challenges and coming up with thoughtful solutions. 

• adaptability: dealing with setbacks or difficulties and continuing to make progress. 

• teamwork and leadership (for group projects): Teamwork and leadership (for group projects) – ensuring everyone had a clear role, contributed meaningfully, felt heard, and had the opportunity to help communicate and present the project and its outcomes.

• independence and self-motivation (for individual projects): managing your time well, setting goals, how you stayed motivated when challenges arose, and driving your project forward on your own. 

Your project overview is not scored, but it is one of the first things judges will read about your project

A strong project overview gives judges a quick understanding of your project and highlights what makes it important, unique or exciting. It should help judges understand why your project matters and encourage them to learn more about your work. 

You may want to briefly explain the following in your project overview: 

• what your project is about 

• why you chose the topic 

• what you hoped to achieve 

• how you approached the project 

• the key results or conclusions you have reached so far 

Introduce your project idea and explain why it matters 

This section is about your motivation and aims. Tell the judges what inspired your project and what you hope to achieve in more detail.  

Consider the following questions:  

• what is the purpose of your project, and what are you aiming to achieve? 

• what real-world problem does your project aim to solve, or opportunity does it explore? 

• who might be affected by or benefit from your project, and how have you considered their needs or perspectives?  

Explain how you researched, planned, developed and tested your project

This section looks at how you explored your topic, made decisions, and adapted your ideas. Whether you investigated a question or designed and built something, show how you organised your work, tested your ideas and thought carefully about your decisions.  

You should split your project process into two areas:

1. Research, Planning and Organisation 

• what existing research, products, experiments or other sources of information did you explore to help understand your project topic? How did this influence your work?  

• how did you decide which information to trust? Provide a list of where your information came from.  

• what different designs, methods or approaches did you consider before beginning your experiment or build? Did you think about sustainability when comparing different approaches? For example, did you think about using sustainable materials, or how you can reduce waste? 

• why did you choose your final design or method? If you could not use your preferred approach, what barriers influenced your decision? How did you adapt your plans?  

• if relevant, what variables and controls did you identify and consider when planning your design or method?  

• if your project was designed for a particular audience or industry, how did their needs influence your decisions? 

• how did you plan tasks and organise your time to help complete your project?  

• did you seek advice, support or feedback from others when you needed it? How did this help to shape or improve your project? If you used AI to help research and plan your work, what AI tool did you use, and how did you decide which information and advice it provided was suitable for your project? 

Explain how you researched, planned, developed and tested your project

This section looks at how you explored your topic, made decisions, and adapted your ideas. Whether you investigated a question or designed and built something, show how you organised your work, tested your ideas and thought carefully about your decisions.  

You should split your project process into two areas:

2. Experimentation and Refinement 

• did you create an initial design, prototype, model or investigation to explore your idea or meet your project aims? What did you learn from it?  

• if you could not create or test your idea, what other evidence did you produce to shows how it could work in practice? What would you expect to happen if it were tested?  

• how did you apply a scientific, engineering or technological process throughout your project? If relevant, how did you manage variables and controls? If you used AI to help test or analysis your results, what AI tool did you use, and how did you ensure the information it provided was correct and suitable for your project?  

• what results did you get, and how did you test or evaluate them? For an investigation, how did you check whether your results were accurate and reliable?  

• did you face any challenges during testing or building, and how did you overcome them? 

• how did you improve your design, prototype, or investigation based on what you learned? What changes did you make, and why?  

Share the results of your project and its potential impact 

This section focuses on what you achieved and how your findings relate to your original aims. Think about how your outcome could be used in the real world, and whether it has potential for further development or environmental impact. 

• how well did your final outcome meet your original aims?  

• how do your results or design support or challenge your initial ideas or hypothesis?  

• are there any modifications that could improve how your outcome performs?  

• could your outcome be used in the real world or developed further for use by an organisation or industry?  

• how would you communicate your findings, research or innovation to your target audience?  

• have you considered any environmental benefits or impacts? Where possible, can you estimate their scale?  

Consider the wider impact of your project 

Ethics refers to careful consideration, or a set of principles that help us to decide what is right or wrong. People working in science, engineering and technology act to improve the wellbeing of society. They must take steps to act in a way that is kind, fair, and does not harm people or the environment.  

• think about how your project affects, or could affect, people, communities, and the environment. If you worked with participants, explain how you considered their wellbeing. 

• how can your results, design or idea be used for good?  

• who is likely to benefit from your project? Is anyone less likely to benefit, and how could you make your project more inclusive?  

• could your results, design or idea cause harm to other people, communities, or the environment? Could some people be affected more than others, and how could you reduce any negative effects? 

• what unintended risks might your project create in the future? Think about whether it could be hacked, misused, affected by incorrect information from AI, or lead to other unexpected consequences. What steps could you take to reduce these risks and help make your project safe, reliable and responsible? 

• if your project involved participants or test subjects, how did you consider their wellbeing? For example, did you explain how their input, such as survey responses, would be used within your work? Did you consider how potentially sensitive information, feedback or results would be communicated respectfully and appropriately? 

Reflect on your learning and future plans 

This section is about what you’ve learned and how you might build on your project. Share your reflections on what went well, what you enjoyed, and what you would do next. 

• how could you continue developing your project in the future?  

• what changes would be needed to fully meet your aims or make your project market-ready?  

• what did you learn from the project, what skills did you develop through your work, and what did you enjoy most?