Student Paper Competition

Annually, the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society, in connection with the Annual International EMB Conference, sponsors a Student Paper Competition (SPC).

Competition Eligibility

• The student must be listed as both the first author and the corresponding author on the final Full Contributed Paper (4 pages or longer) submitted to the SPC.
• The student must be an active member of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society at the time of submission as a Student Grade Member, Graduate Student Member, or Undergraduate Student Member.
• The student’s Faculty Advisor must be listed as a co-author of the Full Contributed Paper.
• The Full Contributed Paper and the Nomination Form must be submitted together through the EMBC submission system by the Full Contributed Paper submission deadline.
• The Nomination Form must be completed and signed by the student’s Faculty Advisor.

Paper submission and nomination deadline: January 23, 2026.

Submission Process

If a student author meets all eligibility requirements for a full-contributed paper, they may submit the required nomination form along with the full paper via the EMB conference paper management system.

Note: More detailed information about the submission process will be provided soon.

Review Process

Only those papers that are accepted to participate in the conference program, by the EMB Conference Editorial Board and EMBC Organizing Committee, will be reviewed for the SPC. Papers that are rejected will not be considered or reviewed for the SPC.

Please note that for a paper outlining a design project, the construction of the project, the accompanying design considerations, and verification of project success should be detailed in the paper.

All accepted papers with a complete nomination submission will be reviewed by the SPC Committee and considered for the finalist competition, weighing scores and review comments provided in the initial review.

After the SPC committee completes its review process, there will be a total of 15 finalists selected:

• One (1) finalist will be selected from each of the 5 EMBS geographical areas:
  • North America (US & Canada)
  • Latin America (Mexico & South America)
  • Europe (as defined by WHO)
  • Middle East & Africa
  • Asia-Pacific
• Ten (10) additional Finalists for the Open Competition

Note: Geographical areas represented by fewer than five (5) authors may be combined with another group for the Geographical Competition.

Finalists

The corresponding author of the selected paper (finalist) must attend the Conference and present his or her paper in the regular conference program, and in the SPC special session. Co-authors or substitute presenters are not permitted.

A panel of judges will carefully review each presentation and select the First, Second, and Third place winners based on the technical merits of the work, professionalism of the presentation, and verbal communication skills.

The three overall winners of the SPC will receive an engraved plaque and an honorarium:

• $1,000 USD for the first place winner
• $750 USD for the second place winner
• $500 USD for the third place winner

All Selected Finalists will be entitled to complimentary registration to the Annual EMB Conference and travel support:

• Geographical Finalists are entitled to travel reimbursement up to $1000 USD
• Open Finalists are entitled to travel reimbursement up to $500 USD

All Travel expenses will be reimbursed to the Student in compliance with the IEEE Travel & Reimbursement Policy.

Questions?

Any questions related to the Student Paper Competition should be directed to the SPC Chair: Jiaen Liu