https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.96.7

We are delighted to announce the winners of our second ever nationwide school research competition, The Science of Life: How Your Body Works. The final took place on 30 June at Physiology 2014. As with the first competition (The Science of Sport: How to Win Gold) back in 2012, we invited 16- to 19-year-olds to complete a physiology research project of their own (either alone or in groups) and then present their findings to The Society. This time, however, we expanded the theme to welcome projects in all areas of physiology, and we were pleased to receive a wide variety of submissions in topics from neuroscience to nutrition.

Fourteen entries altogether reached the final and presented their projects as posters to a panel of judges at the Main Meeting. The judges were really impressed with the quality of projects this year, one of which they felt was particularly outstanding: the gold prize therefore went to Eva Harris from Kent College, Canterbury for her excellent project on the effects of breakfast cereals with different glycaemic indexes on cognitive performance in the morning. Eva was delighted with this result and said, ‘When I first heard about this competition I had a feeling that it would be something special and that feeling was definitely right! It was a fantastic experience which has given me a real taste of what scientific research could be like. I did not expect to win, but I was delighted and I am now considering a career in medical research.’

Silver prize went to a team of students from Seven Kings High School in Essex, while bronze prize was awarded jointly to a team from Tiffin School in Surrey and another team from Langley Grammar School in Berkshire. Each of the winners received a medal, certificate and further prizes as a reward for their achievement. Gold prize winner Eva Harris, for example, will visit the Centre of Human and Aerospace Physiological Sciences at King’s College London. Details of other prizes are available at www.understanding-life.org

We would like to congratulate all the winners and thank everyone who took part, including the judges and those who gave up their time to mentor the students throughout their projects for the competition.