Young Researcher Competition

1 Group or individual entries are eligible for all transport modes. Entries may be submitted by any individual or research team that consists of up to a maximum of 7 participants.

2 Only one entry will be accepted per person/team and all entries must fall into one of the outlined pillars / transport modes. Participants cannot submit the same abstract / video under different pillars / transport modes.

3 The registration period will be open from 07/02/2023 until 30/06/2023 31/10/2023 and the young researchers are invited to submit an abstract of their idea, under one of the TRA VISIONS 2022 Competition Research Topics / Areas.

4 The deadline for comprehensive project submission is 31/10/2023 at Midnight Central European Time (31/10/2023 23:59 CET). Any entries beyond this time will not be accepted, unless an extension is granted.

5 All abstracts must have a maximum of 250 words. It may contain up to 3 diagrams, high quality images or figures as appropriate. Participants need to submit at least two high resolution images or diagrams. The minimum resolution should be 1920x1080 pixels at 72 dpi (monitor resolution).

6 All submitted entries will automatically give their permission for their abstract to go public on the project website and on the TRA VISIONS contest book. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that such publication does not breach the copyright of others.

7 All submissions need to include a report based on the Final Project Template (available for download from the TRA VISIONS website), a short presentation and a project poster accompanied by an optional short video (about 1 minute). The submission of a video is mandatory for all shortlisted ideas (top 10 ideas per mode). The shortlisted students will be notified well in advance in order to develop the short videos.

8 All submitted entries need to be in understandable, academic English, of general European interest and need to ensure a clear understanding of the idea. Video entries in any language will be accepted; however, foreign language videos must include English subtitles.

9 All abstracts and videos must be the work of the young researchers. Participants may submit work already published, provided it is their own work and its publication to the TRA VISIONS website does not breach the copyright of others.

10 The maximum allowable number of final submissions is 100 per mode. This limitation works on a first come first serve basis.

11 No “copyright” infringing content can be included.

12 Only entries submitted within the online submission section of the TRA VISIONS website will be accepted.

13 The competition is open to young researchers registered in a College, University or Research Institute from across the European Union, EU Candidate Countries, Potential EU Candidate Countries and European Economic Area1.

14 Winners will be acknowledged on both the TRA VISIONS and the TRA 2024 websites and may be acknowledged elsewhere.

15 All finalists (one nominee/team representative per winning team) will receive a contribution towards their accommodation and travel expenses to the TRA 2024 Conference in Dublin, Ireland. The contribution is dependent on the point of origin within Europe which could be the young researchers’ place of study or permanent place of residence. It is a condition of this award that the finalists attend the conference. It is up to all finalists to organize their own travel arrangements to Lisbon. The organizers will endeavour to make available low-cost accommodation, subject to availability.

16 There will be 3 winning ideas per transport mode. The winning young researcher prizes per mode consist of 1st (5000€), 2nd (3000€) and 3rd runner-up (2000€). All finalists will be given a certificate acknowledging their achievement.

Output: The participants should engage in further research and use their creativity, knowledge and personal effort in order to produce an innovative concept idea of high-quality standards. The “concept idea” is not required to be a completely engineered “ready to build” product. The idea may also contain new (“quantum leap”) technical solutions, based on solid engineering judgment and feasibility estimation. All submissions should include evidence of originality identifying any similar work and, if so, what distinguishes the submission from this other work.

Final Report

The Final report should include the following:

The main text in electronic format and neatly presented in an academic format. The final submissions must be more than 2 pages but must not to exceed 20 pages.

A description of the methodical approach, the concept, its basic principles, the assumptions made and an indication of how the concept contributes to the state of the art.

It must show how the concept meets the future market and society needs and address potential technology gaps.

A comprehensive literature survey to demonstrate knowledge on the field should be included. The report should include clear references.

It should address issues such as safety, environment, production, logistics, etc. where necessary and provide some evidence, in the form of calculation or engineering judgment and feasibility. The above requirements should be presented according to the following table of contents:

Management summary

Introduction

Selection of transport mode / pillar and related research topics: describe the selected transport mode and research topic that the concept idea fits into.

Literature survey: describe existing published concept ideas fitting to selected research topics.

Description of Idea: Proposed solution: describe the proposed solution including advantages as compared with existing concepts. Address how “Contest Targets” are met considering the specific research topics.

Potential technological gaps and issues in research topics: describe the identified technology gaps and themes for further development in the areas of technical and economic feasibility, safety, security, environment, production, logistics, etc. For example for a project within waterborne:

Detailed design description covering the following (where applicable):

- sizing and principal dimensions including approach for sizing
- speed/powering/propulsion
- weight estimation
- load capacity
- stability analysis
- sea keeping analysis
- general arrangement plans
- cost analysis (investment costs)
- cargo rate analysis

Appendices, if necessary, should provide additional details to support the concept.

Drawings, illustrations, calculations and data listings should only appear in the appendices where necessary and should all be submitted in electronic format.