Mind the Research Gap Student Competition
Gender bias has been an ongoing issue in scientific research and healthcare, examples being underrepresentation of female individuals in early-stage research and clinical studies, failure to consider gender- and sex-disaggregated data, trivialization of female physical complaints, and discrimination in the awarding of research grants. This complex array of issues is often defined as the health gap or research gap.
We want students to think creatively about an existing research gap in relation to female health research and/or health care, and write an essay or create a piece of art to describe what the unmet need is and how it could be addressed! Check out the recording of our MRG launch event for inspiration on the research gap!
ESSAY COMPETITION GUIDELINES
We would like students to think creatively and innovatively about an existing research gap in relation to female health research and/or health care, concisely describe what the unmet need is and how it could be addressed. The essay must be about a research gap or unmet need in female health and provide innovative ideas on how we could go about addressing it. The essay will be assessed on scientific content, style and topicality.
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The essay should be written in a style accessible to the educated non-specialist reader. Course essays written in a standard scientific style are unlikely to be successful in the competition.
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GENERAL GUIDELINES:
Closing day for essays is 15 April 2022, midnight GMT.
The winner and runner-up will receive a prize of £150 and £100 respectively. Winners will be announced at the Mind the Research Gap Online Conference on the 28th of April and will then be notified by email too.
The winning and runner-up entries will be published on the Cambridge Femtech Society’s website and advertised on social media. Authors will be acknowledged.
The top two essays will also be sent to WHAM who may select one of them for publication on their website and social media. Authors will be acknowledged.
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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
The essay should be no more than 1,000 words in length (excluding references).
It is not possible to submit multiple entries, only one entry per participant is allowed.
Entries must include a cover page detailing the following information:
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Author’s name
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Author’s address, contact telephone number and email address
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Degree title, year of study and institution
Entries should be written in a style accessible to the educated non-specialist reader.
Entrants must ensure that any figures included comply with UK copyright regulations.
Essays must be submitted via below application form (as a MS Word or PDF document saved in the following format InitialLastNameMRG22 )
The Cambridge Femtech Society reserves the right to scan submissions electronically to detect plagiarism.
The Cambridge Femtech Society reserves the right to withhold the prizes in the event that no entry is deemed to be of a sufficiently high standard.
By submitting an essay, the author agrees to transfer copyright to the Cambridge Femtech Society and to allow the Society to disseminate the essay in electronic and print media.
If you have any questions regarding the competition please contact cambridgefemtech@gmail.com
ARTWORK COMPETITION GUIDELINES
In order to raise awareness and promote visual communication in the field, we would like students to creatively depict an existing gap in female health research and/or health care. So, we encourage university students to showcase the artistic side of female health science by submitting to Mind the Research Gap Competition!
Your entry can be anything from drawings, digital illustrations, and sculptures to models and collages of any scale, just send us a photo of your masterpieces. Your art must depict an unmet need or research gap in female health and the underlying science in a creative and impactful way, in a style that is accessible to an educated non-specialist viewer.
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GENERAL GUIDELINES:
Closing day is 15 April 2022, midnight GMT.
The winner and runner-up will receive a prize of £150 and £100 respectively. Winners will be announced at the Mind the Research Gap Online Conference on the 28th of April and will then be notified by email too.
The winning and runner-up entries will be published on the Cambridge Femtech Society’s website and advertised on social media. Authors will be acknowledged.
The top two entries will also be sent to WHAM who may select one of them for publication on their website and social media. Authors will be acknowledged.
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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Only one photo of the creation or a scanned image of paintings and illustrations, or a digital illustration file can be submitted. We will not be accepting video entries.
It is not possible to submit multiple entries, only one entry per participant is allowed.
We also kindly ask you to provide the following information:
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The title of your art piece
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Equipment and material used
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What your art piece depicts
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The science behind your art piece - how does it represent an unmet need or research gap in female health?
The file name for the entry should be in the following format InitialLastNameMRG22 (e.g. JSmithMRG22.JPEG, JSmithMRG22.PNG).
Entries will be judged on:
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the aesthetic quality of the piece
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the originality of the piece
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how well the piece captures and communicates the scientific basis of the subject matter
The Cambridge Femtech Society reserves the right to withhold the prizes in the event that no entry is deemed to be of a sufficiently high standard.
By submitting an entry, the author agrees to transfer copyright to the Cambridge Femtech Society and to allow the Society to disseminate the image of the art piece in electronic and print media.
If you have any questions regarding the competition please contact cambridgefemtech@gmail.com
OUR PARTNER: WHAM
We are extremely honoured to be partnering with WHAM, a nonprofit organisation that works to increase awareness of and funding for women’s health issues and improve the inequities and bias in research by accelerating scientific discovery in women’s health in four primary verticals – brain health, heart health, autoimmune/immune disease and cancer. The WHAM Report is a series of studies that quantify the costs and economic benefits of increasing investments in women’s health research and examine the impact of accelerating sex and gender–based health research on women, their families, and the economy.
WHAM commissioned The RAND Corporation to study the potential impact of funding aimed at closing the research gap for: rheumatoid arthritis (autoimmune), coronary artery disease (heart), and Alzheimer’s disease (brain). With this incredible work, WHAM is building a data-driven case for accelerating women’s health research. To learn more about WHAM and The WHAM Report, please visit thewhamreport.org.