Winners Announced at 26th MEF International Research Projects Competition

The "International Research Projects Competition," organized in collaboration with MEF Schools and MEF University and aimed at encouraging young talents in the secondary education science community to develop research projects, has announced its award winners.

The award ceremony for the "International Research Projects Competition," organized by MEF Education Institutions since 1992 to encourage secondary school students to engage in scientific research, took place on Friday, 26 May 2017 at the MEF Schools Ulus Campus with Prof. Dr. Mehmet Haberal in attendance as the guest of honor. Following the preliminary selection among a total of 508 projects submitted from around the world, 79 projects from 13 countries including Turkey advanced to the final round. MEF Education Institutions General Manager Azmi Özkardeş, who gave a brief speech at the competition, announced that the competition's name will be changed to "Dr. İbrahim Arıkan International Research Projects Competition" starting next year, noting that they wish for the name of Dr. İbrahim Arıkan, education sector pioneer and founder of MEF Education Institutions, to be associated with science and education from generation to generation. The projects displayed for three days starting from 23 May 2017 at UNIQ Istanbul, Istanbul's new-generation culture, art and lifestyle center, and presented to the public and jury, notably featured this year students' heightened sensitivity toward meeting the needs of people with disabilities, measurement devices they constructed using simple techniques, mini and micro systems developed through intensive software and hardware usage, and microprocessors applied in all fields. As a result of preliminary evaluation, 79 projects prepared by 142 students were deemed worthy of exhibition. The unanimous view of jury members was that many of these projects, if continued to be developed, could be implemented and realized in practice. In the 26th edition of the competition, which is open to all young people regardless of whether they study at MEF Education Institutions, the standout projects developed by students ranged from natural hybrid power banks to prosthetic organ creation, projects developed for the visually impaired, to treatment methods for different cancer types. Additionally, it was observed that students had extensive knowledge of the research topics they selected and were able to construct systems according to their own needs. In the competition, which included participants from Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iraq, Montenegro, Qatar, Northern Cyprus, Macedonia, Malaysia, Poland, and Slovenia in addition to Turkey, international students experienced the excitement and honor of representing their countries on the international stage.