BioModels has launched a new competition for early career researchers, to recognize emerging leaders in systems biology modelling, identify exciting modelling research and promote reproducibility and good modelling practice.

Am I eligible?

The competition is aimed at early career researchers, including but not limited to PhD students, postdocs, staff scientists, and research assistants, who have published a peer-reviewed scientific manuscript with a mechanistic mathematical model or machine learning model within the last two years (since 1 Jan 2023).

Senior PIs, group leaders, lecturers, and professors are not eligible. However, new PIs, lecturers, and group leaders are eligible to submit the models they developed before becoming independent. The competition is open to researchers from academia and industry.

How do I enter the competition?

1. Submit your model to a public (FAIR) model repository

• Submit model codes to open standard repositories such as BioModels, Physiome, and CellCollective and make them publicly available.
• You can submit your model code in any format (e.g. SBML, CellML, COPASI, CC3D, VCell, Antimony, Morpheus, Matlab, Python, C++, R, Julia scripts, etc). However, submitting the models encoded in community standards including COMBINE standards, and/or documenting well would be advantageous.

2. Submit your application using the linked online form

• A short summary/abstract of your model, highlighting its scientific outcome, novelty and impact (max.500 words)
• Citation and link to the published manuscript (Open access) or a PDF

The deadline for submissions is 18th April 2025.

What can I win?

• Winners will share £1000 award money.
• They will also receive certificates of excellence.
• Winners will be invited to write a short blog (2-page max) about their models to be published and promoted on the BioModels platform.
• The jury will aim to publish a piece entitled “Model of the Year 2025” in a leading systems biology journal highlighting the winners’ work.

How are the winners selected?

The jury panel will evaluate the abstracts and select between 4 and 10 BioModels of the year.

Criteria:

• Scientific merit. Our expert jury panel will evaluate the abstracts on scientific merit.
• Model reproducibility. Our curators will evaluate the model’s reproducibility. Only reproducible models are eligible.
• Community standard. Encoding models in community standards when possible is advantageous.