Your question.
Your idea.
Your research.
Pick a question you care about and write a plan to answer it. First place is a full scholarship to the YRI Fellowship and a PhD mentor to turn the plan into a published paper.
CERTIFICATE OF AWARDFirst PlaceFull Scholarship to the YRI Research FellowshipA plan, not a paper.
You choose the topic, write the question, read what is already known, and explain how you would investigate it. You do not need to have done the research. You do not need a lab, a dataset or any experience. You need a good question and a clear plan.
What you can win
Turn your proposal into a research paper with a PhD mentor, 1:1, over 10 weeks.
Half the $2,997 Fellowship tuition covered, for each of the next two proposals.
Signed by the YRI Founder or a participating professor, for other proposals the panel singles out.
1,000 words maximum, references excluded. The abstract counts toward the limit.
Who can enter
- Open to high school students worldwide. No research experience needed.
- Free to enter. One proposal per student. No group entries.
- Any subject: STEM, social sciences, humanities, or a mix.
- Written in English and submitted as a PDF.
What the proposal must include
- Title
- Abstract · up to 200 words
- Introduction and background
- Research question and objectives
- Brief literature review
- Proposed methodology
- Expected outcomes and significance
- Feasibility and ethical considerations
- References · not counted in the limit
The proposal must be your own work, with sources cited. You may discuss ideas with teachers, parents or mentors. AI tools may help you brainstorm or understand a concept, and any meaningful use must be disclosed in the form. AI-written proposal text submitted as your own is not allowed. Entries are judged anonymously, so leave your name and school out of the PDF. Shortlisted students may be asked to talk through their proposal.
Late submissions are not considered.
Academic evaluators read every proposal against the same six criteria. They judge the proposal relative to your academic level: a clear, original, realistic plan beats an ambitious one with no way to carry it out.
Small question.Clear plan.
Winning proposals are not the most ambitious. They ask one focused question and show exactly how it could be answered.
- One clear questionSpecific enough to answer, and you could actually answer it.
- What is already knownTwo or three sources, and the gap your question fills.
- A plan you can carry outWho, what you measure, and how, with what a high schooler has.
- Ethics thought throughConsent, privacy and safety, in a sentence or two.
Phones Before Bed and Next-Day Quiz Scores in High School Students
Research question: do students who use their phone in the hour before sleep score lower on next-day quizzes?
Studies link evening screen light to later sleep. Few look at a single school day and a real classroom test.
A two-week sleep and screen diary from 60 classmates, matched to their quiz scores and compared across groups.
Parent consent and school approval. Names removed before any analysis.
Takes two minutes. Have your PDF ready. One entry per student.
No. Most entrants will not have any. We are looking for curiosity, independent thinking and a well-reasoned plan.
- YRI Fellowship (yriscience.com) runs the YRI Global Research Proposal Competition 2027, also called the YRI Global Essay Competition 2027.
- Open worldwide to students enrolled in grade 8 to grade 12, or the equivalent, on the closing date. Students under 18 must give a parent or guardian name and email when they enter.
- Entries are open now and close January 10, 2027 at 11:59 PM EST. Late entries are not considered.
- Submit the entry form on this page with one PDF proposal, written in English, up to 1,000 words excluding references. The abstract is up to 200 words and counts toward the limit. One entry per student. No group entries.
- Entry is free. No purchase or enrollment of any kind is required to enter or to win.
- The proposal must be the student’s own work with sources cited. AI-written proposal text is not allowed, and any meaningful AI use must be disclosed in the form. Entries that are plagiarized, AI-written or submitted more than once are disqualified. Shortlisted students may be asked to discuss their proposal.
- Academic evaluators judge every proposal anonymously against six criteria: originality, quality of the research question, use of existing research, methodology, feasibility and clarity. Their decisions are final.
- First place: a full scholarship to the YRI Fellowship, valued at $2,997. Second and third place: a 50% scholarship each. Distinguished proposals: a Distinguished Certificate. Scholarships are awarded as tuition for the Fellowship and have no cash value. Project feasibility, mentor availability and any ethics or safety requirements are confirmed before a project starts.
- Winners are notified by email at the address on their entry. Results are also announced on this page.
- Entry details are used to run the competition and to contact entrants about it, as described in the YRI privacy policy.