List of National and International Physics competitions at UG level

Original Post: https://debankur123.blogspot.com/2020/10/undergradute-national-and-international.html

Here is a list of undergraduate physics competitions 

1) Online Physics Brawl: Online Physics Brawl is a three-hour-long internet competition. Teams of up to five people can participate.

• Eligibility: The competition is mainly intended for high school teams of up to 5 students, which includes the Open category where anyone can participate. (so undergraduates can also apply).
• Prizes: Top 3 teams in categories A, B, C, and one overall winner (including open category) will be awarded valuable prizes.
• Participation is free.
• Rules
• Conducting Institute: FYKOS (organization, problem sets), Institute of Theoretical Physics, MFF UK (rooms, hosting), Department of Applied Mathematics (hardware), Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (co-announcer), and Interlos(the game engine)

2) National Anveshika Skill Test: A short experiment will be shown in each video and questions will be asked based on the experiments shown. Based on the answers screening will be done to select students for Prelim. Each student in Prelim will be required to perform a set of experiments. The evaluation will be done by the evaluating team on performing the experiment with care, results obtained and the analysis is done. From each Anveshika, the topper in each level (school/college) will move to Finals.

        The Semi-Final and final competition of NAEST will be done at SGM-IAPT Anveshika, Kanpur. The semi-finalists will be given another set of experiments to perform. Based on this, certain numbers will be selected for the final round. National Winners will be selected through the third set of experiments from these finalists

• Eligibility:
• School Level: Class 9 to Class 12
• College Level: BSc/MSc. 
• Prizes: The National Winner of NAEST will be invited to the National Convention of IAPT to receive the Prize in the Prize ceremony. Second and third runner ups will be given prizes at corresponding Anveshikas. Besides this, the three toppers at Prelims will be given prizes at Anveshika.
• Conducting Institute: National Anveshika Network of India (NANI)

3) Mimamsa(IISER, Pune): Mimamsa is a National level annual Science Quiz organized by the students of IISER Pune for students at the undergraduate level. 

• It is a two-stage event: 
• Prelims- a written exam with sections from the 4 major disciplines of Science namely Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics; takes place in January at several centers across India. High school level knowledge in basic sciences is sufficient to answer all the questions in Prelims. The top 4 teams selected through the Prelims qualify for the Mains 
• Mains- which is comprised of brain-racking quizzing sessions spread over a pleasant March weekend. 
• The questions are designed to investigate, rather than to simply arrive at an answer, and specifically to promote debate and discussion among teams and the judges. Mimamsa is arguably one of the toughest Science Quizzes at the Undergraduate Level, and tests the concepts of its participants, rather than simply facts, leading its witnesses to go back to the basics and unravel the science behind the science we study.
• Eligibility: Team members must be from the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd year of B.Sc., B.Tech., MBBS, Integrated Masters, or equivalent programs. M.Sc. students or 4th year and above students of any integrated course including B.Tech and other 4 year courses are not allowed.
• Rules
• Prizes: The Winners of Mimamsa will receive the Mimamsa Trophy and all the Finalists will receive mementos. Prizes worth 1,15,000+ will be awarded to the Finalists and Subject Toppers. The distribution of prizes is as follows
• Winner :- Rs 50,000
• First Runner Up :- Rs 25,000
• Second Runner Up :- Rs 15,000
• Third Runner Up:- Rs 10,000
• Nationwide Subject Toppers :- Rs 4,000 each
• Center Toppers :- Rs 2,000 each
• Merchandise for all Finalists.
• Conducting Institute: IISER Pune

4) Albert Einstein International Scholarship Test: "Albert Einstein International Scholarship Test" is a part of the mission of AICTSD to promote & create leaders from the student & professional community among the Country & world. 

• Eligibility: Any School or College Student ( From Age Group of 10 to 24 years old ), Only Asia, Europe, Australia, North America & South America continent’s Candidate can Apply.
• Every year around 5,00,000 students (worldwide) apply for this exam but they take the first 10,000 applications only & the rest of the applications will be get rejected & their fees will be refunded to them. So, keep an eye on the website a few weeks prior to the expected date of application opening and apply as soon as it opens!!
• Prizes: First prize: Rs. 1,25,000 - Second: Rs. 50,000. There are plenty of other things like "Free Training & R&D on Robotics Automation & Softwares with Industrial Professionals" best check their website for full details.
• Conducting Institute: All India Council For Technical Skill Development (AICTSD)

5) National Graduate Physics Examination (NGPE): S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata, allows direct admission to toppers in NGPE, after an interview, in their integrated Ph.D. program. A number of scholarships (subject to a maximum of 5) have been instituted to encourage students to take-up physics as a career. Those who seek admission in M.Sc. (physics) after NGPE, are eligible for these scholarships.

• Eligibility: Students of BSc I, II, and III (Pass, Hons. or Integrated) are eligible.
• Prizes: For top 5 students- Merit Certificate + GOLD MEDAL + Rs 20,000/ (Reffer to the website for details about other awards) 

6) International Astronomy and Astrophysics competition: The International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition is an international science competition that enables students from all countries to prove their skills and to unleash their creativity in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics. IAAC gives you the unique opportunity to apply your skills to challenging problems. Participants can receive certificates, awards, cash prizes, and global recognition.

• Eligibility: In order to participate in the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition, you have to be a high-school or university student. Students from all grades and all countries are invited to participate! There are two age categories:
• Junior: under 18 years on 15. May 2020 (submission deadline)
• Youth: over 18 years on 15. May 2020 (submission deadline)
• Prizes: All participants receive participation certificates. The best students receive the 1. prize, 2. prize, and 3. prize with a cash award of 150 USD, 100 USD, and 50 USD (both for the youth and junior category). Furthermore, the most outstanding participants from each country receive a special national award to honor their excellence. There are also special school awards and awards for ambassadors. 

7) International Physicists Tournament:

• Eligibility: One team per country (except special cases):
• 6 Bachelor or Master students per team (no Ph.D. student)
• 1-2 team leaders for each team to also participate as jury members
• Additional “guests” that can cheer for their teams and experience IPT
• Costs: Each team has to pay a participation fee of EUR 1100
• Rules:(very important)

8) Rudolf Otrvay: You can check everything here: Rules

9) University Physics Competition: The University Physics Competition is an international contest for undergraduate students, who work in teams of three at their home colleges and universities all over the world, and spend a weekend in November, 48 hours, analyzing a real-world scenario using the principles of physics, and writing a formal paper describing their work.

• Rules
• However, here you need to register your team. Registration ($35 per team) for the registration University Physics Competition is open until 7 days before the contest begins.

10) Physics Cup:

• Eligibility: There are two official age groups: pre-university, and university. Anyone who qualifies for the next IPhO qualifies also for the pre-university age group. All BSc and MSc students of any university qualify for the university age group.

11) Nordic-Baltic Physics Olympiad:

• Eligibility: The eligibility requirements for NBPhO are the same as for EuPhO. The contestants should not have commenced their university studies, and their age in years (truncated to an integer) should not exceed 20 on June 30th of the year of the competition. If an educational institution cannot be clearly classified as a high school, a student is considered to be eligible if less than half of his/her lectures (on average for the last two years) have been on topics related either to physics or mathematics.
• National teams: Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Sweden can each send a team of up to around 20 students (contestants), and a team leader. Each aforementioned delegation is expected to include also two or more observers who are incorporated into the Academic Committee. The possibility of accepting guest teams from other countries (with up to five contestants) is discussed individually in each case.
• Participation fees: For NBPhO 2020 the participation fee is 15 euros per student for all participating countries.
• Organizers provide accommodation for all the delegations during two nights; meals, and if needed, local transportation during the competition; tools and rooms for the examinations, moderations, and board meetings; experimental problem sets. The expenses are partially covered by the participation fees. For official teams (i.e. teams from Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Sweden), the fee is 90€ per person, and for guest teams — 120€ per person

12) International Theoretical Physics Olympiad: The ITPO is a competition designed by Ph.D. students and Postdocs for undergraduate students interested in research in theoretical physics. In a zeroth-order approximation, the purpose of this Olympiad is to play with non-trivial questions and to learn through competition. To a first-order approximation, the goal is to find people interested in theoretical science and to help students gain experience with modern research skills.

• Eligibility: The only requirement is that participants be undergraduates.

13) Ahiprajna: Here is the link for the 2020 event. Abhiprajna is an online Inter-College Science quiz to be conducted by IISER Tirupati. Guidelines for the 2020 event. The subjects for the quiz include Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. In addition to this, the competition will have a special theme-based round pertaining to a contemporary topic of relevance.

• Eligibility: Undergraduate or Masters level or 1st and 2nd-year I-PhD.

14) Decoherence: Spooky quizzes is an online physics-based competition, where an individual tests his analytical, thinking, mathematical, logical reasoning, and deduction skills. Gear up and get ready to analyze physical problems in unique and interesting ways. It enables you to develop excitement in the field and test the real physicist in you. Register to have fun solving problems in original ways!!

• Eligibility: Interested High school students(11th and 12th class) and Undergraduates(1st,2nd,3rd year) register through the link below.
• Prizes: A common leaderboard will be maintained for all the participants for each cycle. The top two performers in the subjective round will be awarded a cash prize. Topper will get Rs 1000 and runner up will get Rs 500. All the top five participants appearing for the subjective round will also receive e-certificates.

About the author:

Mr. Debankur Basak is currently pursuing BSc Physics from Scottish Church College, Kolkatta.

He has shared the content of a blogpost of his personal blog(https://debankur123.blogspot.com) for us. Thanks a lot on behalf of the PAE community Debankur!