Adult Sponsor

An Adult Sponsor may be a teacher, parent, university professor, or scientist in whose lab the student is working. This individual must have a solid background in science and should have close contact with the student during the course of the project.

The Adult Sponsor is responsible for working with the student to evaluate any possible risks involved in order to ensure the health and safety of the student conducting the research and the humans or animals involved in the study. The Adult Sponsor must review the student’s Student Checklist (1A) and Research Plan to make sure that: a) experimentation is done within local, state, and federal laws and these International Rules; b) that forms are completed by other adults involved in approving or supervising any part of the experiment; and c) that criteria for the Qualified Scientist adhere to those set forth below.

The Adult Sponsor must be familiar with the regulations that govern potentially dangerous research as they apply to a specific student project. These may include chemical and equipment usage, experimental techniques, research involving human or vertebrate animals, and cell cultures, microorganisms, or animal tissues. The issues must be discussed with the student when completing the Research Plan. Some experiments involve procedures or materials that are regulated by state and federal laws. If not thoroughly familiar with the regulations, the Adult Sponsor should help the student enlist the aid of a Qualified Scientist.

The Adult Sponsor is responsible for online registration with a NWSES fair.

• Adult sponsors need to select the student’s school for the official organization. This determines the division a student is competing under.
  • Parents or mentors with an organization other than the school can enter that name on the Personal Information page.
• SRC membership information is not required to be entered online, but is a good way to keep track.
• Updates to an Organization’s mailing address, administrator etc should be emailed to Stephanie.

Science Fair Judge

The most important qualification for any judge is the willingness to commit the time and energy to honor the hard work of the students and to encourage their further interest in science, math and engineering. Fairs in the AFOR system utilize both Category Judges and Special Award Judges. Category judges select the category in which they wish to judge, and their procedures are specified by the Judge Coordinator. Special Award judges serve individual organizations that wish to provide awards, and these groups set their own eligibility criteria for judges and procedures for judging. Judges should have an MA, MS, or Ph.D. (preferred) in the category in which they choose to judge, or in a closely related field. Professionals at the Bachelor’s level with three or more years of relevant experience are also eligible to serve as high school judges. Previous experience in judging science fairs at the local, state, or national level is helpful.

Judge Training

Volunteer

Refers to non-judging volunteers at a fair, this ranges from set-up to award distribution.
One of the most important volunteer jobs is that of Post experimentation SRC review this is done online with a Zoom active for questions. Teachers, judges and parents are all welcome to check the project forms for completeness.

Scientific Review Committee

A Scientific Review Committee (SRC) is a group of qualified individuals that is responsible for evaluation of student research, certifications, research plans and exhibits for compliance with the Rules and pertinent laws and regulations. Local SRCs may be formed to assist the ISEF Affiliated Fair SRC in reviewing and approving projects. The operation and composition of the local and ISEF-Affiliated Fair SRC must fully comply with the International Rules.

Any proposed research in the following areas must be reviewed and approved BEFORE experimentation: projects involving vertebrates and potentially hazardous biological agents. (Human studies reviewed and approved by a properly constituted IRB do not have to be reviewed by the SRC until the Fair competition.) ALL projects must be reviewed and approved by the SRC after experimentation and shortly before competition in an ISEF affiliated fair competition. (Projects requiring pre-approval which were conducted at a regulated research institution (not home or high school, etc.) and which were reviewed and approved by the proper institutional board before experimentation must also be reviewed by the Fair SRC for rules compliance.)

An SRC must consist of a minimum of three persons. The SRC must include:

1. a biomedical scientist (Ph.D., M.D., D.V.M., D.D.S., or D.O.)
2. a science teacher
3. at least one other member

Additional Expertise

Many projects will require additional expertise to properly evaluate (for instance, extended knowledge of bio-safety or of human risk groups.) If animal research is involved, at least one member must be familiar with proper animal care procedures. If the SRC needs an expert as one of its members and one is not in the immediate area, then documented contact with an external expert is appropriate and encouraged. In order to eliminate conflict of interest, the Adult Sponsor, parents, the Qualified Scientist, and the Designated Supervisor must not serve on the SRC reviewing that project.

Additional members are recommended to help avoid this conflict of interest and to increase the expertise of the committee. A Scientific Review Committee (SRC) examines projects for the following:

1. evidence of literature search
2. evidence of proper supervision
3. use of accepted and appropriate research techniques
4. completed forms, signatures and dates showing maximum of one year duration of research and appropriate pre-approval dates (when needed)
5. evidence of search for alternatives to animal use
6. humane treatment of animals
7. compliance with rules and laws governing human and animal research
8. compliance with rules regarding potentially hazardous biological agents
9. documentation of substantial expansion for continuation projects
10. compliance with the ISEF ethics statement

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

An Institutional Review Board (IRB), is a committee that, according to federal regulations (45-CFR-46), must evaluate the potential physical and/or psychological risk of research involving humans. All proposed human research must be reviewed and approved by an IRB before experimentation begins. This includes review of any surveys or questionnaires to be used in a project.

Federal regulations require local community involvement. Therefore, it is advisable that an IRB be established at the school level to evaluate human research projects. If necessary, the local or ISEF-affiliated SRC can serve as an IRB as long as it has the required membership. A School IRB must consist of a minimum of three members including the following:

• An educator
• A school administrator (preferably principal or vice principal)
• A medical or mental health professional. The medical or mental health professional may be a medical doctor, nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant, doctor of pharmacy, registered nurse, psychologist, licensed social worker or licensed clinical professional counselor. The medical or mental health professional on the IRB may change depending on the nature of the study. This person must be knowledgeable about and capable of evaluating the physical and/or psychological risk involved in a given study.

Additional Expertise: If an expert is not available in the immediate area, documented contact with an external expert is recommended. A copy of all correspondence with the expert (e.g. emails) must be attached to Form 4 and can be used in lieu of the signature of that expert.

To avoid conflict of interest, no Adult Sponsor, parent or other relative of the student, the Qualified Scientist, or Designated Supervisor who oversees the project, may serve on the IRB reviewing that project. Additional members are recommended to help avoid a potential conflict of interest and to increase the expertise of the committee.

IRBs exist at federally Regulated Research Institutions (e.g., universities, medical centers, NIH, correctional facilities). Prisoner advocates must be included on the IRB when research participants are incarcerated. The institutional IRB must initially review and approve all proposed research conducted at or sponsored by that institution. The Adult Sponsor and the local IRB are responsible for ensuring that the project is appropriate for a pre-college student and adheres to ISEF rules. An IRB is responsible for assessing risk and documenting the determination of risk level on Human Participant Form 4. However, in reviewing projects just prior to a fair, if the SRC serving at that level of competition judges an IRB’s decision as inappropriate, thereby placing human participants in jeopardy, they may override the IRB’s decision and the project may fail to qualify for competition. It is advised that IRBs consult with the local or affiliated fair SRCs and/or with ISEF SRC in questionable cases.