Opportunities
International competitions, scholarships, research programs, and events for STEM students — updated as our team finds and verifies them.
Preparing for one of these?
STEM_Lens runs free Competition Preparation Workshops covering how to choose a project, write a strong application, and present your work with confidence. Each opportunity below is tagged with the workshop most relevant to it.
Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
One of the largest pre-college science and engineering competitions in the world, bringing together independent research projects from students globally.
Breakthrough Junior Challenge
A global competition where students create a short video explaining a challenging scientific or mathematical concept in an engaging way.
NASA International Space Apps Challenge
A weekend-long global hackathon where teams use NASA's open data to build solutions to real challenges in space and Earth science.
International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO)
The oldest and most prestigious international mathematics competition for pre-college students, with national teams selected through a country's own olympiad program.
International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)
One of the top global competitive-programming competitions for secondary school students, testing algorithmic problem-solving over two contest days.
International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO)
An annual international competition testing theoretical and laboratory chemistry skills, with national teams chosen through each country's own olympiad process.
International Physics Olympiad (IPhO)
A long-running international competition in theoretical and experimental physics for pre-university students, held in a different host country each year.
International Biology Olympiad (IBO)
An international biology competition combining theory and practical lab exams, with national teams selected through each country's biology olympiad program.
iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition)
A global synthetic biology competition where teams design, build, and present a biology-based engineering project using standardized biological parts.
World Robot Olympiad (WRO)
An international robotics competition where teams of two or three design, build, and program robots to complete a themed annual challenge.
FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC)
A high-energy international robotics competition where teams of high school students build large-scale robots to compete in a new annual game.
FIRST LEGO League (FLL)
A younger-student robotics program where teams build LEGO-based robots and research a real-world problem connected to the season's theme.
Technovation Girls
A free global program where teams of girls identify a problem in their community and build a mobile app to help solve it, then pitch it to judges.
Conrad Challenge
A multi-phase innovation and entrepreneurship competition where student teams design a solution to a real-world problem across categories like aerospace, cyber-security, and health.
Genius Olympiad
An international project-based competition focused on environmental and sustainability challenges, where students present original research or solutions to judges.
European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS)
A prestigious European science competition where young researchers present independent projects, with a limited number of spots for participants from outside Europe.
Need- and merit-based STEM scholarships
Many universities and STEM organizations offer scholarships specifically for students from underrepresented backgrounds pursuing STEM fields. We keep a running list as we find them.
Summer research and mentorship programs
Programs that pair high school students with mentors for a short research project, often remote and free to join. We list specific programs as applications open.
Student STEM conferences & events
Regional and international conferences where students present work, attend talks, and meet others interested in STEM. We share upcoming events as we hear about them.
Know of an opportunity we should list? Tell our team →