Reinforce

EPS Citizen Science Competition

Help us support researchers in the fields of High Energy Physics and Gravitational Wave Astronomy to optimize their detectors in order to make groundbreaking new discoveries!

The European Physical Society (EPS) is inviting you to join an unique opportunity fit for every science enthusiast: the EPS Citizen Science Competition 2022. Help us support researchers in the fields of High Energy Physics and Gravitational Wave Astronomy to optimize their detectors in order to make groundbreaking new discoveries. Enter the classification challenge on Zooniverse as soon as September 1st,  2022 and win one of the four travel grants to visit CERN and EGO-Virgo offered by the EPS.


The grants will be funded by the Surrounded by Science EU project.  The competition is supported by the REINFORCE EU project, the FRONTIERS EU project and Ellinogermaniki Agogi.

 

Conditions of the competition call:

  • Starting on September 1st, 2022, until September 30th, 2022, at 23:59 CET, you will be able to perform classifications in both the GWitchHunters and the New Particle Search at CERN projects in the Zooniverse platform.
    • In order to participate, you should be registered in the Zooniverse platform, and fill in this form. 
  • The 10 participants who make the most classifications in each project (10+10 in total) will be shortlisted for the travel grants  to visit CERN and EGO-Virgo. Kindly note that classification quality will be taken into account.
  • The shortlisted candidates will be asked to submit by the 7th of October a motivation letter showing their interest in the projects, the related visit to the experiment (CERN or EGO-VIRGO) and in science as a whole.
    • The final selection of the awardees of the four travel grants to visit CERN and EGO-Virgo offered by the EPS will be based on 70% (number and quality of the classifications) + 30% (motivation letter).
    • Important: The EPS Citizen Science Competition 2022 will count classifications performed only between September 1st at 00:00 CET to Friday, September 30th at 23:59 CET. You are welcome to practice in the Zooniverse platform before the start of the competition at your convenience. 
    • The awardees of the four travel grants to visit CERN and EGO-Virgo will be requested to make a testimonial of their visits in the form of a video or written interview to be posted on the Surrounded by Science social networks.
  • The winners of the four travel grants to visit CERN and EGO-Virgo will be announced by mid-October and the visits will take place between mid October and mid December 2022.
  • The evaluation of the motivation letters will be performed by a selection panel. Their names will be announced at a later stage.
  • All shortlisted participants will get a certificate after the end of the competition.

 

How to join?

To join the EPS Citizen Science Competition 2022, you will need to:

 

Step 1

  • Register and Sign-in in Zooniverse platform and fill in this form with your email and the Zooniverse username.

 

Step 2

  • Visit the GWitchHunters and the New Particle Search at CERN projects and study their contents. We strongly recommend your participation in both projects although this is optional and not mandatory.Τhe actions referring to the challenge must be done between Thursday, September 1st to Friday and September 30th  at 23:59 CET. The challenges are described below:

 

GWitchHunters Challenge:

  • Visit the GWitchHunters Project page and study its contents. You can find supporting materials here. You are invited to do as many classifications as you can in the following levels: Level 1 – Catch the Noise, Level 2 – Find them all and Level 3 – Watch out the sensors. Please note that the total number of classifications within the competition’s period will be taken into account. Please classify carefully!

 

New Particle Search at CERN Challenge:

  • Visit the New Particle Search at CERN Project and study its contents. You can find supporting materials here. You are invited to do as many classifications as you can at Stage 1 (Identification of Displaced Vertices). Please note that tThe volunteers who will be shortlisted will be the ones with the most classifications where a match (as given by the Zooniverse feedback) was found in  at least 50% of the classifications.

 

Step 3

  • Stay tuned for the announcement of the shortlisted participants at the beginning of October 2022. You will be notified via email. 

 

Eligibility:

  • The participants have to be 18+ years old, based in an EU member state or in an associated state or a third country to Horizon Europe and to be registered in the Zooniverse platform fulfilling the above-mentioned conditions are eligible to participate in the challenge. 

Useful links

REINFORCE Website

Demonstrators

GWitchHunters

New Particle Search at CERN

Deep Sea Explorers

Cosmic Muon Images


REINFORCE has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 project call H2020-SwafS-2018-2020 under Grant Agreement no. 872859. The content of this website does not represent the opinion of the European Commission, and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that might be made of such.

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