General Rules and Guidelines

Eligibility

• SSEF is open only to secondary and pre-university students studying in MOE schools. Submissions from students who are not from MOE schools, or students in institutes of higher learning, will not be considered.

• Students participating in the Main Category competition are typically in Sec 3 and above (or equivalent grades) in the year SSEF is held. There is no age restriction for participation in SSEF, provided students are in an MOE school at the point of participation.

• Students participating in the Junior Scientist competition must be in Sec 1 or Sec 2 (or equivalent grades) in the year preceding SSEF (i.e. the year that the research is done).

• Projects can be submitted as an individual or a team project. Each team should comprise not more than three members. Teams can comprise members from different schools.

• Only one project (individual or team) can be submitted per student. Students who are involved in more than one project should decide on one project to submit for SSEF; any student who submits more than one project may have his/her projects disqualified from the competition.

• Projects submitted for SSEF should only involve research conducted in the time period starting  from 1 Jan of the preceding year and ending on the SSEF registration closing date. The total duration of research should not exceed 12 months. 

• For team projects, one submission by the team leader on behalf of all team members is sufficient.

Registration Forms

• Schools with students intending to participate in SSEF must register a teacher-coordinator. All important correspondence will only be directed to the teacher-coordinators.

• Students intending to participate in SSEF should complete the following paperwork:

  1. Submit SSEF Entry Form (via FormSG); and

  2. Submit relevant ISEF Forms (through the Teacher Coordinators) [for Main Category projects only]; and

  3. Register project details on the SSEF Portal

Submission of Project

• After registering project details on the SSEF Portal, students should submit their project documents (abstract and report) via the SSEF Portal.

• Submission of the abstract and report is subject to a strict deadline. Late submissions of the abstract and report will not be accepted. 

• For Junior Scientist projects, a video should be submitted (as a YouTube link) via the SSEF Portal. The submission of the video link will be done during a separate time period after the submission of project documents.

• Submission of the video link is also subject to a strict deadline. Late submissions of the video link will not be accepted.

Shortlisting Process 

• Only shortlisted applicants from the Preliminary Judging round will participate in the SSEF Final Judging round. Shortlisted applicants will be notified after the Preliminary Judging through their Teacher Coordinators.

Selection for International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)

• Only Main Category projects are eligible to participate at ISEF. 

• Among the top winners of SSEF, only Singapore Citizens or Singapore Permanent Residents will be considered to represent Singapore at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). 

• In addition, due to ISEF regulations, all participants selected for ISEF must be in Sec 3 and above, and below the age of 20, at the point of participation in ISEF.

Other Rules and Guidelines

• As SSEF is an Affiliated Fair of ISEF, the ISEF International Rules and Guidelines are applicable to SSEF, unless otherwise stated. For changes to the ISEF Rules (2025-2026), please refer to the summary here.

Citations

• Ensure that sources are appropriately cited and written in the appropriate format.

• Should there be direct copying of phrases, quotation marks should enclose the phrase, with the source clearly cited.

• Images and other media from other sources have to be cited.

• Review manuscript guidelines of journals representative of the discipline or seek external mentor’s guidance, if any, to understand the referencing guidelines.

Advisory on Integrity and the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

• While the SSEF does not prohibit all use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI), we expect that students should be responsible in their use of Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. This includes taking all care to ensure that classified, sensitive and/or personal data (e.g. data containing identifiable personal information of individuals) is not uploaded, as such data may be retained as "training data".

• Students are expected to include a statement in the “References” section of their project report to state whether Generative AI was used, and if so, how it was used in their project. This is similar to how students are expected to cite sources used, and not pass off work by others as their own.

• Projects found to have committed fraud or to have been dishonest, in any stage of the project, will be investigated. Such projects may be disqualified from the competition. The school(s) of student(s) involved will also be notified and disciplinary consequences may need to be meted out.

• Random checks on project documents for plagiarism will be performed by the SSEF Secretariat.