At every ECSS congress, ECSS and its official publishing partner, Wiley, offer travel grants of €600 each for up to five ECSS Young Investigators Award (YIA) candidates. During the online abstract submission process, applicants for the ECSS YIA have the opportunity to opt in for the ECSS YIA travel grant. The applicant must fulfil the following requirements:

• The applicant is not a former ECSS YIA travel grant winner.
• The applicant has successfully submitted an abstract for an ECSS YIA presentation at the Annual Congress (Notification of acceptance on 2 April 2024) and ticked ‘Yes - I wish to apply for the ECSS YIA travel grant’ during abstract submission.
• The applicant uploaded a proof of a university affiliation that appears on the DAC List of ODA Recipients in the ECSS account.
• The applicant uploaded a proof of current residence in a country that appears on the DAC List of ODA Recipients in the ECSS account.
• The applicant paid the full registration fee before receiving the ECSS YIA travel grant money.

Following a review of all ECSS YIA applications by the ECSS Scientific Board and ECSS Scientific Committee, ECSS YIA travel grants are then selected according to the results of the ECSS YIA’s abstract selection process and offered to candidates.

For more information on the ECSS YIA travel grant for ECSS Glasgow 2024, click here.

Complementing ECSS’s mission to disseminate high quality, innovative science and its application, this award showcases the most innovative science published in EJSS in one calendar year.

Eligibility for the Award

Journal articles published in the calendar year prior to the congress are eligible for the award. For example, in 2024, papers will be considered from Volume 23 (calendar year 2023).

Process

Associate Editors nominate papers from their section published in the calendar year. An editorial panel review all nominations and select an overall winner.

Criteria

• Open to all age groups and career levels.
• Associate Editors nominate papers for consideration according to the following criteria:
• Originality: The paper is innovative and constructively engages with new or complex problems.
• Significance: The paper makes an important contribution to the advancement of knowledge in sport science.
• Methodological rigour: The paper uses robust and appropriate methods to address the research question.
• Potential impact: The paper has the potential to alter prevailing theory or practice in sport science.

Timeline

• January to February – The Editor-in-Chief contacts Associate Editors for their nominations. The Editorial Panel review nominations and select the EJSS Best Paper Award winner and other ranked papers based on the above criteria.
• March – lead authors are notified. The 1^st place award winner is invited to attend the ECSS Annual Congress. All papers are announced via ECSS channels.
• July – the 1^st place award winner is officially presented with the award at the ECSS Annual Congress.

Award Ceremony

The EJSS Best Paper Award is officially announced at the ECSS Annual Congress by the Editor-in-Chief and ECSS President.

Prize Money

• €1,000 in prize money is granted to the winner of the award (the lead author).
• Congress registration fee is waived for the lead author of the winning paper.

View the upcoming ECSS Annual Congress here.

In case of any questions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

One of the key objectives of the ECSS is the promotion of young scientists and the fostering of state-of-the-art research. For this purpose, the ECSS established the Young Investigators Award (YIA). Since the inauguration of the ECSS and its first Annual Congress in Nice, France in 1996, the ECSS YIA is an integral part of the ECSS Annual Congress. Young scientists have the opportunity to enter this prestigious competition for scientific excellence, where outstanding scientific work can be presented at the Annual Congress. A jury consisting of the ECSS Scientific Board and ECSS Scientific Committee grants the awards for the top ten oral and top 4 conventional print poster presentations respectively.

Each year the Uniting Excellence in Sport Science (UESS) Reception reunites all former ECSS YIA winners at the ECSS Annual Congress – an ECSS-based network, uniting generations of sport scientists. Today, many former ECSS YIA winners are still closely connected to the ECSS and even support the ECSS in its boards and committees. The award has functioned for previous ECSS YIA winners as the starting point of their scientific career. ECSS YIA applications that meet all requirements are welcome to be uploaded during the abstract submission process of the upcoming ECSS congress.

There are generous cash prizes for the ECSS YIA finalists:

Oral presentations

• 1^st Place: €4,000
• 2^nd Place: €3,000
• 3^rd Place: €2,000
• 4^th Place: €1,000
• Equal 5^th Place: €500

Poster presentations

• 1^st Place: €3,000
• 2^nd Place: €2,000
• 3^rd Place: €1,000
• 4^th Place: €500

For more information on the ECSS YIA for ECSS Glasgow 2024, click here.

Social Media Editor
Senior Researcher, University of Cape Town, South Africa
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Dr Sharief Hendricks is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town and a Visiting Professor at Leeds Beckett University (UK). He has over 120 peer-reviewed publications to date and a Google h-index of 33. He has been awarded the prestigious University of Cape Town Fellows Young Researcher Award (2019), a three-time finalist for the TW Kambule-NSTF Researcher Award (2020,2021,2022) (an award for South Africa’s top scientist) and listed on the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans (2019). He has also been awarded the European College of Sport Science Fellowship (FECSS) for his significant contribution to the field. He is currently the President of the South African Sports Medicine Association (the first non-physician to hold this position), and Chair of Research and Science for the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee’s (SASCOC). He has acted as a research consultant for  World Rugby, Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, South African Cricketers’ Association, New Zealand Rugby Union, New Zealand Cricketers’ Association, and England National Rugby League and have lead or co-lead multi-national projects for these governing bodies. He is currently an Associate Editor for the European Journal of Sport Science, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Plus, BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Science and British Journal of Sports Medicine. He has been Social Media Editor for the European Journal of Sport Science for over 10 years.