Eligibility criteria

Endorsing professor

The teams will have to be supported by one of their professors or academic supervisors, whose role will be to supervise the work of the students. This person will be expected to endorse the entire application and development process of the team, and will bear responsibility for the experiment. According to the "Terms and conditions for participation in ESA Parabolic Flight Campaigns" (see Documents page), the endorsing academic supervisor will be appointed the Experiment Principal Coordinator. If the team is composed of Master’s Students, this person must also fulfil the role of Experiment Local Coordinator and must attend the entire campaign, including all the flights. If the team is composed of PhD students, the endorsing academic supervisor will not need to attend all of the flights.

In the case of medical experiments with human subjects if the endorsing professor is the only qualified doctor or nurse in the team he will also be appointed the Experiment Local Coordinator and shall attend all the flights.

ELGRA Mentor

Additionally, the European Low Gravity Research Association (ELGRA) will offer each of the pre-selected teams, through a Mentorship programme, the possibility to benefit from the support from a European scientist highly experienced in microgravity-based research.

The objective of the ELGRA Mentors' relationships with the students is to bring some support to the team, to advise them when writing their Scientific and Technical Proposals and, if they are selected, during their experiment rack development. The Mentors will primarily focus on the scientific aspects of the projects.

The ELGRA Mentor will follow the evolution of the team’s participation until the end of the programme, including the post-campaign activities.

Selection criteria

While reviewing the projects, the Review Board will take into account various criteria including the scientific interest, the relevance of micro-g as well as of the parabolic flights as a means to achieving it, the novelty, the involvement of the project in the students’ syllabus and others.

Submitted proposals will be evaluated on completion of all the relevant steps. Please read the how to apply page carefully.

Please note that the conditions detailed above are subject to change without prior notice.