Jugend forscht ( "Youth researches"), commonly abbreviated as Jufo, is a German youth science competition. With more than 10,000 participants annually, it is the biggest youth science and technology competition in Europe. It was initiated in 1965 by Henri Nannen, then editor-in-chief of the '' Stern'' magazine. Participants work on a self-chosen research project, hand in a written report about their work, and then present their results first at regional levels and later at a national contest to an expert jury, usually in the form of a poster session, often including a practical demonstration. Contest juries often invite university or industry experts to referee some of the projects, especially at the national contest, due to a high level of specialization. Participants can enter in one of seven subject groups: *

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

* Geosciences and

Astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

* Work environment Participants must not be older than 21 years and can enter the competition either on their own or in teams of up to three. University students are only allowed to participate during their first year of study. Participants younger than 15 years compete in a separate contest called “Schüler experimentieren” (“Pupils experiment”). Winners receive prizes donated by industrial sponsors. At the national level, one project in each of the subject groups is selected as the national winner each year. In addition, there is a special prize for the best interdisciplinary project by the German Research Foundation, as well as additional special prizes for particularly distinguished projects by the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

and the

Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal Cabinet of Germany, government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Government of Germany, ...

. Some of the winning projects are nominated for the European Union Contest for Young Scientists, and all winners are nominated for the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.

External links

Jugend forscht website (German)

Science competitions Youth science Education competitions in Germany {{Germany-school-stub