RSTMH Student Essay Competition
RSTMH aims to support our members, Fellows and wider networks from the very start of their Careers. Our Student Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting topics of global health and tropical medicine each year.
2024 RSTMH Student Essay Competition: How could the use of AI improve global health outcomes in LMICs?
The RSTMH Student Essay Competition is open for applications. The essay topic this year is “How could the use of AI improve global health outcomes in LMICs?”.
The Competition is for students studying global health as a degree, or any degree with a component of global health or medicine. It is open to current, full-time, students, based anywhere in the world. Evidence of student status must be provided at the point of submission.
The essay should clearly set out your personal perspective and specific view, with evidence to back up your choice. The essay must demonstrate a combination of scholarship, original thought, and analysis.
The essay should be submitted by 12:00pm BST 21 August 2024
Guidelines
Length: The essay should be between 1,500 and 2,000 words, excluding references, footnotes, and tables. A 150–200-word summary should also be submitted together with the essay. Please note that if the summary is omitted; the essay will not be considered.
References: All sources must be appropriately acknowledged using references numbered in the order in which they appear in the text with brackets e.g. (2) For reference 2. References do not count as part of the word count.
Format and presentation: The essay must be in English. Please try and organise the essay into a logical succession of headed sections, where possible. Only one essay per person can be submitted.
Originality: The essay should be entirely your own original work and should not have been previously published. The use of AI is not permitted. All essays will be checked for plagiarism, and we encourage you to refer to an academic writing handbook such as this one produced by LSHTM for guidance.
Assessment
The winner(s) will be decided by the RSTMH Education and Training Committee. Highly commended essays may also be selected. The decision of the Committee is final.
The panel will be assessing essays using the following criteria
- How well your personal perspective links to the national or international landscape
- How well structured the essay is
- How easy the essay is to understand
- The evidence basis for your essay, including how you make use of relevant references
- How much the essay inspires or engages the reader
Prize
The prize for the winning essay is £200, plus a year's free student membership to RSTMH, either new or a renewal. We will also invite the winner to be presented with a certificate and their prize fund at an RSTMH event in 2024.
Announcements
We may publish, on our website or in our newsletter, anonymized data relating to submissions to the competition. We will announce the winners name and essay title, plus that of any highly commended submissions on our website and through other communication channels. We may publish submitted essays on the RSTMH website and through our other communications channels. We may publish the winning essay in our scientific journal and on our website. By submitting an essay, you agree to these conditions.