IRIS National Fair
IRIS — the Initiative for Research and Innovation in STEM — is a program that promotes and nurtures science and scientific research among young Indian innovators from schools across India, with the mission of recognizing and rewarding outstanding scientific research projects.
If you're a curious student with a big idea, a teacher who believes in young minds, or a parent looking for the right platform for your child — you've come to the right place. IRIS is where India's brightest young innovators get to shine.
About the Fair
The IRIS National Fair is India's largest research-based science fair, a program of EXSTEMPLAR Education Linkers Foundation.
IRIS provides a platform for winning students to represent India at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world's largest international pre-college science competition, held annually in the United States.
Having begun as the Intel Science Talent and Discovery Fair in 1999, IRIS has been nurturing the spirit of innovation among school students in India since 2006. The aim is to infuse the spirit of discovery in school children, increase their interest in science and technology, and build a robust scientific temper among the youth of the country.
Today, IRIS has touched over 3.5 million students and counting.
How It Works
The IRIS competition is a thoughtful, multi-stage journey designed to bring out the best in every young researcher:
Students prepare and submit a brief abstract of their research online. The best entries are then selected and invited to join the National Science Fair in India, where finalists present their work to a professional jury. Significant projects are then submitted for recognition at ISEF and other international contests.
Students send in their entries online, and only after a thorough scrutiny of projects by the IRIS Scientific Review Committee are the top entries shortlisted for the National Fair, where they compete across 21 subject categories.
Who Can Participate?
Participation in the IRIS National Fair is open to students of Indian origin enrolled in Class 5 to Class 12 and studying in schools based in India. Students with original and innovative ideas can participate either individually or in a team of two. Projects must be research-based or present a novel engineering design, with originality in content being paramount, supported by data obtained from experimentation where applicable.
Best of all — there is no application fee for participating in the IRIS National Fair.
Exhibitors & Competition
IRIS judges evaluate projects based on several criteria, including scientific merit, creativity, clarity of presentation, and potential real-world impact. They look for projects that demonstrate a deep understanding of scientific principles, innovative approaches to problem-solving, and clear communication of findings.
IRIS is prestigious mainly because it offers students the opportunity to participate in ISEF, where top performers represent Team India at the international level. There are also various organizations that sponsor special awards for exceptional student projects — for instance, USAID presents the Science Champion Award to students or teams whose projects have the potential to make an impact on international development challenges.
Learn more about the program at IRIS NATIONAL FAIR