iGEM High School Competition 2026

iGEM High School is not a science-fair experiment with a larger stage. Teams develop a synthetic biology project over a long season and must document the work through a public wiki, safety submissions, attribution, a presentation and judging materials. The official judging questions examine engineering practice, evidence, likely impact, responsible Human Practices and how clearly the project is documented. The institutional requirement is equally important. A student cannot register a team independently. A Primary Principal Investigator is responsible for registration, safety oversight, payments and compliance, and a secondary-school team needs an eligible school-based adult in that role. Teams also need appropriate working space, training and access to resources. The first feasibility question is therefore not “What should we engineer?” but “Can our institution support a safe, student-led season?” CompeteMap sees iGEM as a demanding choice for mature students who want research, engineering and public communication to form one project. It can accommodate laboratory, modelling, software and Human Practices contributions, but it is poorly suited to a loosely assembled group without stable supervision. The strongest teams do not hide unsuccessful experiments. They document how evidence changed the design and distinguish demonstrated results from future claims.