Represent CIBSE and the UK at REHVA's European Student Competition and showcase your work to an international panel of HVAC experts.
REHVA - The Federation of European Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Associations runs an annual competition recognising the most outstanding HVAC students across Europe. As a REHVA member, CIBSE can nominate one recently completed piece of student work from a CIBSE-accredited course in an area related to CIBSE activity to be judged against other European entries at the REHVA Student Competition to be held in Nice, France, on 20-21 April 2026.
What can be submitted?
You may enter if you are a current or recent student who has successfully completed a piece of assessed work in 2025, such as a major project, dissertation or thesis from a BSc, BEng, MEng or MSc programme at a CIBSE-accredited institution.
Submissions based on Doctoral theses are not eligible.
How it works
· Students submit their eligible work to CIBSE.
· CIBSE reviews all entries and selects one finalist to represent CIBSE at the REHVA European Student Competition 2026 in Nice.
· The winner of the European competition receives a cash prize and will go on to represent REHVA at the HVAC World Student Competition (typically held in June), with the chance to win an additional award.
Key dates:
- Monday 19 January 2026: Entry deadline
- Monday 2 February 2026: Finalist announced.
- Monday 30 March 2026: Slides and poster sent to CIBSE for review.
- Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 April 2026: Competition final.
- June 2026: HVAC World Student Competition.
Please email your application to [email protected] no later than 12pm, Monday 19 January 2026.
Competition details
- Welcomed from CIBSE Student and Graduate grade membership holders (Be an active Student or Graduate Member of CIBSE)
- Allowed from those who have completed their work (major project/dissertation/thesis) on a BSc/BEng/MEng/MSc that was assessed and successfully completed in 2025.
- Written in English, in the format of a scientific paper, with a maximum of six pages that conform to the requirements below.
- The application email should include the membership grade and membership number of the entrant.
- Entries must be submitted to [email protected] no later than midday on Monday, 19 January 2026.
Work may report on experimental, analytical, numerical, design-related or other relevant areas and may result from research carried out by an individual student or a team of a maximum of two students.
CIBSE will review the entries submitted and select the finalist who will attend the competition. The decision will be final and, unfortunately, there will be no opportunity for individual feedback. Candidates will be advised by Monday, 2 February 2026 if they have been selected as the finalist.
The CIBSE selected finalist must be able to present their work at the REHVA Student Competition to be held in Nice, France on 20-21 April 2026.
This will include:
- A twelve-minute oral presentation of the work (not exceeding 15 slides). Followed by a three-minute Q&A session.
- A high-resolution, A1-sized technical poster (oriented vertically).
The CIBSE selected finalist will be required to submit to CIBSE (no later than Thursday, 2 April 2026) the slides and the poster that will be presented.
The REHVA jury may award prizes to a maximum of three submissions. An additional prize will be awarded for the best poster and the winners will be announced to all contestants after the jury’s meeting.
All contestants will receive a certificate of participation. The prizes will be awarded to winners in the closing session of the REHVA Annual Meeting. There, the winner of the first prize will present their work (max. 15 min).
If requested by the finalist, CIBSE will provide a bursary of up to £500 towards the cost of travel, accommodation, and subsistence that will be claimable by the finalist after having attended and presented at the final in Nice in April 2026.
Entries should be in the format of scientific papers, with a maximum of six pages, following this template and should include the:
- Submission title
- Full name(s) of the student(s)
- Full name(s) of the supervisor(s)
- Affiliation(s) of the author(s), including the name(s) and full address(es) of the respective institute(s)
- E-mail address(es) of the student(s) and supervisor(s)
- Date when the work on which the submission is based has been formally assessed by the university/institute.
- The eligibility and relevance of the project topic
- The clarity of the work objectives
- The applicability of the methods used
- The validity and reliability of findings
- The innovative character of the work conducted
- The clarity and accuracy of written and oral presentation
- The graphical quality of the summary and the presentation
- The candidate’s ability to constructively discuss technical issues
- The scientific level of the submission
- For the Best Poster award, the evaluation will focus on the scientific level of the submission, and the graphical quality of the poster
