MRC Max Perutz Award

The Medical Research Council (MRC) Max Perutz Award is our science communication competition for current MRC PhD students. To enter, students need to tell a non-scientific audience why their area of research matters.

The award aims to:

support the career development of MRC PhD students
help MRC PhD students build their skills to become tomorrow’s leaders in science
encourage and recognise outstanding science communication

In 2024 we piloted a new approach and accepted video entries only. We are considering accepting both video and written entries in future years. This is informed by feedback from MRC PhD students and our ambition for a more diverse and inclusive award.

The 2024 competition is now closed. You can watch the winning and shortlisted videos on MRC’s YouTube channel.

There are cash prizes for:

one winner: £1,500
one runner-up: £750
up to three shortlisted entries: £375

The award is named after the well-known scientist and Nobel Laureate, Dr Max Perutz, an accomplished and natural communicator. He was a passionate advocate for communicating the benefits of science and engaging people with research. Dr Perutz was a molecular biologist who founded the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 1962.

Since the competition began in 1998, more than 1,000 MRC researchers have entered to communicate their research to the public.

The award has run for 26 years. You can see its impact on previous winners.

Who can enter

You are eligible to submit a video entry if you are:

an MRC-funded PhD student in a university
a PhD student in an MRC unit, centre or institutes, regardless of your source of funding
a student currently enrolled on the masters segment of an MRC-funded integrated masters or PhD

The 2024 competition is now closed.

What we're looking for

Your video should tell a non-scientific audience why your area of research matters in up to 60 seconds.

Make sure you communicate in a way that will interest a non-scientific audience.

Get creative, tell a story and grab the attention of the audience straightaway. Your aim is to make them want to know more about the research.

You can communicate your research or the research of someone you work with. It just needs to be in your area of research.

If you haven’t started your research yet or it’s at an early stage, you can still share the research you are planning to do and why it is important.

How to enter

Entry criteria and guidelines

Videos must be:

up to 60 seconds long (anything over the time limit will be disregarded)
filmed in vertical orientation (portrait)
original content that has not already been submitted or published elsewhere
in English
scientifically accurate

Content

Videos should not include swearing, extreme violence or inappropriate sexual content or nudity.

Footage

Any footage taken must follow appropriate health and safety guidelines. Check your university or research institute’s guidance for getting permission from anyone else in the video, including any participants under 18 years of age.

Equipment and costs

Any video or film camera may be used, including smartphones. Animation, motion graphics and special effects are permitted. Any costs are entirely the responsibility of the producer.

Copyright

If you include any footage or content from a third party, you are responsible for gaining and acknowledging their permission in the description of your video (part of the application form), including but not limited to visuals, narration and music.
You are free to use artificial intelligence as a support tool, but bear in mind it may sound generic and images are not guaranteed to be scientifically accurate.

Captions

You do not need to add your own captions or subtitles, but you are welcome to do so. YouTube provides automatic subtitles, but this does not guarantee their accuracy for scientific terms.

Entry agreement

I agree to and confirm the following:

I have read and understood the MRC Max Perutz Award guidelines in full and meet the eligibility requirements as stated in them
the video I submit to the MRC Max Perutz Award 2024 is my own work and has not been submitted or published elsewhere. I will not submit or publish my video elsewhere until after MRC publishes the winning entry
the topic of my video is within the area of my research
I give permission to MRC and UK Research and Innovation to use and publish my name, image and video on their communication channels, if chosen to be shortlisted
I have checked my university or research institute’s guidance for getting permission from anyone else in the video, including any participants under 18 years of age
I have gained and acknowledged any third-party permission in the description of my video
I have notified my supervisor of my entry and will not share any confidential information about the award with anyone prior to any official announcement by MRC
I agree to a Creative Commons license that retains my copyright of the video while allowing others to copy, distribute, and make some uses of it. I give permission to MRC to publish my video if it is shortlisted
I understand that failing to follow any of the above or providing any false information may disqualify my entry

Submit your entry

To enter, you need to:

complete the entry form, providing details about yourself and your place of study
upload your entry as an unlisted YouTube Shorts video and then provide a link to it in the entry form in the appropriate section
provide a title and short description of the video in the entry form. This should include acknowledgements, permissions and any related links where the audience can find out more about the research

The 2024 competition is now closed.

How to make your video

Make your video so that it’s engaging for a non-scientific audience, and so that it is appropriate for publication on YouTube.

Read this blog to learn how to make a YouTube Short video plus some examples and ideas.

We suggest that you:

bring in the research immediately
engage your audience, they always have other things they could be doing with their time
concentrate on what is new and exciting about the research and what it might mean. For example, will it transform how a disease is treated? Does it pose deep ethical questions? Will it change society in the years to come?
tell a story rather than make an opinion piece
experiment with structure, you do not need to tell your story in a linear way
speak with other scientists who are experts in the topic you are talking about, they may help to contextualise the research

Video production tips:

think about showing us what you do, examples are great
words and images work best together. Wherever possible, show do not tell
get creative with your location
if you’re speaking, make sure we can hear you. Find a quiet location
if you’re in the picture, make sure we can see you and avoid backlighting. Try to put a source of light in front of you (lamp or window) or get outside
if you’re in the picture, plain colours are best. Avoid bright colours and obvious branding

How we assess your video

All submitted videos will be triple-marked through a judging process.

The shortlist of the top five videos will then be reviewed by a judging panel. Throughout the judging process, the videos will be assessed using the following criteria:

creativity: you should grab the interest of the audience, from the first frame to the very last
content: explain clearly to the audience why the research matters
language: explain the research in a way that is easily understood by a non-scientific audience
structure: it should be organised in a way that draws the audience along

The judges’ decision will be final.

Previous award winners

The winners of the MRC Max Perutz Award are listed. You can see the winning and shortlisted entries by following the links.

Ask a question about the award