Competitions, Olympiads, scholarships, universities, research programs, fellowships, internships, grants, conferences, summer schools, and exchange opportunities — one searchable place, tailored to where you're actually starting from. Read the note below first, though — it matters more than any of it.
Important, before anything else on this page: the trophy isn't the point. ISEF, the programs below, MMI's own contests — every one of them exists to give you a reason to keep building and a room to show it in. They are not the goal. The actual value was always the project itself — the thing you got curious enough to finish, the bug you chased down at 2am, the question you followed because it mattered to you, not because a judge might like it.
Competitions are one of the places you can bring that work once it exists. They are not why you should start. Build things that matter to you first — this page just makes sure that when you're ready to show someone, you know exactly where to go, with a clear guideline and real resources built for where you're starting from, not generic advice written for someone else's context.
Not everything here is fully built yet — marked clearly either way, so you know what's real today versus what's coming.
ISEF pathways and affiliated fairs across MENA.
AvailableInternational programs with real deadlines below.
AvailableEntry points, prep resources, timelines.
Coming SoonFull-ride and partial scholarships by university.
Coming SoonSearchable by region, funding, and program.
Coming SoonMerit-based fellowships for high schoolers.
Coming SoonResearch and industry internships open to under-18s.
Coming SoonSmall project/travel grants for student researchers.
Coming SoonYouth science & leadership conferences worldwide.
Coming SoonCultural and academic exchange opportunities.
Coming SoonHorizon Challenge and future internal competitions.
AvailableRegeneron ISEF (International Science and Engineering Fair) is a week-long international competition where around 1,800 finalists from more than 75 countries present original research for judging, scholarships, and prizes worth several million dollars combined.
The important part almost nobody explains clearly: you can't apply to ISEF directly. You qualify by placing highly at a "Society-affiliated" fair in your own country or region first — ISEF is the last stop in a chain, not something you enter cold. Fair season generally runs from around January through April, with the international event itself in May.
Every entry is one project, individual or in a team of up to three, built on a maximum of twelve continuous months of research.
ISEF Egypt, run by the Arab Science & Technology Foundation (ASTF), is the official Society-for-Science affiliate — the direct route to Regeneron ISEF. EISTF (Egypt International Science & Technology Fair) is a second, separate Cairo-based fair also open to students nationwide. Worth entering both if eligible.
We couldn't confirm a Society-affiliated fair based in Bahrain at the time of writing. If you're based there, check Society for Science's official Find-a-Fair directory directly (societyforscience.org) before assuming there's no path — affiliations open and change. This is a real gap in the regional pipeline, and part of why the Playbook module exists.
If your country isn't listed above, the Society for Science's official directory is the authoritative source for what's currently affiliated near you — it updates as fairs affiliate each year, so check it directly rather than relying on any static list, including this one.
Every program below explicitly accepts international students and lists real deadlines we could verify. Dates shift slightly year to year — always confirm the exact date on the program's own site before you plan around it.
Two-week residential program at Yale across Science & Technology, Politics & Economics, or Global Challenges tracks. Need-based aid available to international students, up to full tuition.
Fully-funded six-week seminar program (travel included) for rising juniors, with a long track record of producing scholars and public leaders.
Same program as above; later deadline if you miss Early Action.
39-day residential research program — teams calculate real asteroid orbits or run genomics/biochemistry research using professional tools. Rising seniors from any country; need-based aid available.
Seven-week lab research program in materials science, biomedical engineering, or molecular biology, working on real faculty-led projects.
Eight-week full-time research role under university faculty across robotics, neuroscience, environmental science, and bioengineering. Remote and in-person tracks.
Local and national fair season — the actual pathway to Regeneron ISEF. Registration windows vary by fair; check each site directly each autumn.
Gulf-based summer camps in computing, quantum science, and hands-on engineering design, hosted at Education City. Primarily Qatar-based but worth checking eligibility if you're in the Gulf.
Alongside pointing you toward external fairs, MMI is building its own recurring competitions — short knowledge challenges to test what you've learned from the Vault, with real prizes and sponsor support, plus the annual Horizon Challenge hackathon. This is genuinely still in development, not live yet — the honest version of this section will grow as the board comes together. Check the Horizon Challenge section for what's confirmed so far.
This section is genuinely empty right now — no stories published, no Instagram live yet. Here's what's planned, so you know what to expect rather than finding a placeholder with no context.
Profiles of MENA students who've built real projects with this kind of hardware and research — what they made, what went wrong, and where it took them afterward. None published yet; this launches once the first cohort of blueprint-built projects exists to write about.
Planned meetups and interviews, starting small and growing with the initiative: