Announcements

Student Paper Contest 2022: 1st Phase Results

 in Announcements / Latest News and Updates / SPC 2022

This year there were 15 submissions in total, from which 13 submissions were accepted as valid. The submissions were from the following student branches:

  1. University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
  2. Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
  3. University of Maribor, Slovenia
  4. Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingenieurs, Morocco
  5. Politecnico di Torino, Italy
  6. Qatar University, Qatar
  7. University of Niš, Serbia
  8. Bogazici University, Turkey
  9. Moi University, Kenya
  10. Imperial College London, UK
  11. University of Technology and Applied Sciences-Ibra, Oman
  12. Onaizah Colleges, Saudi Arabia
  13. Linkoping University, Sweden

 

This year, the members of the SPC international jury are:

  • Prof. Paul Micallef from Malta
  • Prof. Giambattista Gruosso from Italy
  • Prof. Mike Hinchey from Ireland
  • Prof. Vera Markovic from Serbia

 

The jury has anonymously selected the following five papers (listed in alphabetical order) for the Regional Oral Finals: 

  • Emilija Ćojbašić, University of Niš, Serbia, “Machine learning as an aid to predicting clinical outcome after stroke”
  • Kristjan Cuznar, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, “Optimization of cold rolling process recipes based on historical data”
  • Lorenzo Lagostina, Politecnico di Torino, Italy, “Design of Low-power Arithmetic Logic Circuits for 45 nm CMOS Technology”
  • Matthieu Brabant, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, “Homomorphic Encryption for Privacy-Friendly Augmented Democracy”
  • Zixuan Huang, Imperial College London, UK, “Beam-switching Circularly Polarized Antenna Array for Cold-chain Tracking RFID Applications”

 

Congratulations to the authors of the top five papers and branches where the finalists come from! Many thanks to all participants in the SPC 2022!

Student Paper Contest 2021: Final Results

 in Announcements / Hall of Fame / Latest News and Updates / SPC 2021

The final part of the IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest (Oral Finals) was held within the frame of the TELSIKS 2021 conference, at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, University of Nis, Serbia on 21 October 2021. The format of the Oral Finals was hybrid, and we managed in this difficult time of the pandemic to gather most of the finalists and jury members to participate in person. On the other hand, the hybrid form allowed those who could not travel to participate in the event online. The marks of the oral presentation in the final part (max 30) were added to the marks from the assessment of the written paper in the first part of the contest (max 70) to give the final result.

 

Members of the international jury who assessed the oral presentations were Prof. Paul Micallef from Malta, Prof. Mike Hinchey from Ireland, and Prof. Vera Markovic (also the SPC coordinator) from Serbia. In addition to them, Prof. Giambattista Gruosso from Italy also contributed to the work of the jury in the first part of the contest. Theodoros Chatzinikolaou, R8 Regional Student Representative attended the Oral Finals in person as well. The R8 SAC Chair, Simay Akar, participated in the event online.

 

 

Final Results

1ST PRIZE and award of $800

Olivier Leblanc1, Loïc Tadrist2, Nicolas Moreau1, Boris Brun1, Tristan Gilet2, Benoît Hackens1

1 UC Louvain SB, 2 University of Liege, Belgium

 

“An affordable pedagogical setup for wave-particule duality and applications to chaotic stadium cavity” 

In addition, the student branch of the winner, UC Louvain SB, gets an award of $250.

 

2ND PRIZE and award of $500

Eva Boneš, Matija Marolt

University of Ljubljana SB, Slovenia

 

“Automatic segmentation of the Golgi apparatus in volumetric data with approximate labels”

 

3RD PRIZE and award of $200

Yazan Alnajjar, Jinane Mounsef

University of Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai SB, UAE

 

“Next-Generation Network Intrusion Detection System (NG-NIDS)”

 

4th and 5th Place

Damjan Denić, Predrag Aleksov, Igor Vučković

University of Niš SB, Serbia

 

“Object recognition with machine learning for people with visual impairment”
Salma Moufid, Fatima Zahra Lachgar, Chaimae El Ainzroudi, Anass Ait Ben El Arbi

Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingenieurs SB, Morocco

 

“Improving Steganography using Image Compression JPEG”

 

CONGRATULATIONS to the winners and two other finalists!

 

 

Oral Finals at TELSIKS 2021

This hybrid event provided an opportunity for students to get together and to feel the atmosphere of an international conference. In addition to the conference organizers, the local student branch (SB Nis, chaired by Milos Marjanovic) was co-hosting finalists and the R8 student representative during their stay. They got acquainted with the activities of the SB Nis and spent pleasant moments together with SB Nis representatives during their free time.  

 

The social program included also a sightseeing tour and a nice conference dinner with live music. During the dinner, an award ceremony for SPC finalists was held.

 

From left to right: Damjan Denic, Igor Vuckovic, Vera Markovic, Predrag  Aleksov, Eva Bones, Paul Micaleff, Olivier Leblanc, Milos Marjanovic, and Theodoros Chatzinikolaou 

 

 

Students’ Impressions

❝ The SPC Oral Finals are a wonderful opportunity to discover a new city, especially a new university with different habits and ways to work and teach scientific matter. We can enjoy sharing our work with foreign colleagues, as well as being evaluated by internationally known professors all around the R8.❞

~ Olivier Leblanc

❝ The SPC Oral Finals were my first encounter with the world of conferences. It was a great experience, from learning to prepare a paper for publishing all the way to the actual presentation, and it gave me the confidence for all future challenges. The whole trip, especially the social part of it, was a very sweet cherry on top.❞

~ Eva Bones

Call for Proposals – IEEE Region 8 Student and Young Professional Congress 2022

 in Announcements / Announcements and Updates / News

 

We would like to invite proposals to host the upcoming IEEE Region 8 Student and Young Professional Congress 2022.

 

The Region 8 SYP Congress is the biggest IEEE event for students and young professionals in Region 8. 400+ members from across the region come together for five days to enhance their knowledge, expand their network, develop skills, socialise with others from a variety of cultural backgrounds and have a lot of fun! 

 

Many students regard the SYP Congress as the highlight of their IEEE experience, so if you would like to host this prestigious event in your University in summer 2022, submit a proposal to us now! 

 

 

 

Writing of a Proposal

To nominate your IEEE Student Branch to host the next SYP Congress, you must submit a proposal document to us, explaining how your IEEE team will facilitate this event and some ideas for the event programme. Suggestions for a well-prepared proposal include:

  • Demonstrate that you have an enthusiastic team that is experienced enough for the task and have ideally participated in a previous edition of the Congress.
    • Collaborate with your local IEEE Section officers, local Young Professionals and Women in Engineering affinity groups, Humanitarian Activities Committees, etc.
  • Show that you have the infrastructure within your chosen city to host the event, which includes:
    • Attendee accommodation.
    • Transportation and travel options.
    • Catering (keep in mind diverse dietary needs).
    • Facilities for hosting workshops, panel sessions, plenary sessions, and networking.
    • Facilities for social events.
  • Present and showcase your chosen city and suggest tours and/or cultural activities.
  • Include a preliminary five-day schedule and a budget estimation.
  • Show innovation and creativity!

 

For full details and advice on how to organize a Student and Young Professional Congress in your University, please download and read The SYP Congress Manual.

 

 

 

How to Apply

The nomination is a multi-stage process. 

 

1st Stage

First, a two page proposal shall be submitted to us, before 21st of September 2021. This proposal should include essential items such as: the date, location, team members, why you should be selected, student branch background and experience, ideas for the program, etc. Based on this first stage proposal, we will provide valuable feedback and suggestions for the next phase. This stage is mandatory to submit your final proposal.

 

Please submit the first proposal with the subject: “IEEE R8 SYP First Proposal-<Name of SB>” to [email protected].

 

2nd Stage

The final proposal shall be submitted by 30 September 2021. This proposal should be less than 25 pages in length, and will be used to fully evaluate the ability of the candidates to host the IEEE R8 SYP Congress 2022. The final decision regarding the host of SYP Congress will be announced in mid-October prior to the Region 8 Autumn Meeting.

 

Please submit your proposal with the subject: “IEEE R8 SYP Final Proposal-<Name of SB>” to [email protected].

 

 

 

History

The Region 8 Student and Young Professional Congress has been hosted in a wide variety of Sections in the past. We equally welcome applications from new and previous hosting countries, so start your application now to bring the SYP 2022 to your members!

 

Student Paper Contest 2022: Call for Papers

 in Announcements / SPC 2022

GENERAL 

The Student Paper Contest (SPC) is one of the main technical activities in Region 8. It was  established in 1967 and since then it is an excellent occasion for personal leadership and  involvement of student members in a prospective IEEE scientific/technical activity and to  increase the visibility of the student branch. It also makes possible further promotion of IEEE among students. The success of the SPC relies heavily on the input from the Student Branch Officers, especially  the Student Branch Counselor and the Student Branch Chair, but also on academic members  especially those who form part of the local IEEE section. 

 

Once every year, each IEEE R8 Student Branch (SB) may hold and organize a local Student Paper  Contest under its own responsibility. The organization of a local SPC generally means that  contest should be announced publicly in advance and that all submitted papers are to be locally  reviewed by qualified specialists. Additionally, all R8/Sections/Chapters IEEE Conferences,  having student papers sessions included in their programs, could and should also be used to get  additional proposals for SPC. As long as a SB is formally supporting and accepting any type of a  student papers contest activity, it is in line with the existing SPC rules. Student Branch  Counselors should be fully involved in all local SPC activities, as well as all other local IEEE  officers (Section Chairs, Chapter Chairs, student activities officers, members of executive  committees…). 

 

The winner(s) of each local Student Branch Contest may compete for the Region 8 Contest. A  Student Branch may submit one paper per every 100 Student Branch members or part thereof,  with a maximum of three papers per SB. At the same time, especially in small branches where the managing of a local contest is difficult, the IEEE section officers can encourage students to submit their work as a paper to the SPC.  This is a good exercise for students, especially those who intend to continue to a doctorate. 

 

WHO COULD PARTICIPATE 

IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest is for IEEE R8 student members or graduate student  members who have not yet started their PhD. Only IEEE R8 student members could be authors  of the IEEE R8 SPC papers. Since the five finalist papers are being included in the conference  proceedings as well as in IEEE Xplore Library, the rules will now allow that the name of the  supervisor/mentor may be added, as an author, to the final version of the paper. This does  not change in any way the basic rule that the submitted paper is the work of the student. Each student author must be a member of an IEEE Student Branch at the time of the original  submission of the paper to the Branch Contest, and a member (student or not) of the IEEE at  the time of the R8 Oral Finals presentation. The work presented has to be completed before the student receives the engineering degree that entitles her/him to start preparing a doctoral thesis. The submission of the paper to the SPC must be completed within 12 months after  graduation. A doctoral thesis is not considered. Published work is excluded from the Contest. 

 

CHARACTER OF THE PAPER 

Papers should cover technical and engineering aspects of a subject reasonably within or related  to the areas with which the IEEE is concerned with. The work need not be original in  engineering or scientific content, but should be original in treatment and concise in coverage of  the author’s contribution to the subject. 

 

PAPER REVIEW, JURY, FINALISTS, ORAL FINALS AND PRIZES 

A first evaluation phase (paper review) will be carried out by four jury members including the  SPC Coordinator. The jury members may also use the experts in the pertinent subject area as  reviewers. They will grade the written papers sent by Student Branches to the Regional contest  without knowledge of the identity of the authors and of their school. Based on this evaluation,  the SPC Coordinator will decide which five papers will be accepted for presentation at the  Regional Oral Finals. All five finalists will be invited and financially supported to present their  papers at the IEEE R8 flagship conference MELECON 2022, June 14-16, Palermo, Italy. Papers presented at the Oral Finals will be published in the Conference Proceedings and included  in IEEE Xplore Digital Library. The Jury members will grade the oral presentations and three best  finalists will get prizes ($800, $500, and $200 respectively). The student branch of the student  who wins first prize also gets as an award of $250. 

 

DEADLINE AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

The deadline to send full papers to IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest 2022 is December 1, 2021 December 15, 2021. Please send papers by email to [email protected].

 

ATTACHMENTS

Student Paper Contest 2021: Results and Updates

 in Announcements / SPC 2021

1st PHASE SELECTION REPORT

For the 2021 edition of the Region 8 Student Paper Contest (SPC) we received 9 papers coming from 7 countries (Belgium, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia, and UAE), from the following Student Branches:

  1. Faculty of Electronic Engineering, University of Niš, Serbia  
  2. Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
  3. Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, Slovenia
  4. Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
  5. Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia
  6. University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  7. Al-Balqa Applied University, Amman, Jordan
  8. Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingenieurs, Rabat, Morocco
  9. Rochester Institute of Technology, Dubai, UAE

 

This year, the members of the SPC international jury are:

  • Professor Paul Micallef from Malta,
  • Professor Giambattista Gruosso from Italy,
  • Professor Mike Hinchey from the UK, 
  • Professor Vera Markovic from Serbia, who is also the SPC Coordinator

 

The jury has anonymously selected the following five papers (listed in alphabetical order) for the Regional Oral Finals, which will be held within the frame of an IEEE conference: 

  • Eva Boneš, Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, “Automatic segmentation of the Golgi apparatus in volumetric data with approximate labels”
  • Olivier Leblanc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, “An affordable pedagogical setup for wave-particule duality and applications to chaotic stadium cavity”
  • Predrag Aleksov, Damjan Denić, Igor Vučković, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, University of Niš, Serbia, “Object recognition with machine learning for people with visual impairment”
  • Salma Moufid, Chaimae El Ainzroudi, Fatima Zahra Lachgar, Anass Ait Ben El Arbi,  Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingenieurs, Rabat, Morocco, “Improving Steganography using Image Compression JPEG”
  • Yazan Alnajjar, Rochester Institute of Technology, Dubai, UAE, “Next-Generation Network Intrusion Detection System (NG_NIDS)”

 

The Student Activities Committee congratulates the authors of the five chosen papers and thanks all participants in the SPC contest.

 

2nd PHASE – ORAL FINALS

This year, due to travel restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the SPC 2021 Oral Finals will be postponed! Hoping that the situation will be significantly better in the fall, the Finals will be organized in
October 2021. The final decision on the location and format will be announced in August 2021.

 

Vera Markovic

SPC Coordinator