Conference Format & Rules

Teams and Topics

Registrants must be currently enrolled at a college or university as a student (part/full-time). They will be required to provide proof of their ongoing enrollment.
Teams must minimally consist of three to four students, and will be considered a ‘full team’ once they consist of four students.
Students are allowed to register individually (i.e. if they are unable to form a team themselves), if so, the Academics Department will assign them into teams with other individual registrants, or teams that are not ‘full’ (in that order).
Full teams will not be modified.
Further information on the Domain Areas and Topics have been provided on the SUPC website and through the Background Papers respectively.
During registration, teams will need to indicate their preferred Domain Area and the order of preference for the Topics. This will assist the organisers in ensuring balanced numbers of teams in each area throughout the conference. Teams which register early will have priority in getting their preferred area.
Teams will be notified of their allocated Domain Area & Topic within a few weeks before the start of the conference.
Teams will be required to submit a one-page Policy Brief on their Topic prior to the Conference by Mon, 19 June 2023, 2300hrs.
The Organizing Committee of SUPC 2023 reserves all rights to disqualify participants who have deemed to have acted in an inappropriate manner or against the spirit of the Conference.

Official Start of Competition

In the interest of fairness, teams are only allowed to start working on and preparing their policy proposals and presentations from Sat, 24 June 2023, 1630hrs onwards.
Teams that are found to have started working on the above materials prior to the start of the competition phase will be immediately disqualified from further rounds. The Academics Department will strictly vet through all submitted materials through whatever means deemed necessary by the Organising Committee.
However, participants may conduct their own research and discussions on the domain areas/topics with their other team members before the start of the competition. They are permitted to make use of their own rough notes/documents and other research materials, so long as it does not reasonably resemble a draft policy proposal/presentation.

Round 1: Policy Proposal & Presentation Submission

Each team is required to submit a Policy Proposal outlining their key issues and propositions, as well as their Presentation materials to the Academics Department by Sun, 25 June 2023, 1000hrs.
Policy Proposals cannot be longer than five pages, not including citations/bibliography.
More information on the submission and formatting instructions will only be provided to the teams via email at the start of the competition, to prevent any team from working on their materials beforehand.

Round 1: Quarter Finals Judging

Teams will be required to present their Policy Proposals before panels of the Academics Department and Graduate Students. All team members must be present for the presentation, less unavoidable circumstances.
At this stage, Policy Proposals and Presentations will only be evaluated on their formatting, general content and clarity of presentation.
Teams will be able to make modifications to their proposals and presentations before the start of Round 2.
After the panel’s evaluation, the top 6 teams of each domain area (12 teams in total) will be selected to participate in Round 2.

Round 2: Semi-Finals Judging

Teams will be required to present their Policy Proposals before panels of academics and industry experts. All team members must be present for the presentation, less unavoidable circumstances.
At this stage, Policy Proposals and Presentations will be strictly evaluated for, with feedback given on, the effectiveness and feasibility of their propositions/solutions.
Teams will not be able to make modifications to their proposals and presentations before the start of Round 3.
After the panel’s evaluation, the top 3 teams of each domain area (6 teams in total) will be selected to participate in Round 3.

Round 3: Finals & Closing Ceremony

Teams will be required to present their Policy Proposals before the final judging panel consisting of senior government officials, renowned academics & industry experts. All team members must be present for the presentation, less unavoidable circumstances.
At this stage, not only will the proposals be scrutinised for their effectiveness/feasibility, but also whether it is actionable given real-life contexts and by relevant government bodies/organisations
From here, the overall top 3 teams (regardless of domain area) will be selected and crowned as the winning teams of SUPC 2023, and rewards presented to them by the GOH on stage.