International Virtual Science Symposium

The International Virtual Science Symposium is an opportunity for GLOBE students to showcase their research to the rest of the community. Projects are judged by prestigious scientists across dozens of GLOBE nations. Students are eligible for stipends and GLOBE badges. 

Students may submit a project on any topic, but they are encouraged to align their research with the year’s theme. 

Note: Students must complete and sign a media release form for their project to be accepted for judging.

The 2025 Symposium's theme is "30 Years of GLOBE: Understanding the Past, Present, and Future," which encourages students from GLOBE's 127 member countries to do their own Earth systems science research using GLOBE protocols. To align with the theme for 2025, student research teams should access and analyze data from the NASA GLOBE database as part of their IVSS project to enrich their understanding of Earth system processes and compare newly collected data to GLOBE data collected over the past 30 years. The event is a part of the 30 Years of GLOBE Field Campaign: Comparing GLOBE Data Past and Present.

The highlighted badge for the 2025 IVSS is the “I am a Data Scientist” badge since data analysis using historical data from the NASA GLOBE Database is a required component for each IVSS submission in 2025. Projects will also be eligible for the new "I am an Earth Systems Scientist" badge for GLOBE students who describe the interconnectedness of Earth’s spheres on their research question or use multiple GLOBE protocols, or protocol bundles, in their investigation. Students who produce outstanding work may get the opportunity to present their work at the 2025 GLOBE Annual Meeting in the USA.

2025 Symposium Timeline

• 16 September 2024: General IVSS Webinar 
• 9 October 2024: Accessing Data From the GLOBE Database Webinar
• 4 December 2024: Badges Webinar
• 1 December 2024 to 5 March 2025: Period for Submitting Projects
• 8 January 2025: Ethical Science and AI
• 22 January 2025: How to Submit IVSS Projects Webinar
• 26 February 2025: Judging Webinar
• 19 March 2025: Additional Judging Webinar with Q&A
• 19 March to 2 April 2025: Judging Period
• 22 April 2025: Earth Day Celebration and Announcement of Stipend Recipients