FAQS

EURECA stands for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, Entrepreneurship and Creative Achievement. It is part of AUC’s Research and Creativity Convention (RCC), which is held annually (usually in the spring). EURECA is an opportunity for undergraduate students to gather and share their best scholarly and innovative research, creative, and entrepreneurial work with an academic, multidisciplinary audience made up of their peers, faculty, and the public. Students showcase and celebrate their original work, sharpening critical thinking, creative inquiry, and expression skills (written, oral, and visual) and engaging in interdisciplinary dialogue.

Your research, creative, or entrepreneurial work can be on any topic, but it has to be original and should involve a faculty member or mentor in the field. The work can be related to a course you are taking/have taken, or it can be on an outside project that the faculty member or mentor is working on.

Presenting at EURECA gives you the opportunity to share and celebrate your research, creative, or entrepreneurial project with a wider audience (peers, faculty and the public) in a conference setting. In this type of setting, you share in the social construction of knowledge and become a part of an interdisciplinary dialogue. You receive feedback and suggestions on how
you can further your project, as well as make connections with other students, faculty, and the community for possible new projects. You also build and sharpen your scholarly presentation skills. Your participation helps you to stand out to employers and graduate schools as they look favorably on having this type of experience. Presenters receive a certificate after giving their presentation. If you are an AUC student, you can add presenting at EURECA to your co-curricular transcript.

• Presenter: To present at the conference, you need to first submit a proposal abstract describing your work. You can submit a proposal for an individual or group presentation. This proposal is then reviewed by the conference organizing committee based on the following criteria. If you are accepted, then you prepare and give your presentation. Read the Proposal Submission Information section of the FAQs for more information.
• Attendee: As an attendee, you attend conference sessions and are an active participant (this can include taking notes, asking questions, providing comments to the presenter, and adding to the conversation with other audience members).
• Organizer/Moderator: An organizer or moderator helps with the planning and preparation of the conference, conference promotion, and smooth running of the conference as well as moderates sessions at the conference. Generally, students are invited to be an organizer/moderator. See the information about moderators in the Moderating at the Conference section of the FAQs.

Undergraduates from all disciplines, from the first year to capstone, are invited to participate in person or virtually. This includes both undergraduate students at other universities in Egypt as well as internationally. You can participate as a presenter, attendee, or conference organizer/moderator (see question above for details). If you are not an AUC student, you may participate as a presenter or attendee only.

The conference has multiple events to participate in called tracks. Examples of what you can present include research papers, case studies, community-based learning (CBL) projects, essays, entrepreneurial proposals, creative writing, documentaries, and various artistic forms of expression. Presentation formats include oral or poster presentations. See the section below on Preparing for the Presentation for more information on the presentation formats. For more information, click here.

EURECA offers a number of different tracks. These descriptions also tell you who is eligible to apply for each.

Read more about each track's descriptions.

A good proposal should provide context for your research/creative inquiry and highlight its main purpose and significance. It should clearly outline what you are going to share in your presentation and how it will be organized. You are also encouraged to make it clear in your proposal that there will be enough time towards the end of your presentation for your audience to ask questions.

For help in drafting a proposal for the conference, read the guidelines for writing a proposal. Check this YouTube channel, where you will find videos that can help you write your proposal. If you are a student at AUC, you can also book an appointment with a tutor at the Mohamed Taymour Writing and Communication Center. If you need further assistance with your proposal, contact the EURECA Organizing Committee at [email protected].

To present at the conference, you need to fill out a proposal form.

You can submit as many proposals as you want as long as they are not for the same conference track.

Once the proposal submission due date has passed, the proposal reviewers will read all the proposals to determine which ones are appropriate for the conference. We sometimes contact students to ask for clarification or revisions to the proposal. If your proposal is accepted, you will receive an email about three weeks after the proposal's due date with the acceptance and the conference schedule, where you will see what time your presentation is.

The main format for all oral presentations (except poster presentations) is as follows:

• Four or five presentations are allotted to each 75-minute session. Each presenter presents for 10-15 minutes, one after another. At the end of the presentations, time is given for the audience to ask questions of any of the presenters.
• For poster presentations, posters are set up in one large space. Each presenter stands with their poster and presents to small groups of interested people who approach. This means the presenter usually presents a number of times, usually for about five to ten minutes each time. The presenter also answers any questions that the audience has.