Detailed preparation, recording, submission, AI usage, accessibility, and evaluation guidelines for participants of the ANRF + IIT Mandi National Webinar Competition 2026.
Participants are strongly advised to carefully review the following mandatory requirements before preparing and submitting their webinar entries.
The submitted webinar must be newly prepared for this competition. Previously published or reused webinar recordings may not be considered.
Participants must include the official competition hashtags in both YouTube descriptions and LinkedIn posts.
Any AI-assisted tools used for visuals, editing, captions, scripting, or enhancement must be clearly declared.
YouTube videos should be uploaded as Public. Private submissions may not be evaluated.
Participants must clearly indicate their name and institutional affiliation in the webinar description.
Participants are solely responsible for ensuring originality, proper attribution, and compliance with copyright and ethical guidelines.
Participants are encouraged to design their webinar for a broad scientific audience, including researchers from other disciplines, students and early-career researchers, industry professionals, policymakers and members of the public.
The webinar should aim to make the research understandable, engaging, contextualized, societally relevant.
Participants may use a conventional structure (Introduction, problem statement, objectives, methodology, results, etc.), or may also use other frameworks such as PREP (Point, Reason, Explain, Point again), WWH (Why, What, How), Storytelling (start with a story and increase engagement and curiosity).
More examples on Science of Communication can be found in the presentation shared in the Resources section on the home page. Personal biographies are to be kept minimal, and supplemented with social media links provided on the YouTube and LinkedIn pages.
Participants are encouraged to use clear and accessible language and minimize unnecessary jargon. They are expected to explain technical terminology when used. Use of visual storytelling tools is strongly recommended, with a view to highlight the broader relevance of the work.
In relation to this, participants are encouraged to
Recommended webinar duration:
Submissions exceeding the prescribed duration may incur evaluation penalties.
While the shorter video format is more challenging, longer videos are being watched lesser. The participants thus need to keep their delivery as crisp as possible.
Webinars can be prepared either in English, or any other vernacular Indian language.
Participants should ensure:
Recommended (not mandatory):
Accepted video formats:
Recommended video codec:
Participants are welcome to use multiple media to convey their ideas. These can include, but are surely not limited to slide presentations, digital whiteboards, screen recordings, demonstrations, laboratory footage, and animations.
The presentation format should enhance communication effectiveness and viewer engagement.
In this context, out of the box ideas are strongly encouraged.
Use of AI tools to aid communication is encouraged, accompanied with appropriate declaration.
As these videos may be viewed by a broad range of audiences, we encourage the use of subtitles or captions, large readable fonts, color-accessible slide design, good contrast ratios. A verbal explanation of visual elements is strongly recommended.
Use of AI-assisted tools is permitted, including for visual generation, animation, captioning, voice enhancement, editing assistance, presentation design and script refinement.
However:
All AI use must be clearly declared on the online form, and on the description in the YouTube video.
Participants are required to upload their webinar video to YouTube and submit the links via the online form.
Participants are required to upload their videos as 'Public'.
Private videos may not be considered for evaluation.
Participants should use the following title structure:
Example
This structure improves:
Participants are required to include the following information in the video description.
Description Structure
Participants may additionally include discipline-specific tags relevant to their research area.
Suggested elements:
Participants are required to use
Participants are encouraged to use:
Participants are required to create a LinkedIn post sharing their webinar.
The LinkedIn post must:
Recommended LinkedIn Post Structure
Participants must ensure:
Participants will mandatorily sign off a declaration in confirmation of the above on the online form. Neither ANRF, nor IIT Mandi, will be held responsible for any content that is uploaded by the participants. They will remain solely the views of the participants, and not that of ANRF, neither IIT Mandi.
Content that violates ethical, legal, or platform policies will be disqualified.
Participants using AI-assisted tools should provide a brief disclosure indicating:
The use of AI tools is permitted and may be positively considered when used creatively, responsibly, and transparently to enhance science communication effectiveness.
The evaluation focuses primarily on:
The evaluation does not assess:
In this context, participants are welcome to present on any topic aligned with their research that they feel would benefit from wider dissemination, and/or would be of general interest.
| Criterion | Description | Weightage |
|---|---|---|
| Clarity of Communication | Ability to explain concepts clearly to a broad audience | 25% |
| Audience Engagement | Presentation style, storytelling, pacing, and viewer engagement | 15% |
| Visual and Media Design | Effective use of visuals, animations, demonstrations, graphics, and multimedia | 15% |
| Accessibility and Inclusivity | Ease of understanding across disciplines and audience backgrounds | 10% |
| Communication Innovation | Creative communication approaches and originality in presentation | 10% |
| Effective Use of Digital Tools | Quality and appropriateness of recording, editing, production, alignment with mandatory post creation requirements, and digital delivery | 10% |
| Responsible and Innovative AI Use | Transparent, ethical, and innovative use of AI-assisted tools | 10% |
| Overall Impact | Potential to inspire, educate, and broaden scientific outreach | 5% |
Judges May Consider:
Judges Will Not Primarily Consider:
Participants are encouraged to:
The goal of the contest is not merely to present research, but to make research understandable, relatable, and impactful to wider audiences.
If you still have any queries, please reach out to us via the Contact link.
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