Student Research Symposium

Annual Student Research Symposium

The 4th Annual UNC NORC Student Research Symposium will be held on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2025 from 1PM-4:30PM EST. Prizes will be awarded for the best undergraduate oral presentation, best graduate oral presentation, best undergraduate poster presentation, and best graduate poster presentation.

The poster session will take place in the atrium of the Michael Hooker Research Center (MHRC), and the oral presentations will take place in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Auditorium in MHRC.

Undergraduate and graduate students will have the opportunity to engage with each other and share their research at the poster session and the oral presentations. Light refreshments will be served at the poster session.

Eligibility

Undergraduate and graduate students whose research are in the fields of nutrition or obesity. Students currently working in the lab or research group of a current UNC NORC member are encouraged to apply, however this is not required.

Criteria

Abstracts may be basic science, clinical/ translational, and behavioral/epidemiological. They may include laboratory or non-laboratory research projects that focus either on human nutrition or obesity, animal work that could be translated to human nutrition or obesity, or basic research related to nutrition or obesity. Human nutrition or human obesity projects may focus on inpatient or outpatient studies or on epidemiological or community-based research that is social or behavioral in nature. Posters and presentations do not need to be new, but they should be related to nutrition or obesity. Work published in the previous year is acceptable.

Three members of the UNC NORC Internal Advisory Board will judge the poster competition and the oral presentations. The judges will have expertise in nutrition/obesity research from basic science and clinical to epidemiology and policy. The criteria will include the project’s significance, innovation, approach, and the clarity of presentation.

Abstract Submission

20 abstracts will be selected for poster presentations, and 6 abstracts will be selected for oral presentations. Oral presentations will be awarded to the best undergraduate and best graduate abstracts in each of the three research categories (basic science, clinical/ translational, and behavioral/epidemiological). The oral presentations will be 10 minutes each followed by 2 minutes for questions. If you do not wish to give an oral presentation, please indicate “poster only” on your abstract. To submit an abstract for the UNC NORC 2025 Undergraduate Research Competition, follow the guidelines below and submit your abstract using the online form by the deadline: Friday, March 28th. Applicants will be notified no later than Friday, April 4th.

Abstract Submission Link

Formatting Guidelines

All abstracts are limited to a total of 2,000 characters with 1 Figure/Table. This character limit includes spaces and is only applied to the abstract body text (not title authors or affiliations). Please complete your submission carefully. All abstracts must be in final form. No typos or other errors can be corrected after the deadline. Abstracts will not be considered or reviewed unless all required information is completed.

Author Notifications and Additional Guidelines

All correspondence, including notification of abstract acceptance and details for presentations, will be sent to the Corresponding Author via email. The corresponding author shall be responsible for informing all contributing authors of any related correspondence. All first authors must register for the event in order to present their poster.

• The presenting author has the responsibility of obtaining the consent of all coauthors to be listed on the abstract.
• Abstract submission signifies that the reported research complies with animal welfare and human subject regulations.
• Abstracts reporting studies with unidentified chemical compounds, drugs, or materials will not be accepted.
• Each submitted abstract will be evaluated by the UNC NORC Internal Advisory Board for scientific merit and compliance with the guidelines described above. Abstracts that do not conform to the above standards may be rejected.

Contact

Contact Katie Cook with any questions regarding the student research symposium.