EuroMCM

Contest Instructions

The European Mathematical Contest in Modelling (EuroMCM)™ is a prestigious international competition designed to enhance students' mathematical modelling skills, problem-solving abilities, and written communication. Teams collaborate to develop solutions to real-world challenges using mathematical principles. Below are the detailed rules, registration process, and guidelines for participation.

2026 Contest Schedule

  • Registration Opens: Late April 2026
  • Registration Deadline: 17:00 CET on Tuesday, 13 October 2026 (48 hours before the contest starts)
  • Contest Begins: 17:00 CET on Thursday, 15 October 2026
  • Contest Ends: 20:00 CET on Monday, 19 October 2026
  • Solution Submission Deadline: 21:00 CET on Monday, 19 October 2026
  • Results Announcement: December 2026

Contest Rules and Guidelines

I. Participants and Advisors

1. Team Composition:

  • Teams may consist of up to three students currently enrolled at the same or different educational institutions.
  • Students from any department or programme are eligible (undergraduate, postgraduate, or secondary school).
  • Each student may participate in only one team.

2. Advisor Role:

  • Advisors must be affiliated with the institution of at least one team member.
  • Advisors act as the primary contact for the team and may register multiple teams.
  • Advisors do not need to be from the mathematics department.

3. Institution Eligibility:

  • Team members must be affiliated with recognised educational institutions (not tutoring services or STEM learning centres).

II. Registration and Payment

1. Registration Fee:

  • €80 per team. Payment must be made via Stripe.
  • Supported payment methods: Card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and others), Apple Pay, Google Pay, Bancontact, iDEAL, Klarna, Link, MobilePay, PayPal, and Revolut Pay.
  • Important: Do not share the payment link with anyone to prevent potential fraud. We are not responsible for any registration or payment failures caused by using an incorrect Stripe payment link.

2. Registration Process:

  • Step 1: Advisors register via the contest registration page using a valid email address.
  • Step 2: Teams are officially registered upon receiving a control number.
  • Step 3: Team members may be assigned after registration.

3. Team Information:

  • We strongly recommend filling out the team information (Team Category & Members) as soon as possible after registering the team.
  • You can modify the team information and save changes at any time, but no modifications are allowed within 48 hours before the contest.
  • Once the contest starts, you may only remove team members who did not participate, with the unanimous consent of the entire team.

Need help? Check our Registration Walkthrough.

III. Team Categories

  • Undergraduate Category: Teams where all members are undergraduate students.
  • Postgraduate Category: Teams where at least one member is a postgraduate student.
  • Secondary School Category: Teams where all members are secondary school students.
  • Judging: All categories are judged using the same undergraduate-level problem set. To ensure fairness, evaluation criteria are scaled: expectations are elevated for postgraduate rigour while focusing on foundational logic for secondary school participants.

IV. Awards and Designations

After the contest results are announced, all participants, including advisors and students, will receive a Certificate of Participation. See Awards and Designations for details.

  • Certificates: Advisors can download and print their team's certificates here.
  • Result Levels: Grand Prize (exemplary), Gold Medal (excellent), Silver Medal (strong analysis), Bronze Medal (competent), Successful Participant (minimum standard), and Unqualified (below requirements).
  • Category-Specific Judging: Results are judged separately by category. For limited-entry groups, awards are based on absolute academic merit rather than ranking ratios.
  • Special Awards: Include two General Problem Awards and seven Specialised Problem Awards.
  • Scholarships: The top three teams will each receive a Haïm Brezis Scholarship (9:1 student-advisor ratio).

V. Solution Submission

1. Submission Deadline:

  • All work must stop by 20:00 CET on 19 October 2026.
  • Submissions must be received by 21:00 CET on 19 October 2026.

2. Submission Methods:

3. File Requirements:

  • Papers must be submitted as a PDF file in English, using a clear and readable font of at least 12-point size. The paper must not exceed 25 pages.
  • File name must be the nine-digit team control number (e.g., 000000000.pdf).
  • File size must be less than 20MB.

4. Content Requirements:

  • The first page must be the summary sheet.
  • Each page must include the team control number and page number in the header.
  • No identifying information may appear in the submission.

5. Code Repository Submission:

  • Teams seeking consideration for the Grand Prize or any Special Awards must provide a link to their project code repository (e.g. GitHub or GitLab) in the designated input box at submission.
  • Submission of a project code repository is recommended for all teams, as it supports transparency, reproducibility, and clearer evaluation of computational work.
  • The repository must be publicly accessible until the official announcement of the competition results.

VI. AI Usage Policy

EuroMCM allows responsible AI use but requires full transparency. While AI can assist with structuring and editing, teams must disclose its role to ensure integrity. Human creativity remains vital, and overreliance on AI for modelling, coding, or data interpretation poses risks.

  • Teams must disclose any use of AI tools in their submission, specifying the model used and its purpose.
  • AI-generated content must be verified for accuracy and originality.
  • A separate one-page 'Report on the Use of AI' must be appended at the end of the submission PDF (this does not count towards the 25-page limit).

VII. Submission Rights

By submitting a EuroMCM contest entry document, team members agree that:

  • The submission and all associated non-exclusive publication rights are granted to the EuroMCM Committee.
  • The EuroMCM Committee may use, edit, excerpt, and publish the submission for promotional or academic purposes without compensation of any kind.
  • The Committee reserves the right to use names of team members, advisors, and institutions in contest-related materials, without further notification, permission, or compensation.
  • All images and figures must be either created by the team or properly cited.
  • All direct quotations must be properly identified and cited.
  • The author team retains ownership of all intellectual property rights in the submission.
  • Accordingly, and notwithstanding the above, authors may, upon notification to the EuroMCM Committee, publish, present, and disseminate the submission or extended versions thereof in academic journals, preprint platforms, and conference proceedings with appropriate authorship attribution.
  • Authors are encouraged, where appropriate, to acknowledge EuroMCM as the original venue of dissemination.

VIII. After the Contest

  • Advisors can verify submission status 24-48 hours after the contest ends.
  • Results will be published on the contest website in December 2026.

Important Notes

  • Time Zone: All times are in Central European Time (CET).
  • Disqualification: Teams violating contest rules may be disqualified or have their award level reduced.