Dental Protection’s research competition for final year dental, dental therapy and oral hygiene students

Dental Protection, in partnership with The MPS Foundation, is launching an annual research competition for final year dental, dental therapy and oral hygiene students. We recognise that your are the future of the dental professions, and we want to support you. We believe that research and continuous improvement are essential to careers as dental professionals, and we want to promote and celebrate this fact among the dental professions.   

The aims of the competition

The aims of the competition are to:

• Recognise, celebrate, and reward excellence demonstrated by final year dental, dental therapy and oral hygiene students in patient safety and risk reduction. 
• Provide an opportunity for final year dental, dental therapy and oral hygiene students to develop their understanding and expertise in patient safety and risk reduction.  
• Raise the profile and generate an interest in research in final year dental, dental therapy and oral hygiene students, to build research capability and capacity for the future in the dental sector. 
• Provide career-advancing opportunities for newly final year dental, dental therapy and oral hygiene students with a focus on research.

The areas of focus

This year, the competition will focus on patient safety, risk mitigation and the wellbeing of healthcare professionals.

The competition categories 

To provide the greatest opportunity for final year dental, dental therapy and oral hygiene students to enter the competition and to allow them to demonstrate their best work using different approaches, they can submit their competition entries under one of three categories:

• A quality improvement project that can be applied to in patient safety, risk mitigation the wellbeing of healthcare professionals.
• A presentation of a case managed during the final year which showcases elements of patient safety and risk mitigation.
• Small-scale practice-based research on patient safety, risk mitigation the wellbeing of healthcare professionals.

Visit our Terms and conditions to learn more.

How to enter

The competition is open to final year dental, dental therapy and oral hygiene students who are undertaking their final year of training in 2025. Students can enter either as an individual or as part of a team. All members of a team must be students.

How to enter

1. Register your interest on our competition's portal. 
2. Prepare your competition entry according to the guidelines. 
3. Submit your competition entry via our competition portal

How to register your interest

Complete your details on our competition portal. You can do this at any time from 19th April 2024. Please note: you will have to register before submitting your competition entry.

How to prepare a good competition entry

We have created a guide to help you prepare the best entry for submission.

 How to submit your entry

To enter the competition, you’ll need to submit an entry that includes the following information:

• Your University
• Your professional group
• The name of your supervisor
• Whether the project is by an individual or a team of students
• The category under which your project falls
• The title of your project
• A plain language summary of your project which covers
  • The rationale for your project
  • How the project was undertaken
  • The main findings of the project
  • How the findings could impact your practice and the practice of others

Assessment of competition submissions

Submitted competition entries will be assessed by a panel of judges using this assessment criteria.