EFP launches undergraduate essay competition with free EuroPerio10 registration as prize

The EFP has unveiled a new edition of its undergraduate essay competition, offering two prizes of free registration for the EuroPerio10 congress in Copenhagen on June 15-18 plus €500 for travel expenses.

Undergraduate Essay Competition 2022, organised by the EFP’s undergraduate education committee, is aimed at students of dentistry and dental hygiene/therapy who are studying at any dental school in a country with an EFP-affiliated national society of periodontology.

This is the second such competition, following the one held in 2018 in relation to EuroPerio9.

The subject of the essay is How can the clinical practice and science of periodontology be developed to ensure environmental sustainability?

Essays – which should be of a maximum of 1,000 words (excluding references and the applicant’s contact details) – will be assessed by members of the undergraduate education committee according to three criteria:

1. Demonstration of understanding and imagination in answering the question posed by the essay title (maximum of 20 marks).
2. The quality of the writing, while accommodating the fact that English will not be the first language of all students (10 marks).
3. The use and correct citation of references to support the concepts considered in the essay (10 marks).

Essays should be submitted electronically in PDF format to Monica Guinea, EFP European co-ordinator (monica@efp.org). The two winning essays will be published on the EFP website with full credit given to their authors. The deadline for essay submissions is 15 April and winners will be notified by 10 May.

Philip Preshaw, chair of the EFP undergraduate education committee (pictured), said: "The 2022 undergraduate essay competition is an exciting opportunity for dental students and dental hygiene/therapy students to explore the topic of sustainability in periodontology (a core value of the EFP) and demonstrate innovation and imagination in how the environmental impact of periodontology can be reduced."

The first undergraduate essay competition received 77 entries from students who addressed the topic Why I would consider a career in periodontology. The winning entries can be read on the EFP website.