The Science Fair Path: From Your School Fair to Regeneron ISEF

Author: ExtracurricularHub Editorial Team · Reviewed by Parker, Founder — editorial policy

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Article Summary

How the science fair path works: find your ISEF-affiliated fair, follow the rules before you experiment, and plan for Regeneron ISEF 2027 in Los Angeles.

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Many U.S. science fairs are rungs on one ladder. You start at a school or local fair, move up to a regional or state fair, and the strongest projects advance to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Society for Science, which runs ISEF, calls it the world's largest international pre-college science competition.

The ladder is simple once you see it, but students miss it in two ways: they never find out which fair is theirs, or they start experimenting before getting the approvals the rules require. This guide covers both. Everything here was checked against Society for Science's official pages on September 26, 2026.

How the Ladder Works

Society for Science runs a network of affiliated fairs, nearly 400 of them around the globe, in nearly every U.S. state and more than 70 other countries, regions and territories. They are held at local, regional, state and national levels, and each one can be affiliated with ISEF (grades 9-12), with the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (grades 6-8), or both.

The rule that matters most: you can't apply to ISEF directly. To compete at ISEF, a 9th-12th grade student must first win the chance at a Society-affiliated fair, and each affiliated fair has a designated number of projects, individual or team, that it can send.

LevelWhat happensWhen (2026-27 season)
School or local fairSometimes the way into the regional fair; ask your science teacher how your school feeds inSet by your school or district
Regional or state affiliated fairJudges choose the projects the fair sends to ISEF; regional fairs that feed a state fair coordinate dates with the stateMost U.S. fairs run January through March; April 12, 2027 is the last date an affiliated fair can be held
Regeneron ISEFFinalists present to judges and compete for awards and scholarshipsMay 8-14, 2027, Los Angeles, California

For scale: Society for Science says more than 1,700 young scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and inventors gathered at ISEF 2026 in Phoenix (May 9-15, 2026). The finalists were selected from 365 affiliate fairs in more than 60 countries, regions and territories, and competed for more than $7 million in awards and prizes.

Step 1: Find Your Affiliated Fair

Society for Science's Find a Fair tool lets you search by country and state. A few tips:

  • Look in the fall. Fairs affiliate each fall, and the tool says that if you can't find yours yet, check back, because it may not have finished affiliating. The Society's deadline for fairs to affiliate this cycle is October 12, 2026.
  • Ask your science teacher or district. Some regional fairs only take projects that come up through a school fair, and some need a teacher to register students, so ask how yours works.
  • You get one fair. ISEF rules say you may compete in only one affiliated fair, except when you advance from an affiliated regional fair to a state or national fair that is also affiliated.

Step 2: Know the Rules Before You Start

ISEF rules apply at every affiliated fair, and they bite hardest when you learn them too late. From the Society's Rules for All Projects for ISEF 2027:

  • Eligibility: you must be in grades 9-12 or the equivalent and must not have reached age 20 on or before May 1 before ISEF.
  • One project per student. It can include no more than 12 months of continuous research, and for ISEF 2027 it can't include research done before January 2026.
  • Teams: no more than three members, and the team at ISEF must be the same members who competed at the affiliated fair.
  • Approval before experimentation: projects involving human participants, vertebrate animals, potentially hazardous biological agents or tissue must be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Scientific Review Committee (SRC) before you begin. Studies that collect surveys or questionnaires count as human-participants research, so even a survey of your classmates needs IRB approval before you recruit anyone, and written parental permission for participants who are minors.
  • A research plan first. Every student needs a research plan, completed before experimentation. If your project needed IRB or SRC approval, any later changes to the plan must be re-approved before you resume.
  • The forms: every project needs the Checklist for Adult Sponsor (1), the Student Checklist (1A), a Research Plan/Project Addendum, the Approval Form (1B) and the Student Support Disclosure Form (2A). Work done at a research institution or industrial setting also needs the Regulated Research Institutional/Industrial Setting Form (2C).
  • Your own words. The rules say you may not use generative AI to write your research plan, abstract or poster, or to create citations.
  • No changes after your fair. Once you compete at an affiliated fair, the project can't be changed or amended, though you may collect more data using the same approved method.

Not sure which forms your project needs? The Society's International Rules page links to its Rules Wizard, which asks about your project and tells you what documentation it requires. Do this with your adult sponsor before you start, not the week before the fair.

Step 3: Build a Project That Can Go the Distance

Start from a question you actually care about

It shows when a student chose the question rather than being handed it. Pick a question you would keep thinking about even without a fair: something you noticed, a problem in your community, or a gap in something you read. Our guide to getting research experience covers how to turn curiosity into a real question.

Plan the calendar backwards

With most U.S. fairs in January through March, a project for the 2026-27 season should have its plan and any IRB or SRC approvals done in the fall, data collection over late fall and winter, and a poster and abstract finished a few weeks before your fair. Starting in the fall of sophomore or junior year gives you room for a second, stronger project the next year.

Find a mentor if your question needs one

Some questions need lab equipment or expertise your school doesn't have. A university researcher can help, but the rules still apply: work at a research institution needs Form 2C, and your research plan should say which parts of the project you did and which parts your mentor did. Our cold-email template shows how to ask.

Practice explaining it

At a fair you'll talk to judges for several minutes at a time. Practice a two-minute version of your project that covers your question, what you did, what you found and what you would do next, then let judges' questions lead.

Other Roads for Student Research

  • Regeneron Science Talent Search: Society for Science's competition for high school seniors. The 2027 application is open, and the deadline is November 5, 2026 at 8 p.m. ET. Research from any year of high school is eligible.
  • Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS): students present original research at regional symposia that feed a national symposium. It is sponsored by the Department of War and administered by the National Science Teaching Association; its site has a "Find Your Region" tool.
  • Publishing: a finished project can become a paper. See our guide to publishing research as a high schooler.

How Science Fairs Fit Into Your Profile

A science fair run is one of the clearest ways to show sustained, independent work: a question you chose, a method you followed, results you defended in front of judges. Placing at a regional fair is a real honor worth listing, and so is returning with a stronger project the next year. For how fairs compare with other competitions, see our competition tier framework and the STEM competitions guide.

Browse research opportunities and competitions for more, or take the Find My Fit quiz to see what suits your interests.

Sources

Facts in this article were last reviewed against these sources on . Programs change their dates and prices; confirm on the official page before you apply.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I apply directly to Regeneron ISEF?

No. Society for Science says a 9th-12th grade student must first win the chance to attend by competing at a Society-affiliated fair. Each affiliated fair has a set number of projects it can send to ISEF. Use the Society's Find a Fair tool to see which affiliated fair serves your school.

When and where is ISEF 2027?

Society for Science lists Regeneron ISEF 2027 for May 8-14, 2027 in Los Angeles, California. April 12, 2027 is the last date an affiliated fair can hold its competition, so your local and regional rounds happen before then; most U.S. fairs run from January through March.

Do I need approval before I start my science fair experiment?

For some projects, yes. ISEF rules say projects involving human participants, vertebrate animals, potentially hazardous biological agents or tissue must be reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board or Scientific Review Committee before experimentation starts. Every project also needs a research plan written before you begin.

Can a team enter ISEF?

Yes. Team projects can have no more than three members, and a team competing at ISEF must be made up of the same members who competed at the affiliated fair.

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