Ocean Health Challenge Terms and Conditions

Important Notice

By submitting a design portfolio showcasing the design to your school / college for the Competition (“Submission”), you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions. If you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions, you will have certain rights and responsibilities (set out in this document) and UCL will have certain rights and responsibilities (set out in this document), all of which may have certain legal consequences for you. You should therefore read these Terms and Conditions carefully, and think about whether you are comfortable with entering into a legally binding agreement, before you enter the Competition. 

If you are under 18 years of age, you should also, before entering the Competition, ask your parent / guardian to help you by: (1) reading these Terms and Conditions carefully; and (2) explaining to you what the Terms and Conditions mean.

If you or your parent / guardian have any questions about the Competition or these Terms and Conditions, please contact your School.

1. Eligibility
   1. Subject to the following provisions, the Competition is only open to students of UK state-maintained secondary schools and colleges that have registered their interest in the Competition with UCL (the “Schools”).
   2. In order to participate in and win one of the prizes for the Competition you must:
      1. be a current and enrolled student of one of the Schools;
      2. aged between 11-18 years (inclusive);
      3. not have any immediate family who are employed by UCL;
      4. have complied with the requirements of clause 2
      5. not be disqualified in accordance with clause 9.
   3. In entering the Competition, you confirm you are eligible to do so and eligible to claim a Prize that you may win.  UCL may require that you provide proof (to UCL’s satisfaction) that you meet the eligibility criteria.  If you fail to provide such evidence on request, or if UCL is not satisfied as to your eligibility, UCL may exercise its rights under clauses 5.c, 5.e and/or 9.a.
   4. If you are under 18 years of age, you must obtain written parental or guardian consent to enter the Competition and claim a Prize (or any relevant substitute) that you may win.  UCL may require that you provide proof of age and written parental or guardian consent (to UCL’s satisfaction).  If you fail to provide such evidence on request, or if UCL is not satisfied as to your age, UCL may exercise its rights under clauses 5.c, 5.e and/or 9.a.
2. How to Enter
   1. UCL will run the Competition from and including 00:00 on 1 September 2025 to and including 23:59 on 30 November 2025 (the “Competition Period”).
   2. To enter a Submission into a Competition, you must give the Submission to your School teacher in a PDF format.
   3. There is no requirement to pay to participate in the Competition and there is a limit of one Submission per person.
   4. The Competition is to identify Submissions that showcase a solution aimed at preventing plastic pollution getting into the oceans.
   5. UCL will not accept Submissions that:
      1. do not have a correctly completed cover sheet;
      2. are incomplete or missing sections;
      3. contain any identifiable information pertaining to you, including (without limitation) your name or image;
      4. have a file size which exceeds 10 megabytes;
      5. are not in a file type other than PDF;
      6. include hyperlinks to any external website or resource;
      7. include more than:
         1. 200 words in the brief section;
         2. One image/A4 page in the annotated drawing section;
         3. One photograph in the prototype section
      8. do not comply with health safety rules and regulations, or your School’s safeguarding policy;
      9. have been automatically generated by computer or created by artificial intelligence (including but not limited to chatbots such as ChatGPT or similar software applications);
      10. are not your original work;
      11. are illegible, have been altered, reconstructed, forged or tampered with;
      12. promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age;
      13. infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person;
      14. are likely to deceive any person;
      15. breach, or are likely to breach, any legal duty owed to a third party;
      16. promote any illegal activity;
      17. are threatening, offensive, abusive or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety;
      18. are likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person;
      19. are used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person; and/or
      20. advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.
   6. Selection of the winning Submission will take place following the end of the Competition Period. All Submissions received by UCL after the end of the Competition Period will be automatically disqualified.
3. Judges
   1. Submissions will be shortlisted by a team within the UCL Engineering Faculty based on the criteria set out in Appendix 1 (the “Judging Criteria”). The decisions of this team (acting reasonably) will be final.
   2. The shortlisted Submissions will then be judged by a panel of three judges based on the Judging Criteria. The panel of judges will consist of two UCL staff members and one judge from an organisation other than UCL. The decisions of the panel of judges (acting reasonably) will be final.
   3. UCL will send the full names of the judges to anyone who writes within one month after the end of the Competition Period requesting details of the judges and who encloses a self-addressed envelope to:  UCL Ocean Health Challenge, 2.09 Faculty Office, Engineering Front Building, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7JE.
4. The Prizes

   1. Subject to the restrictions set out in clause 4.b, the prizes for the Competition are:

      1. six £100 Love2shop (https://www.love2shop.co.uk/) vouchers for students only, (each a “Winning Student Prize”);
      2. six £500 cash prizes for Schools only (each a “Winning School Prize”);
      3. seven £50 Love2shop (https://www.love2shop.co.uk/) vouchers for students only (each a “Student Runner-Up Prize”);
      4. seven £100 cash prizes for Schools only (each a “School Runner-Up Prize”);
      5. One £500 Love2shop (https://www.love2shop.co.uk/) voucher for a student who UCL decides (in accordance with clauses 3.a and 3.b) is eligible for the Winning Student Prize (the “Student Grand Prize”),
      6. One £2,000 cash prize for the School whose student has been awarded the Student Grand Prize (the “School Grand Prize”); and

      (each and a “Prize” and together the “Prizes”).

   2. The following restrictions apply to clause 4.a
      1. only one student per Year Group will be eligible for a Winning Student Prize (a “Student Winner”);
      2. only a Student Winner’s School will be eligible for a Winning School Prize;
      3. only one student per Year Group will be eligible for a Student Runner-Up Prize (a “Student Runner-Up”);
      4. only a Student Runner-Up’s School will be eligible for a School Runner-Up Prize; and
      5. If you and your School win the Student Grand Prize and the School Grand Prize, you and your School will not be entitled to any other Prizes.
   3. For the purpose of clause 4.b, a “Year Group” means one of the Schools’ academic year groups 7 to 13 (inclusive).
   4. The Prizes are not negotiable or transferable and there are no cash alternatives for the Winning Student Prize, Student Runner-Up Prize and Student Grand Prize.
5. The Winners
   1. UCL will inform the Schools of the identities of the Prize winners in March 2026. Each School will then announce the names of the Prize winners (the “Prize Announcement”).
   2. If you are the winner of a Prize, you will have 30 days from the date of the Prize Announcement to claim the Prize by requesting it from your School teacher. If you do not claim the prize by this deadline, or if your School teacher does not claim the Prize from UCL within 30 days of UCL informing the School, your claim may become invalid and a new winner may be chosen (at UCL’s absolute discretion). UCL does not accept any responsibility if you or your School are not able to take up the Prize.
   3. You and your Schools must spend the Prizes within 6 months of claiming them.
   4. If you or your Submission do not meet the eligibility criteria listed in clauses 1.b and 2.e, UCL may (at its sole discretion) withdraw the Prize and select another participant as a winner, or keep the Prize or use it in future competitions.
   5. No decision will be deemed to have been made as to the winner of the Competition unless and until the relevant Schools have received written confirmations of the winners. Even after confirmation of the winners has been provided, UCL reserves the right to revoke the decision if the winners are not eligible or are disqualified.
   6. UCL encourages students and the Schools to use the Prizes to invest in an activity or item which promotes or encourages education in engineering. UCL also encourages the Prize winners to submit a summary and photograph to UCL of how the Prize has been used to promote or encourage education in engineering.
6. Intellectual Property
   1. You acknowledge and agree that by entering a Submission, users of the internet will be able to view the Submission, including (without limitation) users of YouTube.
   2. You warrant that you are the sole author and owner of your Submission, that the Submission is your own original work and it does not infringe any copyright, trade marks or other rights (including intellectual property rights) of any third party.
   3. You agree to hold UCL harmless against any and all loss, costs, claims, damages, demands, liabilities, actions and expenses arising out of a breach of clause 6.b. This means that you will be responsible for any and all loss, costs, claims, damages, demands, liabilities, actions and expenses that UCL suffers or incurs as a result of your Submission not complying with clause 6.b.
   4. You grant to UCL a royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, sub-licensable right to use, reproduce, modify, publish, create derivative works from and display (together with the right to incorporate into any other works in any form, media or technology know or later developed) any Submission submitted by you.
7. Data Protection
   1. You acknowledge that, in connection with the Competition, you may provide personal data to UCL. UCL will only process your personal information as set out in https://www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/general-privacy-notice.
   2. In entering a Submission, and subject to your consent, you give UCL and its affiliated organisations the right to use your name, likeness, photograph, and/or opinions for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration.
8. UCL Liability

   1. Subject to clause 8.d, UCL and its agents and representatives hereby expressly exclude any liability whether in contract, tort, criminal law, breach of statutory duty or otherwise for any: 

      1. direct; and/or
      2. indirect or consequential,

      loss, damage, injury or disappointment (including without limitation any pure economic loss) suffered or incurred by you, and whether foreseeable or not, in connection with the Competition. 

   2. Without limiting the generality of clause 8.a, UCL will not have any liability to you if you are unable to enter the Competition for any reason including, without limitation, a failure in computer systems, software or the unavailability of any website.
   3. To the extent permitted by law, all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute or common law are expressly excluded from these Terms and Conditions.
   4. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions will limit or exclude UCL’s liability for death or personal injury caused by its negligence or for fraud or for any other liability which cannot be limited or excluded at law.
9. Disqualification
   1. UCL may, at its sole discretion, disqualify you from the Competition if:
      1. you are not eligible to participate in the Competition;
      2. you do not, at any time, comply with these Terms and Conditions;
      3. any information provide by you is invalid, incorrect, or misleading; or
      4. UCL considers that your participation in or winning of the Competition does or may harm UCL, its reputation and/or that of any staff or pupils at UCL.
   2. It is not permitted to use an automated system to enter a Submission.  If you use an automated system to enter a Submission or a Submission is entered as a result of an automated system, you and/or the Submission may be disqualified.
10. General
    1. To the extent permitted by law, decisions of UCL will be final and binding and there will be no discussion or negotiation regarding the decision and/or selection and/or the process used by UCL.
    2. If you wish to contact UCL about the Competition, including to make a complaint, please send an email to ucleo@ucl.ac.uk.
    3. UCL reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel or amend the Competition or otherwise revise these Terms and Conditions, where it becomes necessary to do so.  UCL shall use all reasonable endeavours to notify you of any such changes and you agree to check with your School from time to time to take notice of any changes UCL makes.
    4. No failure or delay by a party to exercise any right or remedy provided under these Terms and Conditions shall constitute a waiver of that or any other right or remedy, nor shall it preclude or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy.
    5. These Terms and Conditions will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Appendix 1

Download a Copy
You can download a copy of these Terms and Conditions as a file using the link below: