Participate in the Laurie Dake Challenge competition

If you happen to be working with a diverse group of fellow students and have a bright mind, the Laurie Dake Challenge may be for you!

The Laurie Dake Challenge is one of EAGE’s most prestigious competitions for students to participate in. The competition requires students to excel in some of the key areas of EAGE’s mission: multidisciplinary group work, data integration and the honing of your project management, cooperation and presentation skills.

As a leading competition within the Association, the challenge will require teams to be inquisitive, innovative and analytical thinkers. Each year, the dataset poses new challenges throughout the three rounds.

Participating teams:

• Have a shot at winning the EAGE Laurie Dake Challenge trophy
• Gain exposure to leading experts in the industry
• Finalists will have the chance to participate in the EAGE Conference & Exhibition
• Gain hands-on experience with valuable datasets from real hydrocarbon fields

How to participate in the Laurie Dake Challenge

Universities are invited to participate in the Laurie Dake Challenge with a multidisciplinary team of 3 to 5 students (one PhD student per team allowed). The competition includes three selection rounds that are further explained below.

To enter the competition each team is required to submit an assignment on a certain topic.

The application round for the 2021 competition was closed on Monday 18 January, the teams for the next round will be informed shortly. The dataset is provided by Wintershall DEA. The finals will be held in June 2021 and winners announced during the 82nd Annual Conference & Exhibition 14-17 June.

The 2022 competition will be kicked off in October 2021.

What to expect

The challenge consists of three rounds. After each round number of teams will be allowed to continue until we reach the third and final round where six teams have a change to present their solutions.

Selection Round 1 – Exploration data set assignment

Each team signing up for the competition will receive a data set provided by a different company each year. The team will have the opportunity to analyze and interpret  an exploration data set of a discovered hydrocarbon resource.

At the end of the first round, the ten best teams will be selected for the next round of the competition.

Selection Round 2 – Assignment submission

The remaining teams will be asked to start working with the data they received, working towards a 3-minute video pitch about how the team sets out their development plans.

Based on these submissions, the Laurie Dake Challenge jury will select the six finalists that will be invited to compete in Round 3.

Selection Round 3 – Presentation of full development plans

EAGE invites team members of the six finalist university teams to present their findings to an expert Laurie Dake Challenge jury. The presentations will be judged by 8 to 10 jury members, all with their own expertise.