IADR IRG Young Investigator Prize for Student Research

The Competition is open to pre-doctoral (undergraduate: dental students) and post-doctoral (graduate: Masters of Science, Doctoral or PhD candidates) students currently enrolled in a dental or postgraduate program in dentistry and related disciplines or those who completed their training no more than 18 months prior to the 2026 IADR General Session & Exhibition. Candidates MUST be an IADR IRG member.

In order to be considered for this Competition, you must submit an abstract to the Global Headquarters for the 2026 IADR/AADOCR/CADR General Session & Exhibition by the abstract deadline, adhering to the usual submission procedures. In the awards section of the on-line abstract submission process select "Implantology Research Group Young Investigator Prize for Student Research."

The IRG Awards Committee will coordinate review of the abstracts. Each abstract will be evaluated on its scientific merits by the IRG Awards Committee.

Awards will be within two categories

1. Clinical Research, involving research on human subjects, or involving epidemiology.
2. Basic Science Research, involving laboratory or animal research.

The Abstract Submissions will be judged by the following criteria (50%)
(0:no / 1:inadequate / 2:adequate / 3:outstanding)

• Research question: Is there a clear research question or objective?
• Importance of the research question: Will findings have a potential impact on implantology research or clinical practice?
• Design of the investigation: Is it appropriate to address the research question?
• Originality and/or innovative theory: Is the research new?
• Rigor of the research methodology: Is the risk of bias minimized by the use appropriate experimental methods and analytic techniques?
• Suitability of the analysis methods: Is adequate statistics applied and presented?
• Soundness of conclusions: Are the results correctly interpreted and do the conclusions clearly relate to the stated research question?

The presentation will be judged by the following criteria (50%)
(1:inadequate / 2:adequate / 3:outstanding)

• The presentation was well organized
• The materials and methods was described in sufficient detail
• The statistics to present the data was adequate and coherent
• The conclusions were based on the data and clearly related to the research question
• The presenter appeared knowledgeable about the work being presented

During this process, each reviewer will give a numerical rating to each abstract, and the scores of all reviewers will then be averaged to give an overall priority score. Following the review of the abstracts, six finalists will be selected (three from basic science research and three for clinical science research) to present their research to a panel of judges at the Annual IADR meeting. Two prizes will be awarded, one in basic science research and one in clinical science research both for $500. The awards are based on the abstract (50%) and oral presentation (50%).

2024

Basic Research
1st place: Saadman Alamgir; University of Mississippi Medical Center; DDS Student; 
2nd place: Thomas Gill; Queen Mary University of London; PhD Student; 
2nd place: Amisha Parekh; University of Mississippi Medical Center; PhD Student; 

Clinical Research
1st place: Madeline Jun-Yu Yon; Queen Mary University of London; PhD Student; 

2023

Basic Research
1st Place: Emilio A Cafferata Chea
2nd Place: Victória Lopes Abdo (MS student)

Clinical Research
1st Place: Karol Ali Apaza Alccayhuaman (PhD student)
2nd Place: Maryam Hafeez (DDS student)

2022

1st place
Michael Berger - Department of Biomedical Engineering - VCU College of Engineering

2nd place
Jessica Latimer - Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity - Harvard School of Dental Medicine

3rd place
Zhihao Zhai- Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry - Department of Fixed Prosthodontics

2016

Basic Research

1st Place – Jin Wen, Department of Prosthodontics, Ninth People’s Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
Enhanced Osseointegration Around Bioactive Polyetheretherketone Fabricated By Electron Beam Evaporation
https://iadr2016.zerista.com/event/member/268024

2nd Place – Ali Marie, University of Leeds, UK
Titanium Surface Treatments Affect Hydrothermal Deposition of Fluorapatite Coatings
https://iadr2016.zerista.com/event/member/267964

Merit award – Spencer Blackham, Southern Illinois University, Illinois, USA
An Evaluation of Bone-filling Materials Using the Calvarial Defect Model in Rodents
https://iadr2016.zerista.com/event/member/268018

Clinical Research

1st Place – Daniel Clark, University of California San Francisco
Platelet-Rich Fibrin for ridge preservation: a randomized controlled clinical study
https://iadr2016.zerista.com/event/member/267144

2nd Place – Avinash Kavarthapu, Saveetha Dental College, India
Sinus elevation with implant as tentpole without any substitute: RCT
https://iadr2016.zerista.com/event/member/267979

Merit award – Karim Fawzy El-Sayed, Uniklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Implants with Sinus Augmentation-The Merit of Bone Grafting? A Systematic Review
https://iadr2016.zerista.com/event/member/267981

2010 Recipients
First Place
T. Ogawa et al., Katholieke University, Leuven, Belgium
Whole Body Vibration Loading on Peri-implant bone healing

Second Place
H. Rojbani et al., Tokyo Medical & Dental University, Japan
Osteoconductivity of Alfa, Beta TCP and HA

Third Place
S. Rungsiyanont et al., Srinakharinwirote University, Bangkok, Thailand
Biocompatibility Evaluation of Gelatin-HA Cross linked Scaffold for Tissue Engineering