The following requirements apply to any school wishing to enroll a team in the AAPG IBA Competition. Students and Faculty Advisors are expected to adhere to these requirements to ensure a fair and equitable contest for all participants.

Any school, student, or faculty advisor wishing to participate must review the complete Rules and Operating Procedures booklet before submitting its request to participate.

See Rules and Operating Procedures Section 1 Eligibility for further explanation (below).

• Any academic institution with a Masters level (or equivalent) Geoscience degree program may apply to participate in the IBA program.
• Teams are selected on a first-come, first-enrolled basis.
• Only an accredited faculty member of the school may register a school for participation in the AAPG IBA program. Enrollment must be approved by the department Dean or Chair.
• School may enroll in the program and upon further consideration decide not to participate. If this is done before receiving the IBA dataset, there is no penalty, however if the team withdraws after the datasets have been distributed the school is required to delete the dataset from their computer systems and the IBA Committee will analyze the penalty.
• The school is responsible to ensure all students participating in the program hold a valid and current visa to participate in A Region and/or the Finals program in the United States of America or any country, should they qualify for that event. The AAPG is not responsible for assisting with visa requirements should the team be given the opportunity to travel for a competition. All visa coordination is the responsibility of the participating team.
• A school that cannot create an IBA team from their current student enrollment, may, with IBA Committee approval, combine their students with those from another school within its Section or Region, to create an IBA team. A combined team must follow all rules and operating procedures as for a single school entry. See the Rules & Operating Procedures for more information. Interested schools must complete the “Multi-School IBA” application instead of the regular team signup sheet.
• All participants (team members and traveling Faculty Advisors) must sign the Imperial Barrel Award Release, Waiver, and Indemnity Agreement as a prerequisite to taking part in the program.

• Teams should comprise no more than 5 and no less than 3 students. All students must present only their own work  or the work of their team members in their presentations. Schools that include work from non-team members shall be disqualified from the competition for the year of the violation. 
• Each faculty advisor may be assigned to only one team.  If a university would like to register a second team, a different faculty advisor must be registered with the second team and a different dataset must be chosen.  No university can have more than one team per dataset.
• The names of all student members taking part in the competition will need to be submitted and all indemnity waivers signed before the dataset distribution, or the team will not receive a dataset.
• Students may participate in a competing AAPG IBA team only once per topic, e.g. an undergrad  CCS competitor can be a graduate petroleum or geothermal competitor. There are no exceptions  to this rule. Any student participating in a formal intra-university competition is ineligible to  participate in another IBA competition on the same topic, e.g. petroleum, geothermal, or CCS. All  prior participation must be disclosed to your region coordinators. Students must be at least 18 years of age before the semifinal competition and have full-time enrollment status in the school  participating in the AAPG IBA program.
• Students with more than one year of cumulative relevant experience may petition for an exception  (using the Request for Team Member(s) Exception form). The faculty advisor will need to log in to the IBA portal and submit the request to the IBA Committee for their approval for the student to be  allowed to participate in the program. The IBA Committee will decide if the student can participate  in the program. Any team with a student with more than one year of cumulative relevant experience  who participates without IBA Committee approval shall be disqualified from the competition. All  exceptions must be approved prior to distribution of the datasets.
• Teams should be composed of Undergraduate and Masters (or equivalent) level students,  including UK MSci, Australia Hons BSc and combined BS/MS programs. In exceptional  circumstances teams may have up to two geoscience PhD students (unrelated PhD programs,  e.g. pure physics, do not count). No student should have more than three years of postgraduate  (i.e. post bachelor’s degree or equivalent) geoscience (or related field) experience. Undergraduate  students are allowed to participate.
• Substitution of a participating student on an IBA team is allowed up to two weeks after receipt of the data. After this time substitution of team members is not allowed except under extraordinary circumstances and requests should be made to the IBA Regional Coordinator who will seek the approval of the IBA Committee, if the request is deemed reasonable.
• Students will, always, adhere to a professional level of behavior in dress, conduct, language and decorum. Violation of this rule may result in the student/team being removed from the program. Under extenuating circumstances, teams will be allowed to interpret the data in the offices of a company, subject to the written approval of the IBA Committee.

Faculty advisors must commit to the program and be responsible for the team’s preparation and participation. They must be willing to act as custodians to ensure that the spirit and ethos of the exercise is honored and maintained.

• Faculty involvement should be at the advisory level only and should amount to 1 to 3 hours per week.
• Faculty advisors are allowed in the conference room during their team’s presentation. Third parties, who have also worked with or are associated with the team in preparing for their presentation, are not allowed in competition room prior to or during that team’s presentation.
• Where possible it is advised that presentation rehearsals are given to the Consultant(s) prior to the Region or Section competition. Presentations should not be given to companies, societies or other outside organizations at any time during or after the competition.

Teams are encouraged to invite industry professionals as mentors to review and advise them on their presentations. For more information about Mentors, click here.

Global Mentor Guidelines

• Teams may have a maximum of two geoscience professionals and one young professional as industry mentors. Industry Mentors may consult on analysis and presentation. If required, the IBA committee can provide the names and contact information for each mentor to AAPG through their registration form. Teams may also apply for Mentors through the AAPG IBA Region Coordinator. Teams are responsible for initiating and maintaining contact with assigned mentors.
• The Mentors should collaborate with the Faculty Advisor on the purpose and goal of the program and be provided with a copy of the Rules and OperationalProcedures.
• Mentors may instruct students on how to prioritize work plans, perform a task, provide advice on presentation content and encourage students to consider alternative ways to approach the tasks required by the program.
• Mentors may not perform the work of the team or provide additional information. Violation of this rule will result in the immediate disqualification of the team from the IBA for that year.
• Mentors cannot be IBA judges in the year they mentor student teams.
• Mentors should spend approximately three hours per week (or less) advising their team.