Global Research Innovation Takes Center Stage at the IGPRC2024 Pitching Competition

The InSPiR2eS Global Pitching Research Competition 2024 (IGPRC2024) concluded with a live online Grand Final on January 29, 2025. Organized by Robert Faff, Research Professor from the Institute of Finance at Corvinus University of Budapest and founder of the International Society of Pitching Research for Responsible Science (InSPiR2eS), the event brought together seven finalists who presented three-minute research pitches, competing for the IGPRC2024 Champion title and a share of the 20, 000 Australian Dollar (AUD) prize pool.  

The overall winner was Eglė Butkevičiūtė from Lithuania, who received AUD 5, 000 for her research on enhancing wearable stress and fatigue detection using noise-resilient PPG signal processing. Second place was awarded jointly to Eristia Lidia Paramita from Indonesia and Shahnaz Shahid Ali from Canada, each receiving AUD 2, 000 for their research contributions. 

Additional awards were given in the categories of Meritorious Achievement and Honourable Mentions, recognizing research spanning diverse fields such as digital marketing, perinatal mental health, education technology, and biomedical studies. Moreover, the competition demonstrated flexibility and inclusiveness when Shahnaz Shahid Ali, facing a severe snowstorm in Ontario, was allowed to submit a recorded video in place of a live presentation. After review, she was awarded equal second place, demonstrating the competition’s commitment to fairness and accessibility in research engagement.  

The success of IGPRC2024 was made possible by the contributions of sponsors, participants, assessors, and an international judging panel. Platinum sponsors included Elsevier and the Asia-Pacific Applied Economics Association, supporting the event’s mission to foster responsible science and global research collaboration. The event also featured eight distinguished scholars as judges, providing expert evaluations of the finalists’ presentations. 

InSPiR2eS has been continuously working all over the world to promote research training and capacity building with a focus on responsible science, thus supporting young researchers in their careers. As IGPRC2024 concludes, preparations for the fourth edition, IGPRC2025, are already underway, maintaining the initiative’s role in promoting research excellence worldwide.