The competition for students sees eight finalists awarded with a £500 prize each and offers the possibility of £25,000 in research funding for the winning entry.

Last year, the award was won by four students on computer courses at Sheffield Hallam University who submitted an idea with so much potential to give Britain's Olympic athletes an edge it has been classified 'top secret'.

UK Sport is hoping that students studying engineering, science, technology or medicine with a project that has a relevance to elite sports performance will be able to come up with an idea just as ground breaking for the 2010 award.

The panel of experts are looking for excellence in; originality, methodology, execution of the aim, potential impact on Olympic and Paralympic sport, content and material.

The first winner of the award in 2008 was Chris West, an MSc student at Brunel University whose novel device for performance enhancement in spinal cord injured athletes received the £25,000 award to progress the research.

Dr Lee Romer, Chris’ project supervisor and Senior Lecturer at Brunel University, said: “I would recommend any students out there with an interest in elite sport, who may be about to embark on their own research projects, to consider the New Researchers Award. It is an amazing opportunity, as UK Sport can make such great resources available to you through their network of contacts.”

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