Applications for the 2025-2026 Entente Cordiale Day Challenge Open!

We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the 2025-26 Entente Cordiale Day Challenge! 

Founded in 2024, the Entente Cordiale Day (EC Day) initiative celebrates a hundred and twenty years of Franco-British friendship by bringing together students from the countries’ most prestigious universities. Last year, over 300 students partook in the EC Day Challenge, with the finalists invited to a two-day Summit where they presented their reports, dined at historically significant venues, and met with distinguished academic, political, and business guests. The EC Day Challenge has the patronage of King Charles III of the United Kingdom and President Macron of France, and it is a wonderful opportunity for any student who is looking to sharpen their report-writing skills, explore critical world issues, and expand their network.

This year, the competition will focus on the critical theme of ‘Conflicts, Technologies and World Security’. The global landscape is increasingly defined by geopolitical tensions, rapid technological advancements, and pressing questions surrounding peace and security. Within this context, the need for rigorous analysis, interdisciplinary dialogue, and forward-thinking solutions has never been more apparent. We invite students to bring together their insights and reflections on the three components of the 2026 Challenge theme to propose solutions to the issues they will have identified.

You can find out more about the competition process and expectations for the report here.

Registration Criteria:

Each participating team must comprise three students who are currently enrolled at the same accredited higher education institution in either the UK or France. Solo submissions are not allowed. Team members may be of any nationality, academic discipline, or level of study, including undergraduate, master’s, or doctoral programmes. Furthermore, individual team members may be made up of a mix of degree types, levels, or faculties (e.g., postgraduate and undergraduate students are allowed to be on the same team). To be eligible, all three members must be current (matriculated) students at the time of registration and must all remain enrolled at the same institution for the entire duration of the competition, which runs from September 2025 through April 2026. Unfortunately, recent graduates are not eligible to participate. Similarly, visiting scholars or students who will not remain enrolled for the full academic year are ineligible.

Registration is limited to a maximum of 120 teams per side (United Kingdom and France). Teams will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis; once this limit is reached, registration will close, and further applicants will be waitlisted. Of the 120 available slots, 90 are reserved for teams representing one of the six founding universities. For the United Kingdom, these include the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics, King’s College London, University College London, and Imperial College London. For France, the founding institutions are ESSEC, Sciences Po, CentraleSupelec, Sorbonne, EDHEC, and DauphinePSL. The remaining 30 slots on each side are open to students from any accredited higher education institution in either France or the United Kingdom.

Registration Process:

Each team must complete a short application form. You will be asked to enter the details for each individual team member. These details include their full name, course name, level of study, department or college, institutional email, French visa details (this does NOT affect the application outcome) and a brief personal biography (no more than 100 words). 

You will also be asked to provide a preliminary title and report outline (no more than 400 words). The guidelines for the report outline are as follows:

• The research problem and motivation for the work

• Background and related work

• Novelty of the research

• Research approach

• Results

UK Application Form Link: https://forms.gle/qDrhHF2CEiFzDGyV9 

French Application Form Link: https://forms.gle/qQrStpWzbrKQaEVx6

You can find out more about the competition process and expectations for the report here. Do not hesitate to email us at info@ententecordialeday.org or ingrid.chan@ententecordialeday.org if you have any further questions. Please note that we do not accept inquiries regarding the suitability of your report outline.