Luxembourg Student Wins Ellison Scholars Prize at EUCYS

The Fondation Jeunes Scientifiques Luxembourg (FJSL) has announced that Luxembourg student Rodion Zaichikov has won the Ellison Scholars Prize at the 37th European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS), held in Kiel, Germany, from Tuesday 22 to Sunday 27 September 2026.

This year's EUCYS brought together around 150 young scientists aged fourteen to twenty from almost 40 countries. The fifteen-year-old International School Luxembourg student received the honorary international award for his project “Expanding low-cost hypersonic wind tunnel with arc jet capabilities”.

The prize is sponsored by the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), which develops commercially sustainable and scalable technological solutions to global challenges including climate change, food security and health.

The FJSL said it first met Rodion Zaichikov when he was eleven years old. In the years that followed, the foundation accompanied him on various scientific trips to Morocco, Portugal and Taiwan, during which the size and complexity of his projects continued to develop.

Now aged fifteen, Rodion Zaichikov has built his own hypersonic test device combining a convergent-divergent nozzle with an arc jet. According to the FJSL, the device is able to investigate conditions that only a small number of specialised facilities worldwide can reproduce, explained the FJSL.

His project focuses on testing spacecraft propulsion under extreme conditions. Spacecraft entering planetary atmospheres at very high speeds are exposed to extreme temperatures and their engines must be validated under these conditions.

The device allowed him to test a scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engine model at hypersonic speeds and temperatures above 3,000°C. A Schlieren imaging setup, also built in-house, made it possible to observe the results. His long-term goal is to develop a fully controllable return-to-Earth vehicle.

When asked about his project, Rodion Zaichikov said: “I saw a video of an arcjet in operation and wanted to see if I could build one myself. That's really how most of my projects at the National Jonk Fuerscher Contest have started, I see something that seems impossible to do on my own and I want to try anyway. While working on it I of course stumbled on some challenges, the hardest part was the vacuum chamber, it kept leaking and I had to find 3D-printable material that could hold an airtight seal.”

Looking back on the competition and ahead to his next project, he added: “Kiel was an incredible experience, and I'm really proud to have represented Luxembourg there. I'm already gathering ideas for my next National Jonk Fuerscher Contest project, it's something that takes up most of my year, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the next idea takes me.”

Sousana Eang, Director of the FJSL, said: “I first met Rodion when he was just eleven years old, and it has been remarkable to note both how much he has grown and how his scientific ambitions have developed alongside him; four years on, he is now constructing equipment which would normally be found in a specialised laboratory.”

Rodion Zaichikov is a five-time participant in the National Jonk Fuerscher Contest (NJFC). He first joined the foundation's programmes at the age of eleven, winning a trip to the Eurospace Center in 2022. In 2023, he took part in the Mobisciences programme in Morocco, while in 2024 he was awarded best international project at the Mostra Nacional de Ciência in Portugal. In 2025, he travelled to the Taiwan International Science Fair (TISF), where he won the fourth award in engineering.

The 2026 EUCYS edition will take place from Sunday 18 to Saturday 24 October 2026, with its public exhibition taking place at Lycée Vauban on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 October. Admission is free.