What's New in YSC Portal 3.0 for Regional STEM Fair Organizers

Overview

Youth Science Canada (YSC) has replaced the YSC Portal with a new version, YSC Portal 3.0, starting with 2027 regional affiliation. It is at the same address, portal.youthscience.ca, but it looks and works differently from the portal you used in past years.

This article is for regional coordinators and committee members. It covers what has changed and what you will do differently this year. Step-by-step instructions for affiliation are in Completing Your Regional Affiliation.

Note: Many older articles in this section of the Help Centre describe the previous portal. We are replacing them over the coming months. If an article doesn't match what you see on screen, the screen is right.

Signing in

Sign in at portal.youthscience.ca with the email address YSC has on file for you as your region's coordinator.
If you had an account on the previous portal, use the same email address and password. If you've forgotten your password, use Forgot password? on the sign-in screen.
If you have never had a YSC Portal account, choose Sign up and use the email address YSC has on file for you. Your access to your region is waiting for that address.
The first time you sign in, you may be asked to verify your email address. Check your spam or junk folder if the email doesn't arrive.

If you sign in and don't see your region, submit a support request with your name, your region and the email address you used.

Your region in the portal

Your region has its own group in the sidebar, with these pages:

Overview: your region's status at a glance and what needs doing next.
Region Profile: your region's details, committee and accounting (invoices and payments).
Affiliation: this year's affiliation, completed step by step.
Regional Fair: your fair details, and your fair statistics and regional award winners after the fair.
CWSF: inviting and managing your Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) delegation, once CWSF registration opens.
Fair Tools: spreadsheet tools to help with judging at your regional fair (see below).

Affiliation is now a guided, step-by-step process

Affiliation is a single set of steps: Region Profile, Committee, Fair details, CWSF participation, Regional awards, Insurance, Other, Affiliation agreement and Review.
Your work saves whenever you move to another step, so you can stop and come back later. Each step shows whether it is Complete, Incomplete or Not started.
The Review step lists anything still missing, with a link to the step that needs it.
You sign the Affiliation Agreement in the portal by entering your name and title. There is nothing to print or mail.
Your region is affiliated as soon as you submit. There is no separate approval step.
If your region isn't holding a fair this year, you can say so and affiliate without one.

Your committee carries over from year to year

Your regional committee is kept from one year to the next, so you only update what has changed. Each region needs someone in each of these roles: regional coordinator, secondary contact, chief judge, ethics and safety, and media contact. One person can hold more than one role.

One committee member is your region's primary contact, who receives YSC communications. Each committee member has one of three levels of portal access:

Administrator: can make changes for the region and manage its committee.
Member: can view the region's pages but can't change anything.
No access: listed on the committee without a portal login.

Giving someone new Administrator or Member access sends them an invitation to create a portal account. When a new coordinator takes over, an administrator can add them to the committee and give them access. You no longer need to email YSC to have a new account created.

Running your regional fair

The previous portal included tools to run your own regional fair: student and judge registration, project review, ProjectBoard links, judging groups and schedules, and results. YSC Portal 3.0 does not include these. It focuses on affiliation and on registering your delegation for CWSF.

The Fair Tools page has three spreadsheet tools to help with judging: Groups, Schedule and Judges. You upload a spreadsheet and download the result. Nothing you upload is stored in the portal.

If your region relied on the previous portal to run its fair, submit a support request so we can talk through your options.

Registering your CWSF delegation

You no longer enter finalists and delegates yourself. Once CWSF registration opens, you invite each finalist and delegate by email from the CWSF page, and they complete their own registration.
The number of invitations you can send is set by the CWSF participation numbers you plan during affiliation.
You review each registration and confirm it, then submit your region's delegation to YSC by the registration deadline.
The number of delegates your region must send is based on the number of finalists you plan to send. See CWSF Finalist and Delegate Allotments.
Rooming for your finalists and your travel information are handled in the portal too.

After your regional fair

Enter your fair statistics on the Regional Fair page after your fair. They are no longer part of affiliation.
If you offered any YSC regional awards, report the winners on the Regional Fair page within 7 days of your fair.

Invoices and payments

You'll still receive two invoices: the first after you affiliate, and the second with the balance of your CWSF fees. Invoices are emailed to your region's administrators, and you can see your region's invoices and payments on the Accounting tab of your Region Profile. Fees and payment deadlines are in 2027 Regional Affiliation Information.

Getting help inside the portal

Every page has a Help button. It opens Help Centre articles about the page you're on, and a Contact support option that sends your question straight to YSC. It includes the page you were on, so you don't have to explain where you got stuck. You can also use it to send feedback or suggestions about the new portal.

Need more help?

If your question isn't answered here, submit a support request through the Help Centre and we'll be happy to help.