Summer Poster Days

If you are a summer intern at NIH, Summer Poster Day is your chance to share your research and scientific ideas with a broad audience, while developing your networking and communication skills. We hope you have a meaningful experience sharing your research with the NIH community, colleagues, friends, and family members. 

The 2026 Summer Poster Day is scheduled for August 6.

Registration is now open.

To participate, summer interns must submit the Summer Poster Day Presenter Registration Form by Tuesday, July 7th at 5:00 PM (ET).

We strongly encourage summer interns located in the Bethesda, Baltimore, and Frederick areas to present their research in person at the 2026 NIH Summer Poster Day in Bethesda.

If you are located at another NIH campus, including RML (NIAID), North Carolina (NIEHS), Phoenix (NIDDK), or Framingham (NHLBI), please contact your Institute’s Summer Coordinator for information regarding local specific IC Poster Day participation opportunities at your campus, as well as any campus-specific arrangements for summer interns.

All NIH summer interns are encouraged to present and attend this event.

This event is open to the NIH Intramural community and to the general public.

The Natcher Conference Center is Building 45 on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Bethesda Campus, about five miles from Washington, DC. Check out NIH Visitor Information for instructions on how to navigate to campus and go through security.

Information about food will be posted closer to the event.

All summer interns are welcome to present.

You can share background information on your project, present data you may have collected, discuss any technical problems you might have encountered, and show results. You, like many of your summer intern peers, may have just started and unable to share a full story. We still encourage you to present - posters of all lengths of a story, or something else are welcome. Feel free to present a literature review or a completely new proposal.

Whatever your plan, be sure to discuss your idea with your supervisor or PI before registering.

Discuss printing options with your PI/supervisor. Carefully consider your timeline for printing, accounting for feedback from your PI and other mentors or supervisors. In the weeks before Summer Poster Days, over a thousand posters need to be printed, which means printing services are going to be very busy. We strongly encourage trainees to submit appointment requests in advance regardless of which service source you are using. Note that some printing services might have a cut-off time to print posters.

• Will I receive a confirmation email after registration? Yes, a confirmation email will come from [email protected] with the subject “Thank you for your submission. We will review and process your submission”. This message confirms your participation in the event. No further steps are needed.
• I have multiple projects and I want to present them all. Can I submit multiple poster titles (or multiple registrations)? No. Please talk with your supervisor and choose one project you want to share the most. Or, if you can connect them to one theme, you might consider putting them all into one poster.
• Can I change the title of my poster? No modifications will be accepted after registration. You are welcome to modify the title on your actual poster.  The complete program book will, however, include the title you submitted. For this reason, you must confirm your poster title with your supervisor BEFORE you register.
• I would like to add another presenter to my poster. Can I do that? The registration survey allows up to two additional authors besides the presenter. You can add another presenter to the poster itself; actually, you should consider adding authors who have contributed to your project including your supervisor and your PI. Authors’ names will not appear in the program book.
• I want to co-present. Can we do that? No. We believe planning, data collection, poster creation, and presentation are all essential skills. We recommend that each person register individually and prepare and present a poster, with each focusing on a different aspect of the project.
• I have just learned that I will not be able to present my poster on Summer Poster Day.  What should I do? Please let us as soon as possible if you will not be able to present.
• Will poster titles be released to the general NIH community so that they can attend sessions that interest them? Yes. The program book including presenter information and poster title will be uploaded to our website when available.

• You will receive an email by July 23, 2026, containing your poster session assignment and additional event details.
• Begin preparing your poster now. NIH printing services become very busy before large poster events such as NIH Summer Poster Day, so we strongly recommend printing your poster two weeks in advance to avoid delays. Discuss printing options with your PI.
• Plan to attend the "Creating and Presenting Dynamic Posters" workshop on July 10, 2026, from 3:00–4:30 PM ET. If you are unable to attend, a recording will be available to those who register for the workshop.
• Practice a brief verbal presentation of your research with colleagues, lab members, research mentors, and if needed during OITE office hours.
• Finally, on your assigned date and time, present your poster to your research group, members of the NIH community, visitors, and your guests. Each poster session will last approximately 75 minutes.

Most importantly, celebrate your accomplishments, enjoy the experience, and have fun!