International Biology Olympiad

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Logo of the International Biology Olympiad

The International Biology Olympiad (IBO) is a biological olympiad for pre-university students under the age 20, and is one of the most well-known International Science Olympiads. The first IBO was held in Czechoslovakia in 1990, and it has since been held annually. The competition have gradually expanded to include more than 75 participating countries across five continents. All participating countries send the four winners of their National Biology Olympiad to the IBO, usually accompanied by two adults who are members of the international jury, for the duration of the competition.

To select these top four life science contestants for this international competition, all member countries host Biology Olympiad competitions in typically 3-5 consecutively more difficult national competition rounds. As a consequence, this leads to a trickle-down effect, engaging more than 1 million students worldwide in life science each year.[1]

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the IBO (host: Japan) was organized virtually[2] and was rated "a great success" and "highly successful" in the history of IBO[3] because of its exceptional way of operation and the unique international group-based scientific project International Group Project 2020.

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Portuguese IBO host to go virtual once again: the 2021 IBO was replaced by the IBO Challenge II, from July 18 to July 23.

IBO 2020 and the International Group Project[edit]

In the face of the threat of the International Science Olympiads' cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic (the International Physics Olympiad was officially canceled[4]), the IBO 2020 was the first in the International Science Olympiads that was claimed by the host (Japan) to be held entirely virtually with a guaranteed supervision to adapt to the pandemic.[3]

Notably, in the IBO 2020, the International Group Project was proposed. This is the first international group-based scientific project in the history of International Science Olympiads, aiming to intensify scientific discussion and collaboration among competitors from various countries.

In the International Group Project 2020, there are 50 research teams, and every team consists of 4 to 7 competitors, all representing different countries. In each team, these young biologists collaborated with their international fellows in a three-month scientific project. Finally, they had to propose a professional poster or presentation about an outstanding, innovative idea that can determine biology's future and solve a critical global issue.[5] Every performance was evaluated by noble professors of Japan in life science.

Altogether, 53 countries and 202 contestants participated in the International Group Project 2020. This project was described as "the first trial of a collaborative research opportunity in IBO's history."[3] Among 50 teams, six outstanding teams had (25 students) received the Award of Excellence for the best performance.[6]

Summary[edit]

Each year, the IBO is organised by a different country.[7][8]

No. Year City Country Date Participating countries
1 1990 Olomouc  Czechoslovakia July 1–7 6
2 1991 Makhachkala  Soviet Union July 1–7 9
3 1992 Poprad  Czechoslovakia July 6–12 12
4 1993 Utrecht  Netherlands July 4–11 15
5 1994 Varna  Bulgaria July 3–10 18
6 1995 Bangkok  Thailand July 2–9 22
7 1996 Artek  Ukraine June 30–July 7 23
8 1997 Ashgabat  Turkmenistan July 13–20 28
9 1998 Kiel  Germany July 19–26 33
10 1999 Uppsala  Sweden July 4–11 36
11 2000 Antalya  Turkey July 9–16 38
12 2001 Brussels  Belgium July 8–15 38
13 2002 Jurmala and Riga  Latvia July 7–14 40
14 2003 Minsk  Belarus July 8–16 41
15 2004 Brisbane  Australia July 11–18 40
16 2005 Beijing  China July 10–17 50
17 2006 Rio Cuarto  Argentina July 9–16 48
18 2007 Saskatoon  Canada July 15–22 49
19 2008 Mumbai  India July 13–20 55
20 2009 Tsukuba  Japan July 12–19 56
21 2010 Changwon  South Korea July 11–18 58
22 2011 Taipei  Taiwan July 10–17 58
23 2012 Singapore  Singapore July 8–15 59
24 2013 Bern  Switzerland July 14–21 62
25 2014 Bali  Indonesia July 6–13 61
26 2015 Aarhus  Denmark July 12–19 62
27 2016 Hanoi  Vietnam July 17–24 68
28 2017 Coventry  United Kingdom July 23–30 64
29 2018 Tehran  Iran July 15–22 68
30 2019 Szeged  Hungary July 14–21 72
31 2020 Nagasaki  Japan Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, replaced by a remotely conducted competition, the IBO Challenge 2020,[2] and a group-based scientific project, the International Group Project.[9] The whole competition was operated from August 11–24. 47 in both competitions (+5 in only the International Group Project)
32 2021 Lisbon  Portugal Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, replaced by a remotely conducted competition, the IBO Challenge II.[10][11] The whole competition was operated from July 18–23. 72
33 2022 Yerevan  Armenia July 10–18 62
34 2023 Al Ain  United Arab Emirates July 3–11 76
35 2024 Astana  Kazakhstan July 7–14
36 2025 Quezon City  Philippines July 13–20
37 2026 Vilnius  Lithuania July 12–19
38 2027  Uzbekistan
39 2028  Netherlands
40 2029  Czech Republic

Performance of countries[edit]

As of February 2024, the current list of countries with the best results (spanning the last 10 years) for gold medals are as follows:[12]

Rank Country Gold in Last 10 years (2014-2023)
1  Taiwan 34(4+3+4+4+4+3+2+4+3+3)
2  China 32(3+4+4+3+4+4+3+4+0+3)
3  Singapore 27(3+3+4+3+3+3+1+1+2+4)
4  USA 23(3+4+3+4+0+2+3+2+0+2)
5  Russia 21(1+2+1+2+3+0+3+2+4+3)
6  South Korea 17(2+2+2+2+3+4+1+0+0+1)
7  Indonesia 10(3+1+1+1+0+1+0+1+2+0)
8  Germany 10(1+1+2+1+1+0+1+0+1+2)
9  Thailand 9(2+1+1+0+0+1+1+1+2+0)
10  Hungary 9(0+1+2+1+0+4+0+0+1+0)
11  Vietnam 7(0+0+1+1+3+0+1+1+0+0)
12  Iran 7(0+1+0+0+2+0+0+0+4+0)
13  Japan 7(1+1+1+0+0+0+1+0+1+2)
14  India 6(0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+1+4)
15  Turkey 6(0+0+0+0+1+2+0+1+2+0)
16  United Kingdom 6(1+0+0+1+3+0+0+0+0+1)
17  Bulgaria 5(0+0+0+1+0+0+0+2+1+1)
18  Netherlands 5(0+1+0+0+0+3+1+0+0+0)
19  Iran 4(1+0+0+0+0+0+0+1+0+2)
20  Czech Republic 4(0+0+0+1+0+0+1+1+1+0)
21  Azerbaijan 3(0+0+0+0+0+0+1+2+0+0)
22  Qatar 3(0+0+0+0+0+0+0+3+0+0)
23  Uzbekistan 3(0+0+0+0+0+0+1+2+0+0)
24  Poland 3(0+0+0+0+1+0+0+1+1+0)
25  Australia 2(0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1+0+1)
26  Hong Kong 1(0+0+0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0)
27  Italy 1(0+0+0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0)
28  Lithuania 1(0+0+0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0)
29  Slovenia 1(0+0+0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0)
29   Switzerland 1(0+0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0)
29  New Zealand 1(0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0)
30  Romania 1(0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0)
31  Mexico 1(1+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "IBO is an association of national biology competitions from countries and regions". International Biology Olympiad. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  2. ^ a b "Regarding COVID-19". IBO2020 Nagasaki. 2020-03-06. Archived from the original on 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  3. ^ a b c "THE VIRTUAL IBO CHALLENGE 2020 WAS A GREAT SUCCESS". International Biology Olympiad. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  4. ^ "51st International Physics Olympiad". ipho-unofficial.org. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  5. ^ "International Group Project". IBO2020 Nagasaki. 2020-04-24. Archived from the original on 2021-01-18. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  6. ^ "Group Project Results". IBO2020 Nagasaki. 2020-12-19. Archived from the original on 2021-01-18. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  7. ^ "Past IBOs". International Biology Olympiad. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  8. ^ "Future IBOs". International Biology Olympiad. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  9. ^ "International Group Project". International Biology Olympiad Nagasaki 2020. 24 April 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-01-18. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
  10. ^ "IBO Challenge 2021: Event website & registration deadlines due end of March".
  11. ^ "Welcome to IBO2021 – IBO 2021".
  12. ^ "IBO Results".

External links[edit]

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