International Biology Olympiad

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Logo of the International Biology Olympiad The logo of the International Biology Olympiad.png
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 has 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.

Contents

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

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

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

No.YearCityCountryDateParticipating countries
11990 Olomouc Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechoslovakia July 1–76
21991 Makhachkala Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union July 1–79
31992 Poprad Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechoslovakia July 6–1212
41993 Utrecht Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands July 4–1115
51994 Varna Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria July 3–1018
61995 Bangkok Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand July 2–922
71996 Artek Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine June 30–July 723
81997 Ashgabat Flag of Turkmenistan.svg  Turkmenistan July 13–2028
91998 Kiel Flag of Germany.svg  Germany July 19–2633
101999 Uppsala Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden July 4–1136
112000 Antalya Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey July 9–1638
122001 Brussels Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium July 8–1538
132002 Jurmala and Riga Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia July 7–1440
142003 Minsk Flag of Belarus.svg  Belarus July 8–1641
152004 Brisbane Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia July 11–1840
162005 Beijing Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China July 10–1750
172006 Rio Cuarto Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina July 9–1648
182007 Saskatoon Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada July 15–2249
192008 Mumbai Flag of India.svg  India July 13–2055
202009 Tsukuba Flag of Japan.svg  Japan July 12–1956
212010 Changwon Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea July 11–1858
222011 Taipei Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan July 10–1758
232012 Singapore Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore July 8–1559
242013 Bern Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland July 14–2162
252014 Bali Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia July 6–1361
262015 Aarhus Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark July 12–1962
272016 Hanoi Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam July 17–2468
282017 Coventry Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom July 23–3064
292018 Tehran Flag of Iran.svg  Iran July 15–2268
302019 Szeged Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary July 14–2172
312020 Nagasaki Flag of Japan.svg  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)
322021 Lisbon Flag of Portugal (official).svg  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
332022 Yerevan Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia July 10–1862
342023 Al Ain Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg  United Arab Emirates July 3–1176
352024 Astana Flag of Kazakhstan.svg  Kazakhstan July 7–1474
362025 Quezon City Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines July 20–2780
372026 Vilnius Flag of Lithuania.svg  Lithuania July 12–19
382027 Warsaw Flag of Poland.svg  Poland
392028Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
402029Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic

Performance of countries

As of August 2025, the current list of countries with the best results (spanning the last 10 years) for gold medals are as follows: [12]

RankCountryGold in Last 10 contests (2016-2025)
1Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China 33(4+3+4+4+3+4+0+3+4+4)
2Flag of the Republic of China.svg Taiwan 32(4+4+4+3+2+4+3+3+4+1)
3Flag of Singapore.svg Singapore 27(4+3+3+3+1+1+2+4+2+4)
4Flag of the United States.svg USA 23(3+4+0+2+3+2+0+2+4+3)
5Flag of Russia.svg Russia 22(1+2+3+0+3+2+4+3+2+2)
6Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea 16(2+2+3+4+1+0+0+1+2+1)
7Flag of Iran.svg Iran 13(0+0+2+0+0+0+4+2+2+3)
8Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam 11(1+1+3+0+1+1+0+0+3+1)
9Flag of Germany.svg Germany 9(2+1+1+0+1+0+1+2+0+1)
9Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary 9(1+2+1+0+4+0+0+1+0+0)
9Flag of India.svg India 9(1+0+0+0+0+0+1+4+1+2)
9Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey 9(0+0+1+2+0+1+2+0+1+2)
10Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand 8(1+0+0+1+1+1+2+0+1+1)
11Flag of Indonesia.svg Indonesia 6(1+1+0+1+0+1+2+0+0+0)
11Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria 6(0+1+0+0+0+2+1+1+1+0)
12Flag of Japan.svg Japan 5(1+0+0+0+1+0+1+2+0+0)
12Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom 5(0+1+3+0+0+0+0+1+0+0)
13Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands 4(0+0+0+3+1+0+0+0+0+0)
13Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czech Republic 4(0+1+0+0+1+1+1+0+0+0)
13Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia 4(0+0+0+0+0+1+0+1+1+1)
13Flag of Poland.svg Poland 4(0+0+1+0+0+1+1+0+0+1)
14Flag of Hong Kong.svg Hong Kong 3(0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+2+0)
14Flag of Azerbaijan.svg Azerbaijan 3(0+0+0+0+1+2+0+0+0+0)
14Flag of Qatar.svg Qatar 3(0+0+0+0+0+3+0+0+0+0)
14Flag of Uzbekistan.svg Uzbekistan 3(0+0+0+0+1+2+0+0+0+0 [note 1] )
15Flag of Italy.svg Italy 1(0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0)
15Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania 1(0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0)
15Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia 1(0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0)
15Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland 1(0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0+0)
15Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand 1(0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0)
15Flag of Pakistan.svg Pakistan 1(0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1)
15Flag of Israel.svg Israel 1(0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1)
15Flag of Armenia.svg Armenia 1(0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1)

See also

Notes

  1. Uzbekistan was disqualified from the 2024 International Biology Olympiad due to cheating

References

  1. "IBO is an association of national biology competitions from countries and regions". International Biology Olympiad. Archived from the original on 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  2. 1 2 "Regarding COVID-19". IBO2020 Nagasaki. 2020-03-06. Archived from the original on 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  3. 1 2 3 "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". Archived from the original on 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  12. "IBO Results".