International Biology Olympiad

The International Biology Olympiad (IBO) is a science olympiad for highschool students under the age of 20. The first academic international Olympiads after the (originally Eastern European-based) International Mathematical Olympiad were launched under the auspices of the United Nations in the 1960s. The programs have gradually expanded to include more than 70 participating countries across five continents. The IBO is one of these olympiads. 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.

Aims

The aims of the IBO are to promote a career in science for talented students and to stress the importance of biology in our current society. It also provides a great opportunity to compare educational methods and exchange experiences. This is useful information to improve biology education on a national level. Since the organization of every National Olympiad requires the cooperation of many institutions, such as ministries of education, industry, teachers' associations, universities and schools, communication and cooperation between those institutions is promoted and intensified. Lastly, the IBO stimulates contact between students and teachers from many countries in a friendly environment. To demonstrate this, both students and jurors swear an oath of behaving according to the principles of fair play.

Procedure

The competition itself is composed of a theoretical and practical element. The theory exams cover a wide range of Biology: Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Plant Anatomy and Physiology, Animal Anatomy and Physiology, Ethology, Genetics and Evolution, Ecology, and Biosystematics. The marks are scaled so that the theory and practical components each have a weighting of about fifty percent.

All participants are ranked based on their individual scores. These are based on the results of a theoretical and a practical test, each making up approximately fifty percent of the final score. Gold medals are awarded to the top ten percent of students, silver medals are awarded to the next twenty percent of students and bronze medals are awarded to the next thirty percent of students.

Language

The official language of the IBO is English. To provide equal opportunities for all participants, the tests are translated prior to the testing days. This is done by each country's jurors. This means they hold specific information on the tests before the participants should know. Therefore, jurors and students are lodged in separate accommodation.

Objectives of Participants

The goals that each participant hopes to achieve in the IBO contest may vary widely from winning medals to socializing and exploring interactions between different cultures.

Past and future IBOs

Each year, the IBO is organised by a different country.

No.	City	Country	Date	Participant countries
1st	Olomouc	Czechoslovakia	July 1-7, 1990	6
2nd	Makhachkala	Soviet Union	July 1-7, 1991	9
3rd	Poprad	Czechoslovakia	July 6-12, 1992	12
4th	Utrecht	Netherlands	July 4-11, 1993	15
5th	Varna	Bulgaria	July 3-10, 1994	18
6th	Bangkok	Thailand	July 2-9, 1995	22
7th	Artek	Ukraine	June 30 - July 7, 1996	23
8th	Ashgabad	Turkmenistan	July 13–20, 1997	28
9th	Kiel	Germany	July 19–26, 1998	33
10th	Uppsala	Sweden	July 4–11, 1999	36
11th	Antalya	Turkey	July 9–16, 2000	38
12th	Brussels	Belgium	July 8–15, 2001	38
13th	Jurmala and Riga	Latvia	July 7–14, 2002	40
14th	Minsk	Belarus	July 8–16, 2003	41
15th	Brisbane	Australia	July 11-18, 2004	40
16th	Beijing	China	July 10-17, 2005	50
17th	Rio Cuarto	Argentina	July 9-16, 2006	48
18th	Saskatoon	Canada	July 15-22, 2007	49
19th	Mumbai	India	July 13-20, 2008	55
20th	Tsukuba	Japan	July 12-19, 2009	56
21st	Changwon	South Korea	July 11-18, 2010	58
22nd	Taipei	Taiwan	July 10-17, 2011	59
23rd	Singapore	Singapore	July 8-15, 2012	63
24th	Bern	Switzerland	July 14-21, 2013	62
25th	Bali	Indonesia	July 6-13, 2014	61
26th	Aarhus	Denmark	July 12-19, 2015	61
27th	Hanoi	Vietnam	July 17-24, 2016
28th	Coventry	United Kingdom	July 23-30, 2017
29th	Shiraz	Iran	2018
30th		Hungary	2019
31st		Japan	2020