International Biology Olympiad
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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.
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.
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. | 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 | 74 |
| 36 | 2025 | Quezon City |  Philippines | July 20–27 | 77 |
| 37 | 2026 | Vilnius |  Lithuania | July 12–19 | |
| 38 | 2027 | Warsaw |  Poland | ||
| 39 | 2028 | Netherlands | |||
| 40 | 2029 | 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]
| Rank | Country | Gold in Last 10 contests (2016-2025) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 33 (4+3+4+4+3+4+n/a+3+4+4) |
| 2 | Taiwan | 32 (4+4+4+3+2+4+3+3+4+1) |
| 3 | Singapore | 27 (4+3+3+3+1+1+2+4+2+4) |
| 4 |  USA | 23 (3+4+n/a+2+3+2+n/a+2+4+3) |
| 5 |  Russia | 22 (1+2+3+0+3+2+4+3+2+2) |
| 6 | South Korea | 16 (2+2+3+4+1+0+0+1+2+1) |
| 7 | Iran | 14 (0+n/a+2+0+0+0+4+2+3+3) |
| 8 | Vietnam | 11 (1+1+3+0+1+1+0+0+3+1) |
| 9 | Germany | 9 (2+1+1+0+1+0+1+2+0+1) |
| 9 | India | 9 (1+0+0+0+0+0+1+4+1+2) |
| 9 | Turkey | 9 (n/a+0+1+2+0+1+2+0+1+2) |
| 12 | Thailand | 8 (1+0+0+1+1+1+2+0+1+1) |
| 12 | Hungary | 8 (2+1+0+4+0+0+1+0+0+0) |
| 14 | Indonesia | 6 (1+1+0+1+0+1+2+0+0+0) |
| 14 | Bulgaria | 6 (0+1+0+0+0+2+1+1+1+0) |
| 16 | Japan | 5 (1+0+0+0+1+0+1+2+0+0) |
| 16 | United Kingdom | 5 (0+1+3+0+0+0+0+1+0+0) |
| 18 | Australia | 4 (0+0+0+0+0+1+n/a+1+1+1) |
| 18 | Netherlands | 4 (0+0+0+3+1+0+0+0+0+0) |
| 18 | Czech Republic | 4 (0+1+0+0+1+1+1+0+0+0) |
| 18 | Poland | 4 (0+0+1+0+0+1+1+0+0+1) |
| 22 |  Hong Kong | 3 (n/a+n/a+n/a+1+0+0+n/a+0+2+0) |
| 22 |  Azerbaijan | 3 (0+0+0+0+1+2+n/a+0+0+0) |
| 22 |  Qatar | 3 (n/a+n/a+0+0+n/a+3+0+0+0+0) |
| 22 |  Uzbekistan | 3 (0+0+0+0+1+2+0+0+n/a+n/a)[note 1] |
| 26 |  New Zealand | 1 (0+1+n/a+0+n/a+0+0+0+0+0) |
| 26 |  Italy | 1 (0+0+0+1+n/a+0+0+0+0+0) |
| 26 | Lithuania | 1 (0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0) |
| 26 |  Slovenia | 1 (0+0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0) |
| 26 | Switzerland | 1 (0+0+1+0+0+0+0+0+0+0) |
| 26 |  Pakistan | 1 (0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1) |
| 26 | Armenia |
1 (0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+0+1) |
| 26 |  Israel |
1 (n/a+n/a+n/a+n/a+n/a+n/a+0+0+0+1) |
