International Biology Olympiad


The International Biology Olympiad 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.
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the IBO was organized virtually and was rated "a great success" and "highly successful" in the history of IBO 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.
WWW ibo-info.org

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 IBO 2020 was the first in the International Science Olympiads that was claimed by the host to be held entirely virtually with a guaranteed supervision to adapt to the pandemic.
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. 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." Among 50 teams, six outstanding teams had received the Award of Excellence for the best performance.

Summary

Each year, the IBO is organised by a different country.
No.YearCityCountryDateParticipating countries
11990OlomoucJuly 1–76
21991MakhachkalaJuly 1–79
31992PopradJuly 6–1212
41993UtrechtJuly 4–1115
51994VarnaJuly 3–1018
61995BangkokJuly 2–922
71996ArtekJune 30–July 723
81997AshgabatJuly 13–2028
91998KielJuly 19–2633
101999UppsalaJuly 4–1136
112000AntalyaJuly 9–1638
122001BrusselsJuly 8–1538
132002Jurmala and RigaJuly 7–1440
142003MinskJuly 8–1641
152004BrisbaneJuly 11–1840
162005BeijingJuly 10–1750
172006Rio CuartoJuly 9–1648
182007SaskatoonJuly 15–2249
192008MumbaiJuly 13–2055
202009TsukubaJuly 12–1956
212010ChangwonJuly 11–1858
222011TaipeiJuly 10–1758
232012SingaporeJuly 8–1559
242013BernJuly 14–2162
252014BaliJuly 6–1361
262015AarhusJuly 12–1962
272016HanoiJuly 17–2468
282017CoventryJuly 23–3064
292018TehranJuly 15–2268
302019SzegedJuly 14–2172
312020NagasakiDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, replaced by a remotely conducted competition, the IBO Challenge 2020, and a group-based scientific project, the International Group Project. The whole competition was operated from August 11–24.47 in both competitions
322021LisbonDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, replaced by a remotely conducted competition, the IBO Challenge II. The whole competition was operated from July 18–23.72
332022YerevanJuly 10–1862
342023Al AinJuly 3–1176
352024AstanaJuly 7–1474
362025Quezon CityJuly 20–2777
372026VilniusJuly 12–19
382027Warsaw
392028
402029

Performance of countries

As of August 2025, the current list of countries with the best results for gold medals are as follows:
RankCountryGold in Last 10 contests
1China