The 32nd International Biology Olympiad (IBO 2021)[1] was held from July 19 to 24, 2021 online with Lisbon in Portugal serving as the main venue, and four high school students participated in the event representing Japan. Toray, as part of its CSR activities, has been supporting the dispatch of students, through the Japan Science Foundation, from the perspective of nurturing human resources who would play important roles in the future of biology. IBO awards gold (to about top 10 percent of the participants), silver (to about next 20 percent), and bronze (to about next 30 percent) to the best performers, who face-off individually on experimental and theoretical questions.
The four students who represented Japan, chosen from the 1,566 who took part in the qualifying rounds, received three remote special sessions before their participation in the international meet. As a result, all four of them were able to win medals (one silver, three bronzes) at IBO 2021, in a field that constituted 304 students representing 76 countries and areas.
The IBO 2022 is slated to be held in Yerevan, Armenia, and the first round of qualifications in Japan for deciding Japanese participants for IBO 2022 was already held on July 18, 2021 with 3,080 students participating in it.
We look forward to young gifted students coming into touch with the profound nature of biology and fully demonstrating their ability in the international arena.
[1] International Biology Olympiad (IBO): An international competition in biology for pre-university students held every year July since 1990. Japan participated in the 16th IBO held in Beijing, China in 2005 for the first time and has been sending representatives every year since then.
