The Society of Biology congratulates the UK team, all of whom brought home medals.

Four of the UK’s most gifted students won medals in the 25th International Biology Olympiad, in Bali (25th IBO) last week. The UK team was Adam Heath (gold medal winner), Josh Dickerson (silver medal winner) Dia Ghose (silver medal winner), and Rebecca Peel (bronze medal winner).

The team were selected from among 5,057 pre-university students who took part in the British Biology Olympiad, organised by volunteers from the Society of Biology’s UK Biology Competitions (UKBC) Special Interest Group. The UKBC competitions are supported by BBSRC.

Rachel Lambert-Forsyth, director of education and training at the Society of Biology, says: “Our four students proved once again that students in the UK can compete against the very best biologists in the world, and come back as winners. Four medals is an amazing achievement and after spending a week with these four young biologists I have no doubt that they have a bright future ahead of them.”  

The team left for Bali on 3rd July to prepare for the start of the competition. The 25th IBO began with a grand opening ceremony on Sunday 6th July, with a guided tour and introduction to the laboratories to be used for practical work during the competition on Monday morning. The students had practical exams on Tuesday 8th and theory papers on the 10th July.

The theory exam papers tested their knowledge and understanding of advanced biology and their laboratory skills were tested by a number of challenging practical tasks, including identification of local shrimp species. It wasn’t all hard work; the students also took part in social events, where they learned about the culture, cuisine and dancing in Bali.

Congratulations to Josh, Dia, Adam and Rebecca on their much deserved success.