Waikato academic off to International Biology Olympiad

In a few days’ time, Waikato University’s Dr Alison Campbell will be packing her bags and flying to Chinese Taipei for a week.

She is attending the 22nd International Biology Olympiad in the Taiwanese capital as an observer, because in 2014 Waikato University is hosting the 25^th Olympiad - the first time the event has been held in New Zealand.

Described as the academic equivalent of the Olympic Games, Dr Campbell says this is huge for the university, and Hamilton itself.

“It’s a great opportunity to showcase ourselves internationally. The top biology students in the world, from almost 60 different countries, will be coming here. So you get a team of four students, with accompanying adults, media teams and senior academics. In some cases, a film crew comes along as well, because it is treated as a big deal in many countries.”

It will be a special year, she says. “Coincidentally, 2014 is not only the 25^th anniversary for the Olympiad, it’s also the 50^th anniversary of Waikato University and the 150^th anniversary of the founding of Hamilton itself.”

The selection process for the New Zealand team attending each Olympiad starts in August, for the following year, with about 300 students taking part. This is whittled down through tutorials and exams over eight months of study. Last month just 19 students took part in a practical training camp held at Waikato University.

The students loaded and ran DNA gels, practised aseptic techniques, dissected mussels, made and stained stem sections, familiarised themselves with all the major divisions of plants and devised their own dichotomous keys, before sitting a three-hour practical exam. Following this, they travelled to Massey University where they participated in further workshops and labs before sitting a final theory exam.

The four students going are Benjamin Bai, Richard Chou, Vicky Tai and Jack Zhou, all from Auckland.

Waikato University has been supporting the event since 2005, which is the first year New Zealand sent a team.

This year’s students will be accompanied by Dr Angela Sharples, organising committee chair and head of Biology at Rotorua Boys High School, and Richard Hendra, who leads the Biology Department at Tauranga Girls’ College. This is the first time Dr Campbell has attended.

“As an observer, I’m going to be busy taking notes and photographs. Because we’ll be hosting the event in 2014, I’ll need to know how the labs are set up and how things are organised. I understand the teams all wear colour-coded lab coats, so you know which country they’re from. It will be great to see it all. And there’s also the chance of our students winning medals again this year.”

New Zealand Wins Gold

The New Zealand secondary school team won a hat-trick of medals at the 22nd International Biology Olympiad. Jack Zhou won a Gold medal and is now ranked 21st in the world, New Zealand’s highest ever world ranking at the Biology Olympiad and our first Gold. A Bronze medal was won by Richard Chou and a Silver medal by Benjamin Bai.