A record 6,189 students from 582 schools took part in the British Biology Olympiad (BBO) this year, compared to 5,057 students from 492 schools in 2014.

Dr Andrew Treharne MBE CBiol FSB, Chair, UK Biology Competitions said:
“This is another record-breaking year for participation and the standard of entries was as high as ever. Many congratulations to all those students who have been awarded medals and certificates. Best of luck to those who now go forward to compete for a place in the UK team which will go to the International Biology Olympiad in Denmark.”

The first round consisted of two one hour multiple choice papers taken online in schools in January. The 34% of students who achieved Gold, Silver or Bronze awards, will be invited to attend a Society awards ceremony later this year.

The top gold medallists will soon be invited to take part in round two of the BBO; a ninety minute written paper at their schools in March.

The highest achieving students from round two will then be selected to take part in the British Final at the University of Warwick from 30^th March – 1^st April 2015.

In addition to encouraging and rewarding students the BBO provides a means of selecting a four-person team to represent the UK at the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) which will take place in Aarhus, Denmark from 12^th – 19^th July 2015.

The IBO seeks to challenge both theoretical knowledge and practical skill of some of the top pre-university biology students in the world, with over 60 countries taking part.

UK teams have had considerable success at IBO in previous years. We would like to thank the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) for its continued support of the UK team’s participation.