The Society of Biology and the volunteers of UK Biology Competitions (UKBC) are pleased to announce the four students selected to represent the UK at the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) in Denmark this summer.

A record 6,189 students took part in the British Biology Olympiad this year. The 129 students with the highest scores took part in selection for the UK IBO team which concluded with 20 of them competing at the University of Warwick last week.

The four students representing the UK this year are (in alphabetical order):
Timothy Birkle, St Paul's School
Guy Cheng, Winchester College
Matthew Hankins, Reading School
Rhys Thomson, Reigate Grammar School

The volunteers who run the competition are led by Dr Andrew Treharne MBE FSB who said:
“This is the 18th year the UK has competed in this prestigious international competition. It is also the fifth time a student from Reading School has been a member of the UK team, the fourth for Winchester College and the third for St Paul’s School; astonishing achievements considering how many hundreds of schools take part in the national competition each year.

"Congratulations to the four members of the 2015 team and best of luck in competing against the top students from 62 other countries in July.”

The IBO seeks to challenge both theoretical knowledge and practical skill of some of the top pre-university biology students in the world.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) supports the UK teams’ participation at the IBO, where considerable UK success has been achieved in previous years.