UK students shine at the International Chemistry Olympiad

Burlington House played host to four students as they prepared to travel to Azerbaijan to represent the UK in the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) final at the end of July.

The UK Chemistry Olympiad invites secondary school students to test their chemistry knowledge in a series of rigorous challenges. We have increased both the size and success of this competition over the past few years with support from INEOS, and this year’s competition was bigger than ever with 6,630 students entering from 640 schools.

Four students, Daniya Aynetdinova from Bromsgrove School, William Drake from The Perse School, Alexander Mayorov from Westminster School and Rory McMillan from Sherborne School, were named as the UK’s top competitors and they each brought home a medal from the international final at the end of July. William, Alexander and Rory received silver medals and Daniya gained bronze.

Rory said: "The Olympiad was an awesome experience, especially because it was a chance to meet loads of new people from all over the world and make some really good friends.

"It was very eye-opening to see how hard some young people from around the world work and how clever some of them are".

Daniya added: "For me the preparation and the Olympiad itself were a superb experience. During the preparation I learnt much new material and also developed some chemical logic which enable me to predict the products and mechanisms of reactions which I saw for the first time.

"Questions at IChO are very challenging - you need to combine the knowledge from different parts of chemistry: physical, inorganic, organic just in one problem, and then apply strong mathematical skills to solve it. This is exactly what's required in research, so I think the experience I got during the Olympiad will be very useful in my future.

"IChO gave me a unique opportunity to learn more about the culture of Azerbaijan and to meet students from all over the world".

William concluded: "Participating in the IChO, both the training camps and the competition, was a fascinating experience that hugely improved my understanding of chemistry.

"The international final was an unforgettable experience; I hugely enjoyed the opportunity not only to meet other like-minded students - several of whom I have kept in touch with - but also to explore the diverse and fast-evolving city of Baku, where the competition was held.

"I would like to thank the Royal Society of Chemistry and also INEOS, our sponsors, very much for providing this fantastic opportunity."