Pakistan has secured three bronze medals at the 56th International Physics Olympiad, held in Bucaramanga, Colombia, from July 4 to July 12, marking another milestone for the country’s young scientists on the international stage. The competition brought together more than 400 students from over 90 countries, providing a prestigious platform for young physicists to demonstrate their scientific knowledge and problem solving abilities.
The Pakistani team secured bronze medals through Zulfiqar Ali of Government City Boys School in Dera Ghazi Khan, Ali Hamdan Alvi of FG Sir Syed College in Rawalpindi, and Daniyal Shahzad Hamid of The Science School in Rawat, Islamabad. Hazza Mahmood of Aitchison College in Lahore and Abdullah Ejaz of Siddeeq Public School in Rawalpindi earned Honourable Mentions for their performance at the competition, rounding out a strong overall showing for the Pakistani delegation.
The students were selected through the 22nd National Science Talent Contest, conducted under the STEM Careers Program, a joint initiative of the Higher Education Commission and the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Following a rigorous nationwide selection process spanning 19 cities across the country, the selected students underwent a series of intensive residential training camps at the PIEAS campus, where they received advanced theoretical and experimental instruction from both national and international experts ahead of the competition.
Working under the auspices of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, PIEAS organises the National Science Talent Contest annually across physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics to identify and nurture talented students at the secondary and higher secondary levels, including those studying in Classes 9 and 10, O-Level, and F.Sc Part-I and A-Level Part-I. The Pakistani team competing in physics this year was led by Professor Doctor Muhammad Irfan and Doctor Muhammad Waseem of PIEAS, continuing the institute’s long running role in preparing the country’s science olympiad delegations.
Pakistan has participated in the International Physics Olympiad since 2001, alongside the International Mathematical Olympiad since 2005 and the International Biology and Chemistry Olympiads since 2006. Since the inception of the STEM Careers Program, more than 365 Pakistani students have represented the country at International Science Olympiads, winning a total of 144 medals across the various competitions. Over 5,000 students have benefited from more than 256 advanced training camps conducted under the programme to date, with PIEAS continuing to serve as the home institute for physics training alongside NIBGE-C for biology, the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry at the University of Karachi for chemistry, and COMSATS University Islamabad’s Lahore campus for mathematics.
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