A Pakistani student team won one gold medal and two silver medals at the third International Nuclear Science Olympiad, held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from August 2 to August 8. The competition, supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency, brought together around 120 students and experts from nineteen countries, including China, Japan, Russia, Turkiye, Malaysia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, making it one of the more prominent gatherings of young nuclear science talent held this year.
The Pakistani team was selected and trained by the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences, working under the auspices of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. Muhammad Ali, a student at Government College University Lahore, secured the gold medal for Pakistan, while Muhammad Usman of F.G. Sir Syed College in Rawalpindi and Seerat Fatima of Nixor College in Karachi each won silver medals. Syed Shuja Haider, representing Sundar STEM School in Lahore, also took part in the Olympiad as a member of the Pakistani delegation, rounding out a four member team that competed against peers from nearly two dozen countries.
The students who represented Pakistan at the event were selected through the Pakistan Nuclear Science Olympiad, an initiative run by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission that is designed to identify and nurture young scientific talent capable of competing at the international level. The programme has increasingly served as a pipeline for Pakistani students interested in nuclear science, offering a structured pathway from national level competition to international representation, and this year’s results mark a continuation of the country’s recent record of strong performances at the Olympiad.
In a related development announced during the event, Pakistan was named host of the fourth International Nuclear Science Olympiad, scheduled for 2027. On the occasion, Muhammad Maqsood from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission’s Directorate of Education and Sajjad Tahir from the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences received a commemorative memento marking the announcement. Hosting the next edition is expected to raise the profile of Pakistan’s nuclear science education programmes and give a larger number of domestic students the opportunity to engage directly with international participants and experts in the field.
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