Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Teams from more than 20 countries of the world will take part in the 57th International Mendeleev Olympiad for schoolchildren in chemistry (MMO-57), which will be held from 1 to 6 May in Kazakhstan, the organizing committee told RIA Novosti Events. Since 2023, the IMO has been held as part of the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia and is included in the Science to Win initiative, RIA Novosti reports.

The 2023 Olympiad is being held for the second time in a face-to-face format after the removal of all covid restrictions, said Stepan Kalmykov, chairman of the organizing committee of the Olympiad, vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences and scientific director of the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University.

“This year, the number of applications from participating countries increased by 30% at once, and we look forward to further expansion, thereby contributing to the achievement of the goals of the Decade of Science and Technology,” said Kalmykov.

Participation in the Mendeleev Olympiad has already been confirmed by teams from more than 20 countries. Teams of Austria, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Mongolia, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Croatia and others traditionally take part in the IMO countries. For the first time, the Brazilian national team applied for participation in the tournament.

“With the full support of the government of the republic and the Ministry of Education and Science in 2002, 2012 and 2017, the Mendeleev Olympiad was held in Kazakhstan, which is evidence of the possibility of a high level of holding a serious international competition. This year, the main IMO events will be held in Astana, in the laboratories and classrooms of Nazarbayev University. The technical equipment of the university fully complies with all the conditions for holding the Olympiad,” said Gazhdembek Tursunov, director of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center “Daryn” of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The International Mendeleev Olympiad became the legal successor of the All-Union Chemistry Olympiad for schoolchildren, retaining its numbering, in 1997. The competition usually lasts five or six days and consists of three rounds: two theoretical and one practical.

The tasks of the first round in terms of complexity correspond to the program of specialized chemical classes. In the second round, participants are offered higher-level tasks from five sections of chemistry: organic, inorganic, analytical and physical chemistry, as well as life sciences. The five-hour practical round of the Olympiad implies that schoolchildren have the skills to work in a chemical laboratory: the ability to perform chemical analysis of substances and carry out synthesis according to the proposed method.

Participants of the Mendeleev Olympiad traditionally receive diplomas and valuable gifts from the organizers, and prize-winners and winners receive bronze, silver and gold medals. The number of winners is determined as a percentage of the number of participants. In addition to the gold medal, the absolute winner is awarded the Academician V.V. Lunin, established by the Andrey Melnichenko Foundation. In 2022, it amounted to 2 million rubles.

“This award is presented in memory of the man who founded the International Mendeleev Olympiad and devoted his whole life to chemical science and chemical education. This is a kind of relay baton that we pass on to the younger generation of chemists. They are the future,” said Alexander Cherednik, co-chairman of the IMO Organizing Committee, Executive Director of the Andrey Melnichenko Foundation.

The opening and closing ceremonies of MMO-57 will be broadcast live on the official groups of the Olympiad.

The years 2022–2031 have been declared the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia. Among the tasks of the thematic Decade are attracting talented youth to the field of research and development, promoting the involvement of researchers and developers in solving the most important problems of the development of society and the country, as well as increasing the availability of information about the achievements and prospects for the development of science.