The competition was tough and the talent high in the initial pool of over 150,000 high school biologists, chemists, computer programmers, physicists, mathematicians and earth scientists.

Yesterday in Canberra, victory was sweet for the successful year 10, 11 and 12 students who were selected to represent Australia at the International Science and Mathematical Olympiads in July and August.  Students attended a team announcement ceremony at Parliament House and received their Australian Team blazers.

Young women breaking new ground

Two records have already been broken for the Australian team, with Melbourne student Belinda Shi the first female student ever picked for the Australian Informatics Olympiad team, and Sydney student Zoe Thompson the first female student to compete in two consecutive International Science Olympiads in different subjects.

“I’m excited to compete at my second International Science Olympiad and experience an international community of people passionate about science,” says Zoe Thompson, a gold medallist at last year’s Earth Science Olympiad who has won a place to compete at the 2016 Biology Olympiad in Vietnam.

Training for success

The young Olympians have spent a year in exams and will now be supported with intensive training to make the most of the opportunity the international competitions present.

The students will compete in the International Olympiads for Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Informatics, Mathematics and Physics. They will test their skills against 2000 of the world’s smartest young people at competitions taking place this year in Vietnam (Biology), Georgia (Chemistry), Japan (Earth Science), Russia (Informatics), Hong Kong (Mathematics) and Switzerland (Physics).

BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities and the Australian Science Olympiads

Aside from ongoing support for the Australian Science Olympiads, the flagship program of Australian Science Innovations, BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities has funded the development of the Earth and Environmental Science Program to expand the Australian Olympiads competition.

To grow the number of participants, this partnership has also supported the development of online training programs that have improved access to learning materials for students and schools across Australia as they are preparing for Olympiad selection exams.

Choose STEM

For BHP Billiton, long-term success is reliant on a highly educated workforce and a strong supply of science and technology skills and it is important to ensure that there is a strong pipeline of talent now and into the future. Technology and innovation are key to improving productivity not only within BHP Billiton, but for the global economy.

Our workforce is not only comprised of scientists and mathematicians, but includes people at all levels who have skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and spatial cognizance that are gained by studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.

Our support for the Australian Science Olympiads is one way BHP Billiton is helping the workforce of tomorrow choose STEM.

Read more about the Australian Science Olympiads here and the International Science Olympiads here.

The Australian team members for the 2016 International Science and Mathematical Olympiads are listed here.