The Irish Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) is a competition for Irish students in the final year of second level education who are under twenty on December 31st in the year of the competition. It is held annually in Dublin City University (DCU). Students from Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (RoI) are invited to take part in the competition.
Congratulations to all the participants in ChOIRL 2024 and to the four students who represented Ireland at IChO 2024.
The team to represent Ireland at the 56th IChO, 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 21st – 30 th July:
Team was accompanied by Dr Brian Murphy and Dr Carl Poree.
Congratulations to all the participants in ChOIRL 2023 and to the four students who represented Ireland at IChO 2023.
The team that represented Ireland at the 55th IChO, 2023 in Zurich, Switzerland 16th – 25th July:
The team was accompanied by Dr Brian Murphy and Dr Carl Poree.
Congratulations to all the participants in ChOIRL 2022 and to the four students who represented Ireland at IChO 2022.
The team that represented Ireland at the 54th IChO, 2022 in Tianjin, China 10th – 17th July:
Fearghal Gormley – Bronze Medal
Team was accompanied by Dr Brian Murphy and Dr Carl Poree.
Congratulations to all the participants in ChOIRL 2021 and to the four students who represented Ireland at IChO 2021.
Team Ireland achieved its best success to date in the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO), which was held from July 24 to August 2, 2021. All four competing students received awards, which meant the Irish challenge surpassed all previous achievements in the competition.
The International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) is an annual competition for the world’s most talented chemistry students at secondary school level. Due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, the competition was held remotely in 2021, rather than in-situ in Japan, with nations around the world represented by individual teams made up of four students who were tested on their chemistry knowledge.
The 53rd International Chemistry Olympiad involved a highly challenging five-hour theoretical examination paper run remotely consisting of nine problems, involving very complex chemistry topics. The competition was one of the largest to take place since its inauguration with 312 student participants from 85 countries competing.
Ireland has successfully participated in the competition since 1997 with a total of 20 bronze medals, 4 honourable mentions and 2 silver medals awarded in 1999 and 2006. 2021 however was the first year that all four members of Team Ireland achieved awards and the first year that Ireland came away with two silver medals in the competition, doubling their overall tally in the competition from two to four.
The journey for the four students to IChO2021 Japan commenced in the Spring of 2021 where over 210 chemistry students from across the island of Ireland participated in Round 1 of the Chemistry Olympiad Ireland competition. This was reduced down to approximately 50 who competed for national metals and highly commended awards. From this group, Team Ireland was chosen after extensive training during the Easter Holidays and further assessment.
The four members of Team Ireland received extensive training for IChO2021 from an expert team of academics from across five Irish higher education institutions –Dr. Carl Poree, Dr. John O’Donoghue and Professor Mike Lyons, Trinity College Dublin; Dr. Elizabeth Gilchrist and Dr. Tim O’Sullivan, University College Cork; Dr. Pat O’Malley, Dr. Odilla Finlayson, Dr. Nessan Kerrigan and Dr. Hasim Ibrahim, Dublin City University; Dr. Brian Murphy, Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest; and Dr Cormac Quigley from Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.
The Irish international delegation at IChO2021 included Dr. Brian Murphy, Dr. Carl Poree, Dr. John O’Donoghue and Dr. Elizabeth Gilchrist, who supported the four Irish students throughout the competition in July and who participated in the International Jury at IChO2021.
Congratulations to all the participants in ChOIRL 2020 and to the four students who represented Ireland at IChO 2020.
8 students
The team to represent Ireland at the 52th IChO, 2020 – organised in Turkiye – but conducted on-line:
Team was accompanied by Dr Brian Murphy and Dr Carl Poree.
IrChO 2019 Gold Medal winners – Brian Durkan and Oisin McCullagh
IrChO 2019 Silver Medal winners – Conal Bonar and Mark Crawford
IrChO 2019 Bronze Medal Winners – Auriel Guarino, David Conneely, Ellen O’Carroll, Conor Boylan
IrChO 2019 Highly Commended – Mati Karski, David Kennedy, Ishita Solanki, Glen Gilmartin
IrChO 2019 All winners with Scientific Committee – Dr Cormac Quigley (GMIT), Dr Pat O’Malley (DCU), Dr Mercedes Vasquez (DCU), Dr Brian Murphy (AIT) and Dr Odilla Finlayson (DCU)
IrChO 2019 Getting them Organised!!
IrChO 2019 During the examination
All medal winners were invited to participate in Practical Training and after a further assessment, the top students were selected to represent Ireland at the IChO 2019 (July 21st – 30th) in Paris, France.
The Ireland Team was:
Ireland Team at IChO 2019: Dr Brian Murphy, Mark Crawford, Brian Durkan, David Conneely, Oisin McCullagh, Dr Cormac Quigley.
One team member, Brian Durkan from St. Muredach’s College, Ballina, Co Mayo won a bronze medal at the prestigious international event. Congratulations!
Bronze Medal Winner Brian Durkan, with mentors Dr Cormac Quigley and Dr Brian Murphy at IChO 2019.
IChO 2018 was held on the 10th March 2018. Application forms were emailed to school principals and each school was invited to nominate up to two of the most enthusiastic and keenest students in the school in chemistry. Over 130 students attended this year’s IChO competition.
Highly Commended Students for IChO 2018
Highly Commended Students with IChO 2018 Scientific Committee
Medal Winners IChO 2018
Medal Winners with IChO 2018 Scientific Committee
All Winners IChO 2018
All winners with IChO 2018 Scientific Committee
Medal winners and highly commended participants were invited to attend further training during the Easter break, after which the team was selected.
The team to represent Ireland at the 50th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2018 in July 19th – 29th in Slovakia & Czech Republic was:
The team was accompanied by the Ireland Mentors, Asst Professor Mercedes Vasquez (Dublin City University) and Dr Brian Murphy (Athlone Institute of Technology).
IChO 2017 was held on the 1st. April 2017. Application forms were emailed to school principals and each school was invited to nominate up to two of the most enthusiastic and keenest students in the school in chemistry. Over 130 students attended this year’s IChO competition.
Medal winners and highly commended participants were invited to attend further training during the Easter break, after which the team was selected.
The team to represent Ireland at the 49th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2017 in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand was:
From left to right: Dr Cormac Quigley (GMIT), Asst Professor Mercedes Vasquez (DCU), Aaron Hannon, Alicia Huntley, Michael Yuan Hong, and Diarmuid O’Donoghue
The team was accompanied by the Ireland Mentors, Dr Cormac Quigley (GMIT) and Asst Professor Mercedes Vasquez (DCU).
Three members of Team Ireland were awarded Bronze medals at the 49th International Chemistry Olympiad in Thailand: Alicia Huntley, Diarmuid O’Donoghue, and Michael Yuan Hong.
