53rd International Chemistry Olympiad
February 27, 2021

Steering Committee Meeting MinutesA) Members
Elected:• I-Jy Chang, Taiwan• Alexander Gladilin, Russia• JL Kiappes, USA• Gábor Magyarfalvi, Hungary, chair• Petra Ménová, Czech Republic• Martin Putala, Slovakia
Ex officio:• Yunus Emre Türkmen, Turkey• Nobuhiro Kihara, Japan• Xinxing Zhang, China• Patrik Willi, Switzerland• Reem S. Al-Mohammed, Saudi Arabia• Abdallah Elmarhoune, UAE, absent from the meeting
Co-opted:• Worawan Bhanthumnavin, Thailand
Present at the meeting:
Representatives of Japan: Yoshiki Chujo, Chair of Executive Committee; Hiroshi Seta, HeadOffice Manager; Shinya Sasaki, Head SecretaryB) Agenda points
Feb. 27, Session 1 17.00-19.30 (JST)
1. Presentation and discussion of the schedule, events and organization of theIChO
Yoshiki Chujo, the chair of the Executive Committee announced that the Japaneseorganizers decided to choose a remote format for the IChO in 2021. In the present
pandemic, this is the best way to ensure the safety of all participants and provide an evenplaying field to all students. The organizers will do their best to preserve the international
experience of the olympiad. There will be no practical exam in the competition.
The members of the Steering Committee agreed with the decision and expressed their fullsupport. This is the responsible choice in the present global situation.
Prof. Nobuhiro Kihara presented detailed plans to the SC.
Invitations will go out to participating countries in the first week of March. The guidelines
for the procedures of the remote IChO will be adapted from the 52nd IChO held in Turkey,
2020 and will be published shortly.
1Country registration will open after the International Jury accepts the temporary
regulation changes necessary to hold a remote IChO without a practical exam. Mentors
are requested to register early and indicate the date of the selection of their team inadvance. Registering other participants (students, observers and invigilators) should bedone as soon as possible and ideally before the end of May. In view of the difficult situation
globally, the organizers will try to be accommodating and flexible.
Early student registration is important because the hosts intend to commission handcrafted virtual 3D avatars for competing students. These can be used in the online
activities and ceremonies. This is a time-consuming and costly process (can take months
for 300 students). So all countries are kindly asked to provide the information as soon as
possible.
A mock exam will be organized before the start of the olympiad where experienced
mentors will take the exam, discuss question details and wording to reduce Jury meeting
length. Organizers were reminded to assess the time allowed for the exam and the lengthof the text in advance, because cutting from the problem set is very difficult after the Jury
has access.
The olympiad will start with an online opening ceremony on July 25th. Mentors will
receive the proposed problems on the online OlyExam system after the ceremony, andthey will have time to submit feedback before the Jury meeting on the 26th.
The theoretical exam is scheduled for July 28th with 24 hours allowed for translation. The
exam will have to start within a five-hour window.
All olympiad participants (students, mentors, invigilators) will take a written oath thatthey will comply with exam rules.
Grading will be done through OlyExam. There will be ample time for arbitration. The
procedure will be managed closely so that waiting times are minimized (with a common
virtual meeting room, queues for tasks, and conflict resolution procedures during thearbitration itself).
The Steering Committee recommends that after grading by the authors and mentors,marks be shared both ways (mentors see the authors’ marks only when they submit theirown marks, and authors see the mentors’ marks after they submit theirs). Where there isdisagreement, arbitration will take place to find a final mark. This procedure is more
just/fair and eliminates grading errors. The same practice is used by other science
olympiads and is the default method implemented in OlyExam.
However, present regulations specify that authors present their marks first. Countries areinvited to contribute their opinion on this change. It is proposed that the International
Jury vote to accept this procedure in advance of the olympiad. Further details andopportunity for discussion will be provided (even via videoconference, if required) andthe change will only be introduced if more than 2/3 of countries agree.

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Student activities beyond the ceremonies and exam will include online cultural activities
and visits using virtual reality tools. 3D avatars will be made to the likenesses of thestudents based on photos (this is optional). This is a time-consuming process, andstudents should be registered at the earliest possible time. The aim is to give students a
special experience and an attractive program. Activities for students will be organizedover 6 days (most will be scheduled; some will be on demand). These include a 3D visit to
the world’s largest synchrotron, Osaka castle in, sword preparation, art restoration andmore.
The importance of laboratory work will be emphasized by the publication of the practicaltasks prepared for the exam on the homepage with demonstrations by Japanese students.
Videos of the experiments being done all over the world will be solicited from thedelegations, but this will all happen after the IChO and will not influence the student
ranking.
There is one Jury meeting scheduled on the day before the arbitration. This is when future
hosts will make their presentation, and proposals for hosting the IChO will be introduced.
The results of the election of new Steering Committee members will be announced at thismeeting.
If necessary, another Jury meeting could be scheduled after the arbitration procedure.
2. Review of the fees and invitations
The official IChO participation fee is 3000 USD. The organizers proposed to accept asignificant reduction: 1000 USD for the participating teams and 500 USD for eachobserver (1000 USD for guests if any). Bank transfer and conversion costs should beborne by the senders, but accidental small differences will not cause a problem.
84 teams with competitors and 6 observer countries will be invited in the first week ofMarch to IChO 2021.
Feb. 27, Session 2 19.45-21.00 (JST)3. Discussion of financial support
Countries having difficulties to raise their participation fee can request support. A part of
the funding comes from organizations: IUPAC (2500 USD), the Chinese Chemical Society
at Taipei (-2021, 2000 USD) and the American Chemical Society (-2021, 2000 USD). Aportion of the participation fees can be redirected from other countries’ fees.
The allocation of the support is the task of the SC. Every country applying for help will
have to submit an online application detailing their reasons and the sum requested byApril 15th. Any support requests for more than 75% of the fee are will be acceptable onlywith very strong justification. Decisions about support will be made by the end of April.
Observer countries are not eligible for support. Their payment indicates that they will
have adequate support behind them in the future as well.

34. Jury voting schedule and organization (to approve a remote IChO, regulation
changes, SC elections)
In order to approve the remote organization of the IChO in 2021, more than 2/3rd of IChO
member countries have to approve the extraordinary regulations. These will bepractically the same rules as in 2020.
A remote vote will start immediately where countries can indicate their stance until
March 16th.
During May and June, countries will be asked about the change in the procedure forsharing the author/mentor marks before arbitration.
A vote about the minor regulation changes in circulation since 2018 that was discussed
multiple times is planned at the same time.
Election of the SC members will take place remotely in 2021. 4 members of the SC will
have their terms expired after this olympiad. 2 of them can be nominated again.
The following procedure is proposed for the elections: Candidates to the Steering
Committee can be nominated from May until July 1st. If the nominees accept thenomination, they are asked to prepare self-introduction in writing (no longer than 1 page)
and a 2-minute video. These will be shared with all delegations before the olympiad.
Each registered head mentor will be able to name up to 4 persons to the SC in a secretballot. Votes can be submitted until the business Jury meeting, where results (with votecounts) will be announced. The election process (nominations, introductions) will becoordinated by the elected SC members not up for reelection.
5. Miscellaneous
There were very few contributions to the set of exemplary past IChO problems. Petra
Menova will send a reminder to the countries to get more input before compiling the set.

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