53rd International Chemistry Olympiad
Jan 14-15, 2021

Steering Committee Meeting AgendaA) 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• Dong-Sheng Gao, China• Patrik Willi, Switzerland• Badr Al-Majrathi, Saudi Arabia• Abdallah Elmarhoune, UAE, absent from the meetings
Co-opted:• Worawan Bhanthumnavin, Thailand
Present in various meetings:

Representatives of Japan: Kohei Tamao, chair of Organizing Committee, Yoshiki Chujo
chair of Executive Committee, Hiroshi Nishihara chair of Scientific Committee, Hiroshi
Seta Head Office Manager, Shinya Sasaki Head Secretary, and members of the ScienceCommitteeB) Agenda points

Jan 14, Session 1 17.00-20.00 (JST)
1. Introductions
2. Concise report about IChO 2021 plans and preparations
An emphatic welcome convinced all SC members that Japan is fully committed toorganizing an IChO in July 2021. They are determined to provide students with anunforgettable experience and encourage students to study chemistry and to get to know
Japanese culture. Two scenarios are actively being worked-on: on-site and a remoteolympiad.
The organizers enjoy broad governmental and industrial support, and the budget isensured for both options. The final decision on the format (on-site vs. remote) will bemade at the end of February; invitations will arrive, and registration will open in early
March.
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Participating countries are strongly encouraged to organize national olympiads and workon the selection of their teams. Japan would like to welcome the delegations of all IChO
participating countries.

Prof. Nobuhiro Kihara presented outlines of the two scenarios to the SC.

On-site olympiad:
Arrival of the teams is scheduled for July 24th (with a 3-day mock exam/vetting
beforehand). The schedule is the conventional IChO format with the closing on Aug. 1st.
The participation fee for teams is 3000 USD (4 students and 2 mentors), the observer fee
1500 USD, the guest fee 3000 USD.
Arrival hubs will be Osaka and Kansai International airports. Students will stay in Nara,mentors in Kyoto. Kindai University will host the exams. A handful of cultural visits andactivities are planned. OlyExam software will be used throughout the event to comment
on, translate and grade the exam.
At the moment immigration controls and epidemic precautions limit travel to Japan. Somesocial distancing measures will certainly still be in effect in the summer, and somemeetings might be limited to video conferences (most importantly the Jury meetings). Lab
capacities may be halved.

Remote olympiad:
The tentative schedule starts with an online opening ceremony on July 25th. The
theoretical exam is scheduled for July 28th, and the closing ceremony for Aug. 2nd. The
processes will use the OlyExam software and Zoom video conferences and a direct
messaging tool (e.g. Telegram). Independent local invigilators will administer the exams
similarly to 2020.
The proposed registration fee is 1000 USD for teams and 500 USD for observers (1000USD for guests if any).

Student activities beyond the ceremonies and exam will include virtual reality and other
online cultural activities and visits. The aim is to give students a special experience andan attractive program.

The importance of laboratory work will be emphasized by the practical tasks publishedon the homepage with demonstrations by Japanese students. Videos of the experiments
being done all over the world will be solicited from the delegations.
The remote olympiad was very successful in 2020 in Turkey. The event, although
prepared on a short notice, proceeded with no difficulties, and the feedback from theparticipating countries was positive. The organization of a remote Olympiad in situations
when in-person gathering is not allowed ensures the continuity of the IChO.

The SC will have another meeting after the decision about the final form of IChO 2021 toreview and discuss the details.
3. Overview of participation•84 teams with competitors and 6 observers will be invited to IChO 2021.
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All 81 regular member countries will be officially invited by Japan in earlyMarch. 21 countries could not participate in the remote IChO 2020, often due
to the cancellation of national olympiads. All are hoped to participate this year.
Liechtenstein has a special status due to their cooperation with Switzerland;
however, no student is expected from them in 2021.
Three new countries will join the olympiad with a team because they finishedtheir observation period in 2020: Bangladesh, Oman, Trinidad and Tobago.
Afghanistan, Albania, Ecuador, Nepal and Paraguay were recommended to be
invited as second-year observers to IChO 2021. They will get close access to theprocedures of the olympiad during observation this year, even if the olympiad
is remote. These countries will receive extra assistance at their first olympiad
from the community if their entire observation period is remote.
Idealab has applied to represent Egypt as an observer. The SC recommended
their invitation. During the observation period they are expected to show arecent national endorsement.

Jan 14, Session 2 21.00-24.00 (JST)

4. Reports from Olympiad organizers-The IChO 2020 Turkey final report was presented by Yunus E. Turkmen to theSteering Committee. Soon, the official report will be distributed to mentors.

Members of the IChO community praised the organizers in their feedback fortaking up the challenge to host an olympiad under adverse circumstances andsucceeding in superbly hosting the first remote IChO. This sentiment wasshared and voiced by the SC.
The new technical tools of the olympiad (OlyExams for the exams and Telegram
for direct messaging) were also very well received. It is planned that their use
will continue. The upcoming hosts and the SC will pursue further
improvements in OlyExams based on experiences gathered in 2020.

Lessons learned:• The remote exam format was based in part on trust, and no incident wasobserved.
• Organizers found the mock exam very beneficial.

-Constructive feedback from participants concerned the length and details of
the Jury meetings and the arbitration. Both are determined by the interactionsof the mentors and organizers – and indeed the IChO procedures need furtherimprovement. Another point was that the challenge of the exams was in thepast years compounded with their length and that is a trend that hopefully willturn around.

2022 China, Tianjin, Nankai University
Tianjin is easily reached after arrival in Beijing (30 min on train).
The olympiad at Nankai University is widely supported (Ministry of Education,Tianjin municipality, China Association for Science and Technology, Chinese
Chemical Society, chemical industries). Finances are assured, and thepreliminary budget is around 2 M USD.
3Committees were established and are working hard. The Science Committee ismeeting monthly and includes experienced IChO mentors.

Two campuses of Nankai University (separated by 30 km) will be used asvenues. Lab spaces are being renovated in 2021. Accommodation is being
finalized. The SC pointed out that quality student housing is a realistic
alternative to hotels.
The tentative timeframe for the olympiad is July 10-20, 2022, a day longer thanthe practice.
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The website and a more detailed program will be presented to the Jury in July.

2023 Switzerland
The dates are fixed for July 16-25, 2023. The host institution is ETH Zürich, andaccordingly, the arrival city will be Zürich.
Committees were formed and their work already started.

2024 Saudi Arabia
The location of the event will be in Riyadh. King Saud University will host theexam. The Ministry of Education is supporting the Olympiad, and the final
approval by the Royal Court is expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2021.

2025 United Arab Emirates
The UAE was not represented at the meeting. The SC is concerned, because
participation is key for an organizer to gather experience about thecomplexities of organizing an olympiad. Work should already have started for
2025.
2026 and later – there are no confirmed future hosts yet. The SC encourages
countries with interest to come forward as soon as possible and will try toassist all interested parties. Even though student numbers increase,challenging laboratory exams can be organized without 350 conventional
chemistry laboratory seats.

5. Discussion of financial support
Countries having difficulties to raise their participation fee can receive support. A partof 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). A portion of the participation fees can be redirected from other countries’ fees.
The allocation of the support is the task of the SC. The details of the procedure will beworked out after the circumstances of the 2021 IChO are fully clear. A fast applicationand decision process will be put in place and participating countries will be informed
after the February SC meeting. Full (100%) support will not be given out unlessextremely well justified.
6. Business issues

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A set of proposed minor regulation changes is already in circulation since 2018 andwas discussed and supported by the Jury in 2019. This set (attached to the minutes)
will be introduced for acceptance in 2021.

If the IChO in 2021 will have to be again organized remotely, the set of extraordinary
regulations approved for 2020 will have to accepted by the supermajority ofparticipating countries for 2021.

Another issue that the SC would like to propose concerns the arbitration procedure.
Now the marking by the mentors and the authors are compared by the mentors, andthis is also ensured by the Regulations. However, the method used by other olympiads
when marks are mutually shared is much more just, and it is already implemented inOlyExams. Authors have very limited time for marking and can overlook mistakes.
The SC recommends that the Jury accept this deviation from the regulations in 2021
(2/3rd majority required) and change the regulations accordingly if the trial issuccessful.

Election of the SC members was not carried out in 2020 and the mandate of themembers was extended. However, in 2021 the term of four 4 SC members will expire.
No matter if remote or in person, elections will take place. The election process(nominations, introductions) will be organized by Martin Putala and Gabor
Magyarfalvi. Election of the SC Chair for 2022 will be organized by Yunus E. Türkmen.

7. Miscellaneous issues
Sasha Gladilin reported on the Metropolis Olympiad that was organized remotely andincluded a well-designed remote laboratory part. Although not feasible for a remote
IChO this year, and hopefully not necessary in the future, national competitions canthink of similar set-up for their local competitions.
Volunteers from the SC will try to compile a set of exemplary IChO problems for thebenefit of future exam boards. Petra Menova will lead this effort.

Established practices from the past years will be followed: The Jury meeting chairs,
and co-opted SC members will be nominated by host countries and formally approvedby the SC in a secret ballot. Voting procedures and results in the Jury will betransparent to all Jury members. A mock exam will be organized to anticipate andpreclude extensive discussions in the Jury. Attempts will be made to improve the flowof the Jury meetings and arbitration sessions while keeping discussions open andamicable. Meeting rules from Paris (speaking order, seconding, etc.) will be kept ineffect.

Jan 15, Session 3 17.00-20.00
Jan 15, Session 4 21.00-24.00

8. Discussion of preparatory problems
5Steering Committee members received the draft preparatory problem set for review
before the meeting. They provided feedback on the actual questions to authors whowere receptive to suggestions. Generally, the individual problems were found to bewell-written, in line with olympiad practices, and providing interesting challenges tostudents. The length of some problems and of the whole set is exceeding pastexamples.
An emphatic part of the discussion was where the SC members called the attention of
the authors to the regulation examples for advanced fields. Although the number offields nominally complied with regulations, some were broader than the typicalexamples (in Appendix C of the regulations).
SC members emphasized that questions not explicitly listed in the syllabus or the prep.
problems can still appear in the exams if sufficient explanation is given. Also, if
preparatory problems touch on advanced concepts that are not necessary for thepreparation to the olympiad, then these topics might be added to the list naming these
extra topics.
The finalization of the prep. problems can only be made by the local Science
Committee based on the discussion points considering the planned olympiad exam.
Utmost care was taken that the SC members do not receive any clues about thecompetition tasks. The preparatory problems will be released at the end of January.

9. Review of the final IChO schedule and details will take place at an additional SC
meeting with Japanese organizers (tentative date: Feb. 27th)

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