Minutes of the International Board IPhO 2015
1. A total of 382 students from the following countries participated in the2015 IPhO: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Costa Rica (observer), Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong,Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Italy,Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macao-China, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, People’s Republic of China, Poland,Portugal, Puerto Rico, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Republic of Singapore, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia,Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
2. 142 Members of the International Board were present at the final meeting.
3. The President of the IPhO reported the process and results of the electionof the new position of IPhO Treasurer. Since there was only one candidate, Yernur Rysmagambetov (Kazakhstan), for the position of Treasurer, according to the IPhO Statutes the President officially announced
that Yernur Rysmagambetov is to be the IPhO Treasurer for the five year
term from 2015 to 2020. The new Treasurer’s experience with the IPhO
and with finance were presented to the International Board and he wascongratulated on his appointment.
4. The President reported on the state of the IPhO Foundation, which has
continued its role in supporting countries to attend the IPhO throughassistance with the cost of travel. The foundation has remaining around3400 euro, and the Treasurer plans to work to attract new funding for thefoundation.
5. The future IPhO hosts were discussed. Switzerland and Liechtenstein are
well on the way for preparations to host the next IPhO in 2016. Moldova
had to withdraw their hosting for 2017. Singapore wished to help but
was unable due to government restrictions. Surya University in Indonesia
expressed the willingness and ability to organise the IPhO in 2017, andSingapore suggested that they could explore hosting the IPhO in 2021.
The International Board approved this with thanks by a vote of 138-3.
6. Ecuador had previously expressed an intention to host the 2026 IPhO,
but Hungary wishes to host that year. So approval from the International Board was sought and obtained to switch Ecuador to the year 2028

1

and allow Hungary to organise the 2026 IPhO. The International Board
approved this by a vote of 139-1.
7. Bangladesh suggested that they could host the IPhO in 2041. The International Board agreed with a vote of 135-1.
8. Representatives from Switzerland and Liechtenstein presented the International Board with information about the 2016 IPhO. The organisingcommittee was presented and outlined the state of the preparations. The
budget for the IPhO was stated as 3.7 million CHF. The organisers graciously invited all delegations to attend the 2016 IPhO in Zürich, Switzerland, from 10th to 18th July, 2016.
9. The International Board discussed a proposal submitted by Denmark toamend the Regulations to §5 to allow the IPhO host countries to publish
the Proceedings of the IPhO electronically. The International Board voted
in favour of the proposal, which required a simple majority, by 121 votes
to 18.
10. The International Board discussed a three part proposal submitted by
Canada to amend the Statutes and Regulations regarding the conductof the International Board meetings. The first part of the proposal, toamend the Statutes §7 to change the chair of the meetings of the IB,
was rejected by the International Board by a vote of 80 to 61. This voterequired a 2/3 majority which was not achieved. The second part of theproposal, to amend the Regulations to §5 to require IPhO host countries
to present all three theoretical problems at once rather than one by one,was carried by the International Board by a vote of 83 to 61. This voterequired only a simple majority. The third part of the proposal, to amend
the Regulations to §5 to introduce a procedure for suggesting cuts to theproblems, was carried by the International Board by a vote of 85 to 62.
This vote required only a simple majority.
11. The International Board discussed a proposal submitted by the Netherlands to amend the Regulations to §5 to create a committee of three whowould see the problems of the IPhO in advance. The International Board
rejected this proposal by a vote of 8 in favour to 124 against.
12. The Syllabus Committee from the previous IPhO, consisting of Dr. Lasse
Franti (Finland), Dr. Helmuth Mayr (Austria), Dr. Stefan Petersen (Germany), Dr. Matthew Verdon (Australia), Dr. Andrzej Kotlicki (Canada),
Dr. Jaan Kalda (Estonia) and Dr. Robin Hughes (Great Britain), put
together a revised proposal dealing with many of the Syllabus changes
suggested at the 2015 IPhO. The proposal was to amend the new format
syllabus by adding many separate items. The items were divided into threegroups, and due to the number of individual items, voting was conductedusing paper forms counted by the Secretariat. Items which obtained a2

simple majority were accepted. The President presented the results of thevotes, which were:• Group 1: All suggestions were accepted by the International Board
except for sections 11, 13 and 16.
• Group 2: All suggestions were accepted by the International Board
except for sections 5,6,7,8,11, 14 and 18.
• Group 3: All suggestions were rejected by the International Board.
13. The President asked the International Board members to check the namesof the leaders listed on the website and to submit pictures of each leader,to keep the website up to date.
14. A vote of thanks was made to Prof. Anwesh Mazumdar, for his excellent
work in organising the 2015 IPhO. Prof. Mazumdar gave many thanks to
his whole team, including organisers, staff, volunteers, sponsors and theGovernment.
15. The Final Results of the 2015 IPhO were presented to the InternationalBoard, which voted to approve the results by a vote of 135 to 1. The
thresholds for awards were 42.2 for a Gold Medal, 33.0 for a Silver Medal,
24.0 for a Bronze Medal and 18.0 for an Honourable Mention. There were
38 Gold Medals, 64 Silver Medals, 93 Bronze Medals and 68 Honourable
Mentions awarded.
16. The following Special Prizes were awarded:• Individual winner: Taehyoung Kim (Republic of Korea)• Best theory: Taehyoung Kim (Republic of Korea)• Best experiment: Sol Kim Taehyoung Kim (Republic of Korea)• Best female participant: Thao Thi Huong Dinh (Vietnam)3