Who organises the Polish Biology Olympiad?

The regulations name the association Stowarzyszenie Przyszłość w Biologii as organiser, which set up the Main Committee (Komitet Główny) of the Olimpiada Biologiczna, based in Warsaw. The IBO's country page names a different host institution, so the sources disagree.

Pupils of general upper secondary schools, technical schools and some vocational schools. Primary school pupils on individual programmes may also join if the school recommends it. Students register through their school director.

Is this guide written by a Polish participant?

No. It is an outline of the official picture from published sources, with tips from BiOGuide. We are looking for a Polish olympiad participant or coach to write a firsthand guide and replace this one.

Poland Olimpiada Biologiczna: Official Outline of the Path to IBO

Q: How does Poland choose its IBO team?

Students pass a school stage, a district stage and a central stage in Warsaw. The Main Committee then nominates four laureates of the central stage, plus reserves, to the International Biology Olympiad, according to the official regulations for 2025 to 2028.

Poland runs one of the older national biology olympiads, listed by the IBO as established in 1970, and sends a team of four to the International Biology Olympiad (IBO).¹ According to the official site, the team won two silver and two bronze medals at the 37th IBO in Vilnius, Lithuania (12 to 19 July 2026).² This page outlines how the path to that team works according to the sources we could read, including the official regulations for 2025 to 2028. It is a map of the structure, not an insider’s account of what the exams feel like.

Programme: Olimpiada Biologiczna (OB), listed by the IBO as the Polish Biology Olympiad^1,3
Organiser: Stowarzyszenie Przyszłość w Biologii, through the Komitet Główny (Main Committee) based in Warsaw, funded by a Ministry of Education grant³
Who can enter: Pupils of general upper secondary, technical and some vocational schools, registered by their school director³
Stages: School stage, district stage, central stage in Warsaw, IBO team of four
Official website: olimpbiol.pl
Language: Polish for the national competition; the IBO itself is in English

The path at a glance

Stage	What happens	How sure we are
Registration	The school director registers the student and a research project topic by 30 September	Good, from the regulations and the 2026 to 2027 site
Stage I, school	A written exam at your own school; about the top half advance provisionally	Good, from the regulations
Stage II, district	A written exam at a district site; about 70 top scorers go to the central stage	Good for the number; the date is not stated in what we read
Stage III, central	Practical labs, a written exam and an oral defence of a research project in Warsaw	Good; 16 to 18 April 2027 on the official site
IBO team	Four laureates of the central stage, plus reserves, nominated by the Main Committee	Good for the rule; how the four are picked from the laureates is not stated

Registration and the research project

Each year the school director registers the student electronically together with a research project topic, by 30 September; the official site confirms 30 September 2026 for the 2026 to 2027 cycle.^2,3 The regulations for 2025 to 2028 describe a cycle running from September to April.³ After the school stage, a student who qualifies must also deposit the written project as a PDF, and final qualification needs both a ranking place and a deposited project.³

Stage I: the school stage

The first stage is an individual written exam at the student’s own school, with the official site listing 10 October 2026, 9:00 to 10:30, for this cycle.^2,3 According to the regulations the top half of participants advance provisionally, capped at the number who scored at least the score of the 600th place.³ The IBO’s page gives 1,500 to 1,800 students in the first round; see the box below for how sure we are of that.¹

Stage II: the district stage

The district stage is a written exam at a site set by the regional committee (Komitet Okręgowy), taken at the same time everywhere and pitched at a higher level than the school stage.³ Results and the qualifying threshold are announced within six weeks, and about 70 top scorers, including ties at 70th place, go to the central stage.³ The sources we could read do not give the date of this stage.

Stage III: the central stage

The central stage is held in Warsaw and, according to the regulations, includes practical laboratory tasks across areas from zoology and botany to molecular biology, biochemistry, evolution, bioinformatics and statistics, a written exam, and an oral defence of the research project; the results are combined as a weighted sum.³ The official site gives 16 to 18 April 2027.² The 25 best students become laureates, in three degrees, and students below that with at least half of the maximum points are finalists.³ The IBO’s page says laureates and finalists get full marks on the biology school-leaving exam; we have not checked that against a government page.¹

The IBO team

The regulations say the Main Committee nominates four laureates of the central stage, plus reserves, who must meet the IBO’s rules, that the committee pays travel and registration, and that the students must attend preparatory sessions.³ The IBO’s page adds about five days of practical training before departure.¹ The official site reports two silver and two bronze medals for 2026,² and a Ministry of Education page from 2020 says that four students were named for the online IBO that year and, in passing, that the 2019 team won four silver medals.⁴

Points for an Author

If you went through this programme yourself, these are the points we most need you to settle. They are grouped here so that nothing uncertain is buried in the text above.

Where the sources disagree

Who organises it. The regulations name Stowarzyszenie Przyszłość w Biologii as organiser and the Main Committee as its body,³ while the IBO’s page names the General Committee of the Polish Biology Olympiad as appointing body and the Polish Copernicus Society of Naturalists in Kraków as host institution.¹ The IBO’s page is undated and looks older, but we cannot confirm that.
Where the research project comes in. The IBO’s page says students who reach the second round do a research project,¹ while the regulations say the project is written after provisional qualification in the school stage and defended in the central stage.³ These may be compatible, with different emphasis.
How many take part. The IBO’s page gives 1,500 to 1,800 first-round students without a year,¹ and the regulations only give a cap of about 600 places for provisional advancement.³
Training before the central stage. The IBO’s page mentions about 16 hours of extra training at the Faculty of Biology of the University of Warsaw before the practicals,¹ which does not appear in the regulations.

Gaps a firsthand author could fill

The date of the district stage in the current year.
How the four IBO team members are chosen from the central stage laureates, whether by ranking or another test, and when any selection camp takes place.
Poland’s medal results at the IBO in 2023, 2024 and 2025, which we could not confirm from a source we opened.
The age or grade expected of entrants, which we did not find stated as a number.
Whether the full marks on the school-leaving exam for laureates still apply under current law.
What the tests, the practicals and the oral defence are like, and how students find a project topic.

Our reading of the Polish regulations and site is a translation, and every number and date from them depends on it. The 2026 medal result rests on the official site alone. A firsthand author can settle every one of these points. If that could be you, email us or read how it works.

BiOGuide tips for students aiming at this path

These are general tips from BiOGuide, not advice from a Polish participant, and they apply to any student aiming at an IBO team.

Train for the international format early. The IBO papers are in English and test reasoning on data and experiments, not only recall. The IBO preparation guide explains the format, and past IBO papers are in our practice papers.
Cover the central stage areas. The Polish practical topics line up with our notes on biosystematics, cell and molecular biology, bioinformatics and evolution.
Practise the practical side. The central stage and the IBO both include practical exams, so learn the lab techniques and not only the theory. See our practical skills notes.
Learn the English terms. Even if you study in Polish, learn the English names of structures, processes and methods, because the IBO papers are written in English.
Use the official channels for anything dated. Deadlines and exam dates change every year. Your school and the Main Committee decide, not us.

Official links and sources

International Biology Olympiad, country page for the Polish Biology Olympiad (in English, undated). ibo-info.org
Olimpiada Biologiczna, home page with the 2026 to 2027 dates and the 2026 IBO news (in Polish, official national site). olimpbiol.pl. The medal result is from a news item of 3 August 2026 on this page and we found no second source.
Komitet Główny Olimpiady Biologicznej, Regulamin Olimpiady Biologicznej 2025 to 2028 (PDF, in Polish, August 2025, official national site). olimpbiol.pl. The PDF text was slightly garbled when read, so we rely on its numbers and on our translation.
Polish Ministry of Education, news item on the International Biology Olympiad, 7 August 2020 (in Polish, government). gov.pl

Two more notes on sources. The address www.olimpiadabiologiczna.pl did not resolve when we tried it, so the working official site is olimpbiol.pl. The IBO’s own list of member countries is at ibo-info.org.

This outline was last checked on 8 October 2026 and will age. Spotted an error or out-of-date detail? Email r6394175@gmail.com.