Melbourne has been confirmed as the 2025 host of the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).
Welcoming news of the Australian Mathematics Trust’s (AMT) successful bid, the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) said:
“The IMO is one of the world’s biggest maths events, and we congratulate AMT on securing Australia hosting duties for the first time in 40 years,” said AMSI Director Professor Tim Brown.
The announcement follows the recent confirmation of Sydney’s 2024 International Congress on Mathematics Education (ICME) hosting duties and will bring major large mathematics events to Australia two years in a row.
Previously hosted by Canberra in 1988, the 2025 IMO event is expected to bring competitors from over 100 countries globally to Melbourne for two days of competition, problem solving and networking.
Australia has participated in the International Mathematical Olympiad since 1981, with past competitors including Fields medallists Terence Tao and Akshay Venkatesh. The 2019 team recently placed 18thout of 112 competing countries, and in 2015 we gained our highest rank of 6thin the world.
“This is an important platform that encourages and fosters the talents of students with outstanding problem-solving skills and opens opportunities and networks to take this talent further,” said AMSI Schools Program Manager and Choose Maths Project Director, Janine Sprakel.
“That we have secured hosting rights for two leading global events and the chance to welcome some of the brightest teachers, students and thinkers is a brilliant result for Australian mathematics and mathematics education, reflecting well on our past performance in mathematics at the elite level” said Professor Brown.
