The Chemistry Olympiad is offered in about 80 countries worldwide. To prepare for the competition, schools conduct the optional subject “Chemistry Olympiad”, which pupils in the upper grades of grammar school (AHS) and vocational school (BHS) can attend. The three-stage competition is divided into course, provincial and national competitions and is organised annually between April and May by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research. The four winners of the national competition represent Austria at the international competition, which is held by a different country every year, in Tianjin/China in 2022. Austria is traditionally very well represented at this international competition.
Early experience with a lasting effect
“My first contact with the Chemistry Olympiad was my participation back in grade 6 at grammar school,” Uwe Rinner tells us and continues: “Through the Chemistry Olympiad, I got excellent training during my school years. I appreciate it as a very good opportunity for talented and interested pupils and students to get involved in natural sciences. Since I had this chance at that time, I would now like to support this organisation through my new role as an advisory board member and promote the education of young people in the STEM field. The Chemistry Olympiad gets the legitimacy it deserves through support from the university side. In this way, I would also like to increase its visibility and bring the merits of the supervisors and, of course, the students to the fore,” says Uwe Rinner enthusiastically.
IMC Krems bonus awards
In the long term, Rinner is aiming for a stable partnership. He wants to give participants in the Chemistry Olympiad the opportunity to get to know exciting experiments in a university environment while they are still at school. In addition, the talented pupils will be actively scheduled for chemistry congresses in the future and the prize winners will receive an experiment weekend in Krems as an additional prize. The committed Programme Director is also actively involved in further teacher training.
About Uwe Rinner
Prof.(FH) Priv.-Doz. DI Dr. Uwe Rinner completed his chemistry studies at the Graz University of Technology. He wrote his dissertation at the University of Florida before post-doctoral studies took him to Brock University in Canada. He then returned to the University of Vienna and headed a research group. In parallel, he worked as an external lecturer at IMC Krems and at the University of Linz, where he habilitated. After three years as an associate professor at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman, Uwe Rinner established the “Applied Chemistry” degree programme at IMC Krems. Rinner himself participated in the Chemistry Olympiad three times. He won a silver and a gold medal once nationwide and a silver medal each at international competitions in Perugia and Oslo.
Applied Chemistry bachelor degree programme
