At the world finals for the 2014 International Young Physicists Tournament, the New Zealand team was placed 6th overall so this qualifies the team as Silver medalists!

This is another great performance from the team and I am so proud of their achievements. Other teams travel with university professors and spend a month before the competition in a university with access to high tech equipment. The NZ work is done by the students in their high schools after school hours with the support of their teachers and occasional assistance from lecturers in universities that have supported the competition.

In particular I would like to thank Kent Hogan, Kerry Parker, Sue Napier and Tristan O’Hanlon for their support of the students in their schools. I know from the supervision of the Auckland Grammar students over the years how many hours it takes to facilitate the research required to gain solutions to the challenging IYPT problems. In addition I would like to recognise the help given to the team by Donald White (IYPT 2008) and Maarten Hoogerland along with many others.

The final top 10 placings at the end of the 5th round were :
1 Singapore
2 China
3 Poland
4 Korea
5 Slovakia
6 New Zealand
7 Taiwan
8 Russia
9 Germany
10 Austria

Check out the www.iypt.org.uk site for photos and results http://results.iypt.org/IYPT2014/