About IYPT
From Singapore to the world stage. Discover the competition that shapes the next generation of physicists.
What is IYPT?
The International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT), sometimes referred to as the “Physics World Cup”, is a scientific competition between teams of secondary school students. It mimics, as close as possible, the real-world scientific research and the process of presenting and defending the results obtained.
Participants have almost a year to work on 17 open-ended inquiry problems. A good part of the problems involves easy-to-reproduce phenomena presenting unexpected behaviour.
The aim of the solutions is not to calculate or reach “the correct answer” as there is no such notion here. The Tournament is rather conclusions-oriented as participants have to design and perform experiments, and to draw conclusions argued from the experiments’ outcome.
The competition itself is not a pen-and-paper competition but an enactment of a scientific discussion (or a defence of a thesis) where participants take the roles of Reporter, Opponent and Reviewer and are evaluated by an international Jury.
The beauty of the Tournament is that teams can take quite different routes to tackle the same problem. As long as they stay within the broadly defined statement of the problem, all routes are legitimate and teams will be judged according to the depths reached by their investigations.
In 2013, IYPT was awarded the medal of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) in recognition of its inspiring and wide-ranging contribution to physics education that has touched many lives and countries, over the past 25 years.
History of Singapore's Participation in IYPT
Singapore first participated in the International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT) in 2009 when it was hosted in Tianjin, China. The Singapore team has been performing very well at this annual competition, emerging as champions at the following editions: 23rd (Vienna, 2010), 26th (Taipei, 2013), 27th (Shrewbury, United Kingdom, 2014), 28th (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, 2015), 29th (Ekaterinburg, Russia, 2016), 30th (Singapore, 2017) , 31st (Beijing, China 2018), 32nd (Warsaw, Poland 2019), 37th (Budapest, Hungary 2024), 38th (Lund, Sweden 2025) and 39th (Zurich, Switzerland 2026).
In 2020 and 2021, the Singapore team did not participate in the IYPT due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, the Singapore team participated in equivalent online tournaments, namely the New Zealand Young Physicists' Tournament in 2020 and the Online Young Physicists' Tournament in 2021. They emerged as champions in both years.
2022 was a unique year where Singapore saw an opportunity to provide more students the chance to participate in the competition. Two teams were formed, one for the 35th (Timisoara, Romania 2022) IYPT and one for the Online Young Physicists' Tournament 2022. In both competitions, our teams emerged as the first runner up.
Congratulations, Team Singapore!
2026 IYPT Champion
From left to right, Ms Claudia Tan Li Ching, Dr Chang Sheh Lit, Mr James He Jingyang, Chan Ee Kin, Cai Xinze, Mark the monkey (team mascot who has travelled with Team SG to every IYPT since 2011), Kieran Ho Jianming (team captain), Zhong Jingyao, Zhu Yijun, Mr Jed Lim Li Xin and Mr Sze Guan Kheng.
After an unforgettable week of Physics Fights, cultural exchanges and forging of international friendships, Team Singapore emerged as the Champion 39th IYPT, held in Zurich, Switzerland! Congratulations Team Singapore!
The Singapore team comprised Kieran Ho Jianming (team captain) and Cai Xinze from NUS High School of Math and Science, Chan Ee Kin and Zhong Jingyao from Raffles Institution, and Zhu Yijun from Hwa Chong Institution. The team was led by Dr Chang Sheh Lit from Singapore Polytechnic, Mr Sze Guan Kheng from Raffles Institution, Ms Claudia Tan Li Ching from MOE and coached by Mr Jed Lim Li Xin and Mr James He Jingyang.