Dear iGEO Friends and colleagues,

Message from the Local Organising Committee

As we have announced before, we will carry out our planning to make sure that this year's iGEO will be held. The situation that was agreed at the zoom meetings we held on 20 and 22 January 2021 is that the iGEO will be held online.

This decision, which we made with regret as the LOC, was taken due to uncertainties regarding the Covid-19 outbreak. We very much wanted to host you in Istanbul. We hope that this will happen in the coming years, if not this year.

Accordingly, our online competition will continue with the same features as the face to face. In other words, all activities such as opening and closing ceremonies, national presentations and poster sessions will be included in the program as much as possible, and all 3 types of exams will be implemented.

Certificates can be shared as pdf with emails, medals will be sent to countries. For this whole organization, more jobs and staff will be kept in the background. The online exam system, their implementation and evaluation, the security of the exam system, the uninterrupted progress of the process and all the details will require a series of infrastructural measures.

We want you to know that we will work closely with the Task Force to make this happen.

The amount of participation fees will also be updated at the end of the evaluations regarding this infrastructure and organization. A budget that will not exceed the existing fee, possibly less, will be created, which will include the participation fees.

Accordingly, to remind you of the important dates; Deadline for online participation: 31st March 2021

Deadline for payment of fees and notification of teams: 31st May 2021

Announcement of the program: 1st July 2021

Competition: 10-16 August 2021

To register please visit the webpage https://www.igeo2021.org/registration/team-registration 

If you registered for IGEO 2020 your registration has been carried forward to IGEO2021. Please let us know if you do not want to be involved with the online IGEO.

Prof. Dr. Barbaros Gönençgil
IGEO 2021 ORGANIZATION CHAIRMAN 

Dear IGEO Colleagues 

Notes from the Extraordinary IB Meetings held in January 2021

Thank you to everyone who gave their time to attend the Extraordinary International Board meetings held last Wednesday and Friday. 

24 countries were represented on Wednesday and a further 6 countries on Friday.

At those meetings we were given an update of the situation in Turkey by our Local Organising Committee colleagues. We then shared the results of the online questionnaire. 

The Local Organising Committee then expressed their sadness at the situation and proposed that inevitably, the most sensible way forward is that the IGEO 2021 should be held online. 

In a subsequent vote 29 countries voted to support this proposal. One country abstained.

There followed some discussion about the possible format of the Olympiad and the LOC suggested a package called ‘Socrative' as a possible platform.  Other possibilities will be researched. 

Colleagues were referred to the online International Biology Challenge held last year. The Task Force and Local Organising Committee think that this is a useful start to discussions about the format of the online event.  A link to their webpage is here:

https://ibo2020.org/en/ibo-challenge-2020/event-overview

The Local Organising Committee will send further information about the online IGEO and how to register shortly.

The Task Force wishes to express their deep gratitude for all the Local Organising Committee has done to prepare to host the 17th IGEO in Istanbul.  We realise how disappointing it is to have to change all the arrangements to an online competition. We are especially grateful that they will use their knowledge and expertise to host as full a programme as possible for the online event.

Please get in touch if you need any further information,

With best wishes

Barbaros Gonencgil, Sumin Shen,  Sue Lomas 

LOC Chair and Task Force  Co-Chair, Task Force  Co-Chair, Task Force 

Dear Colleagues and Students,

It is an honor and a pleasure for me to welcome you to the 17th International Geography Olympiad in Istanbul in 2021, Turkey.

İstanbul has an enchanting location spreading over two continents. İstanbul also represents the unique feature of Turkey for serving as a bridge between different cultures. This feature will be the major asset of the 2021 17th iGeo in bringing together the young geographers.

I have no doubt that this meeting will be valuable opportunity to be a part of scientifically enriched environment as well as perfect harmony with all historical beauties of magnificent Istanbul and Turkish hospitality and guaranteed to leave you with unforgettable memories.

I am certain that İstanbul will mobilize the necessary experience, expertise and support for one of the most successful events in the history of the IGEO.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee and Turkish Geographical Society, we look forward to have the pleasure and excitement of welcoming you to Istanbul.

With warm regards,

Prof. Dr. Barbaros Gönençgil
IGEO 2021 ORGANIZATION CHAIRMAN 

Click for iGeo2021 Official Invitation Letter!

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