Belarusian schoolchildren captained by BSU teachers participated in the 17th International Earth and Science Olympiad and won 3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals. The results are impressing because Belarusian team did their best to win three gold for the first time. This year the event was held in Beijing, China from August 8 to 16. The team was captained by BSU first vice-rector Dmitri Kurlovich and dean of the faculty of geography and geo-informatics Helena Kolmakova.

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A distinctive feature of the Olympiad is a group stage of competitions of ITFI and ESP scientific projects when participants form international teams. Each team has to do a joint project that includes collection of a primary geologic or geo-ecologic data, its analysis, its computer processing and presentation of the final result in English to an international panel of judges. Based on the results of this year's performances, Stanislav Brodnitsky, a graduate of Secondary School No. 5 of Pruzhany, won gold as part of the national team together with schoolchildren from Malaysia, Austria, Japan, Romania and the USA. Egor Sushkov, a graduate of Secondary School No. 9 of Lida named after A.V. Nichiporchik won gold together with students from South Korea, Germany, Austria, India, Macau (PRC), as well as Victoria Zhilinskaya, a graduate of Gymnasium No. 5 in Vitebsk named after I.I. Lyudnikov with her peers from Spain, India, PRC and Germany.

In the individual round, the Olympiad participants were offered tasks for the field and theoretical stages in English. As part of the field stage, schoolchildren were taken to geological sections in the mountains. They had to identify minerals and rocks, discover fossils (remains of ancient plants and animals), and perform a geological and paleo-geographic interpretation of the origin and history of the territory. As part of the theoretical block, students answered questions on geology, paleogeography, climatology, hydrology and oceanography, and astronomy. According to the results of the competition, Yegor Sushkov, Stanislav Brodnitsky, Victoria Zhilinskaya won silver. In addition, Anastasia Sharomet, an eighth-grader from Mogilev Secondary School No. 37, took part in the Olympiad representing Belarus.

The preparation of young Olympians for international competitions in 2024 was carried out at the Faculty of Geography and Geo-informatics of BSU. Two of the members of the Belarusian team, Stanislav Brodnitsky and Yegor Sushkov will start their studies at the faculty in the upcoming academic year.

In total, about 150 schoolchildren from 36 countries took part in the IESO-2024.