Around 200 upper secondary school-aged students and their leaders from 40 nations are expected to come to Gothenburg from 12–16 June 2026 to compete in physics.
The Swedish organisation behind the event is led by the Swedish Physical Society and the Gothenburg Physics Centre (GPC). The event is made possible through funding from the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation.
The very first International Physics Olympiad took place in 1967. In the European Olympiad, which began in 2017, Swedish students have represented their country every year. They qualify for the Olympiad through the Wallenberg Physics Prize, a competition aimed at students in Years 2 and 3 of the natural sciences or technology programmes (or other programmes including physics) in upper secondary school.
A great recruitment opportunity
In addition to being an exciting event focused on the fascinating world of physics, the Olympiad presents an excellent opportunity to recruit new students.
"The best students from all over Europe will be coming here, and guest teams from countries such as Brazil, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia usually participate as well. These are young people we could potentially welcome as future master's students and doctoral candidates. Additionally, we will have twice as many participants from Sweden as we usually do, as the host nation is allowed to send two teams instead of one. The Swedish final for the Physics Olympiad is usually held in Gothenburg, and we know this inspires many students to want to study here," says project leader Julia Järlebark, PhD student at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chalmers.
"It will be a fantastic opportunity to showcase Gothenburg as the wonderful city it is and to highlight the research and educational environment we have here. The event will also give the participants' leaders an impression of our universities, which they can then pass on to their future students," says Anne-Sofie Mårtensson, senior lecturer at the Department of Physics at the University of Gothenburg and member of the project team.
