The International Brain Bee (IBB) is a

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

competition for teenagers. The IBB was founded in 1999 by Norbert Myslinski, and consists of over 200 chapters in more than 50 regions on 6 continents. Its purpose is to help treat and find cures for brain disorders by inspiring and motivating students to pursue careers in basic and clinical neuroscience. The IBB governing body is a consortium consisting of the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives The Dana Foundation (Charles A. Dana Foundation) is a private philanthropic organization based in New York dedicated to advancing neuroscience and society by supporting cross-disciplinary intersections such as neuroscience and ethics, law, poli ...

Federation of European Neuroscience Societies The Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) is a European federation of scientific societies for basic scientists and physicians whose research is focused on the brain and nervous system (i.e., neuroscience). History The federatio ...

International Brain Research Organization The International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) is the global federation of neuroscience organizations that aims to promote and support neuroscience around the world. The organization accomplishes this through training, teaching, collaborativ ...

, and

Society for Neuroscience The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is a professional society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., for basic scientists and physicians around the world whose research is focused on the study of the brain and nervous system. It is especially well k ...

. Winners of the chapter competitions are invited to compete in their respective region championships, where they vie for the right to compete in the world championship. Past venues for the world championship include Montreal, Canada; San Diego, USA; Vienna, Austria; Washington, DC, USA; Cape Town, South Africa; Florence, Italy; Cairns, Australia; Baltimore, USA; Toronto, Canada; and Copenhagen, Denmark.

Past champions

International

Winners at the international level competed against representatives from other nations.

United States

Winners at the national level competed against representatives from other states.

Location

Local brain bees take place in their respective states, while the National Brain Bee in the United States is usually held in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

. The site of the International Brain Bee changes yearly: *2009:

Toronto, Canada Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

*2010: San Diego, California, USA *2011:

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence was a centre of medieval European t ...

*2012:

Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

*2013:

Vienna, Austria Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

*2014: Washington, D.C., USA *2015:

Cairns, Australia Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

*2016:

Copenhagen, Denmark Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the Øresund strait. The Øres ...

*2017: Washington, D.C., USA *2018:

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...

*2019:

Daegu, South Korea Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest metropolitan city in the n ...

*2020: Virtual eld in 2021*2021: Virtual *2022: Virtual *2023: Virtual

References

External links