International Earth Science Olympiad 2022 was organised this year in a virtual mode from Aosta Valley, Italy from August 25 to 31, 2022. In this international competition, 38 countries participated, represented by eight students from each country.

Who was Team India led by? Here are the names and cities of the school students who are studying in Class IX, X, and XI:

- Bhanav Namboodri (Mallapuram, Kerala)

- Sonit Sisolekar (Pune, Maharashtra)

- Abhijay Singh Khehra (Jalandhar, Punjab) 

- Avishi Agrawal (Kota, Rajasthan) 

- Jaagrit Gaur (Chandigarh) 

- Siddhangana Sahoo (Bhubaneswar, Odisha) 

- Kyishong Bharali Das (Chennai, Tamil Nadu) 

- Arush Chaudhary (Kota, Rajasthan)

The mentors were Dr Hema Achyuthan, Anna University, Chennai and Dr KS Godhavari, GSI, Bengaluru. The observers were Prof R Bhaskar from IGNOU, New Delhi and Dr Mithila Verma from MoES, New Delhi.

This programme was funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi and organised by the Geological Society of India, Bengaluru as an outreach programme for school students.

In IESO 2022, Team India won four gold, four silver and six bronze medals in the tests.

Team India of eight was chosen after two stages of rigorous screening. The first was an all-India entrance written test taken by close to 3,000 students across the country and the second selection was from a two-week training programme organised by GSI Bengaluru and conducted by renowned scientists of the country.

Here is the breakup of the medals won by Team India:

Data Mining Test (DMT) – Three bronze medals
Bhanav Namboodri - Bronze medal
Jaagrit Gaur - Bronze medal
Sonit Sisolekar - Bronze medal

National Team Field Investigation (NTFI)
Project title: Carbon Sequestration in Weathered Rocks and its Application in Reducing Global Warming
Sonit Sisolekar - Gold medal
Bhanav Namboodri - Gold medal
Avishi Agrawal - Gold medal
Kyishong Bharali Das - Gold medal

Project Title: Physicochemical Variations of Soils from Northwestern and Eastern India
Abhijay Singh Khehra - Gold medal
Jaagrit Gaur - Gold medal
Siddhangana Sahoo - Gold medal
Arush Chaudhary - Gold medal

Earth Science Project (ESP) with International students
Jaagrit Gaur  - Gold medal
Arush Chaudhary - Gold medal
Abhijay Singh Khehra - Silver medal 
Bhanav Namboodri - Silver medal 
Siddhangana Sahoo - Bronze medal 
Kyishong Bharali Das - Bronze medal 

Earth Learning Students Idea (ELSI)
Siddhangana Sahoo - Silver medal 
Bhanav Namboodri - Silver medal 
Sonit Sisolekar - Bronze medal