HEC has honoured 23 Pakistani students who represented Pakistan at the 2026 International Science Olympiads, in a recognition ceremony held on 6 November 2026 under the STEM Careers Programme. The students won 14 awards in total at the international competitions — one silver medal, six bronze medals, five honourable mentions, one certificate of merit and one certificate of recognition — and the year also marked Pakistan’s first official participation in the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence.
HEC Honours 23 Students — Key Details
Detail
Information
Event
HEC recognition ceremony for the 2026 International Science Olympiads teams
Date
6 November 2026
Students honoured
23 Pakistani students
Total awards
14 awards — 1 Silver Medal, 6 Bronze Medals, 5 Honourable Mentions, 1 Certificate of Merit, 1 Certificate of Recognition
Olympiads
Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence
The ceremony was held on 6 November 2026, and HEC announced it on its own Instagram account the same day. The event was reported by TechJuice, Thursday Times and CW Pakistan on 7 November, and by Academia Magazine on 8 November 2026.
Students honoured: 23 Pakistani students who represented the country at the 2026 International Science Olympiads.
Silver Medal: one — won by Hassan Atif Cheema at the International Biology Olympiad.
Bronze Medals: six.
Honourable Mentions: five.
Certificate of Merit: one.
Certificate of Recognition: one.
Total: 14 awards for the 23 students.
Chief guest: HEC Chairman Prof. Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar (S.I.), who distributed cash prizes and certificates to the students.
Prize amounts: no amount was stated anywhere in the coverage or the HEC post, and no figure is given here.
Per-subject breakdown: no breakdown of the awards by subject has been published, apart from the single Biology silver medal.
Pakistan’s First AI Olympiad Team
The 2026 season included a milestone for Pakistan: the country took part officially for the first time in the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI). The milestone sits alongside a strong year in the traditional Olympiads, and it shows how the STEM Careers Programme has grown beyond the older subjects into AI.
First official participation: Pakistan’s first official participation in the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI) in 2026.
Five Olympiads: the 2026 teams covered Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence.
Programme: the teams are selected and trained under the STEM Careers Programme, a joint initiative of HEC and the Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS).
Physics result: Pakistan won three Bronze Medals at the 56th International Physics Olympiad, held in Bucaramanga, Colombia, in July 2026.
Programme history: more than 365 Pakistani students have represented the country at the International Science Olympiads since the programme began, winning 144 medals.
The STEM Careers Programme is the pipeline behind the Olympiad teams. It selects school and college students through national contests and trains them for the international competitions, with mentors from the country’s leading science institutions.
Programme: STEM Careers Programme, run jointly by HEC and PIEAS.
Role: selecting and training the Pakistani teams for the International Science Olympiads.
Attendees at the ceremony: PIEAS Rector Dr Anila Usman and Pro-Rector Dr Jamil Ahmad attended the ceremony.
Mentors thanked: mentors from PIEAS, COMSATS University Lahore, NIBGE-C and ICCBS (University of Karachi) were thanked for their contributions.
What was not stated: the ceremony venue was not stated in any source, and no venue is given here.
Other students’ names: the names of the other 22 students were not published in any source, and no names are invented here.
What Students Should Know Next
The recognition ceremony closed the 2026 Olympiad season, and the next contest in the same programme is already being announced. Students who want to take part should know the difference between the two events, because the figures for the next contest are not the prizes for this ceremony.
Next contest: the National Science Talent Contest (NSTC-23) is the selection contest for the July 2027 Olympiads.
Do not mix the figures: an HEC Facebook infographic for NSTC-23 lists prize amounts for the next contest, from Rs 500,000 for Gold down to Rs 25,000 for participation — those figures belong to the July 2027 contest, not to the 6 November 2026 ceremony.
Where to watch: students should watch the HEC and STEM Careers Programme announcements for the NSTC-23 schedule and eligibility.
Preparation: the Olympiads test Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and now Artificial Intelligence, so students should build depth in one subject and keep their science and mathematics strong across the board.
Background reading: the STEM Careers Programme’s own announcements are the most reliable source for dates and rules.
July 2026, Bucaramanga, Colombia — Pakistan won 3 Bronze Medals
HEC recognition ceremony
6 November 2026 — 23 students honoured, 14 awards
First reports
7 November 2026 (TechJuice, Thursday Times, CW Pakistan); 8 November 2026 (Academia Magazine)
Next Olympiad season
July 2027 — selection through the National Science Talent Contest (NSTC-23)
The ceremony matters because the Olympiad programme is the clearest public measure of Pakistan’s school-level science talent. More than 365 students have represented the country since the programme began, winning 144 medals, and the 2026 season added 14 more awards plus a first official entry into the AI Olympiad. The students’ names, apart from Hassan Atif Cheema, were not published, and the ceremony venue and the prize amounts were not stated — so this article reports only what the sources actually say, and leaves the rest out rather than guessing.
Conclusion
HEC honoured 23 Pakistani students on 6 November 2026 for representing Pakistan at the 2026 International Science Olympiads, where they won 14 awards including a silver medal in Biology by Hassan Atif Cheema. The year also marked Pakistan’s first official participation in the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence, and the next season’s selection will run through the National Science Talent Contest (NSTC-23) for the July 2027 Olympiads.
FAQs
How many students did HEC honour? HEC honoured 23 Pakistani students who represented Pakistan at the 2026 International Science Olympiads, at a ceremony held on 6 November 2026.
How many awards did the students win? They won 14 awards in total: 1 Silver Medal, 6 Bronze Medals, 5 Honourable Mentions, 1 Certificate of Merit and 1 Certificate of Recognition.
Who won the silver medal? Hassan Atif Cheema won the Silver Medal at the International Biology Olympiad. He is the only student named in the sources.
How much cash prize did the students get? The prize amounts were not stated anywhere in the coverage or in HEC’s post, so no figure is given. The Rs 500,000 to Rs 25,000 figures in an HEC infographic belong to the next contest, NSTC-23 for the July 2027 Olympiads, not to this ceremony.
What is the STEM Careers Programme? It is a joint HEC–PIEAS initiative that selects and trains the Pakistani teams for the International Science Olympiads. More than 365 Pakistani students have represented the country through it, winning 144 medals.
When is the next International Science Olympiad season? The next Olympiads are in July 2027, and selection runs through the National Science Talent Contest (NSTC-23). The schedule and eligibility are announced by HEC and the STEM Careers Programme.
Shahzad Sahil is the editor of lahorejobs24.com, covering government jobs, private jobs, bank jobs, results and education news for Lahore and Punjab, with information verified from official sources.
