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A program supported by the UNSW School of Computer Science and Engineering has enabled four young women to represent Australia on the world stage at the European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics (EGOI).

High school students Ayana Fridkin, Christina Chen, Alexa Wu and Honey Raut travelled to The Netherlands to participate in the week-long Olympiad in July, bringing home three bronze medals between them.

Designed to support and motivate talented young high school women to pursue informatics, the 2024 EGOI saw over 180 international young women compete. After two days of solving challenging algorithmic problems, the Australian team participated in excursions in and around the host city of Veldhoven and connected with peers from around the world.

The inaugural EGOI was held in 2021, and 2024 was the first year Australia has entered a team in the annual event.  The Australian program and team is supported and developed by the , which has a focus on assisting and motivating talented young high school women to pursue mathematics and informatics.

AMT CEO Nathan Ford said, “This is Australia’s first year competing at EGOI and we are thrilled with the team’s results.  We couldn’t have achieved this without the support of our program staff – Team Leader Paula Tennent, Deputy Angeni Bai, Tour Leader Shayla Nguyen and the leadership of our Director of Training, Angus Ritossa.”

He went on to congratulate the four Australian participants, saying, “Ayana, Christina, Alexa and Honey have worked incredibly hard and have achieved so much.  Their results speak for their hard work and dedication, and also help open doors for young women across the country who are interested in developing their problem solving and computer science skills.”

“With this result, the Trust now has two clear pathways for young women who want to refine and develop their mathematical skills via our European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad and EGOI programs.  The future is so bright, and we look forward to many more years of success in helping young women achieve their best,” concluded Mr Ford.

UNSW supports the future of computer science

The Australian Maths Trust (AMT) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) signed a partnership agreement in 2023, committing to support the continued growth and development of student engagement with computer science in Australia.

As part of this agreement, AMT’s Informatics (Computer Science) Olympiad selection school and training programs are hosted at the UNSW Kensington campus. UNSW provides the program with accommodation, computer labs, teaching rooms, print services and more—world class facilities that give Australian students the best possible chance of success while providing youth with a glimpse into the world of informatics within a university setting.  

Professor Arcot Sowmya, Head of the UNSW School of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) said, “I am delighted for CSE to have played a role in supporting the Australian EGOI team, and thanks to my colleague Dr Raveen De Silva for acting as local host.”

The AMT Maths and Informatics high performance and Olympiad programs are supported by the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources through the Science Competition: Mathematics and Informatics Olympiads grant opportunity. The program is also supported by the AMT’s National Sponsor of the Australian Informatics and Mathematical Olympiad programs, .

Introducing the Australian Team

Ayana Fridkin, Year 9, Caulfield Grammer School, VIC

Ayana started her journey in informatics as a young child when her dad (who is also a programmer) found a basic Python coding course. Her love of the Python problem solving elements, led her to the AIO. In 2023, Ayana received the top prize in Mathematics and Statistics Research Competition from the University of Melbourne for Using Python/pandas to analyse weather prediction accuracy.

“I am especially looking forward to meeting other female informaticians and hearing about their coding experiences. I’ve never met many very skilled female coders – I could count the number of ones I know on my hands – so that’s the main cause of excitement for me. Of course, I am also looking forward to solving the problems!”

Ayana plans to pursue a programming career, with the goal of starting her own company and building apps with her coding skills. She hopes to create something that benefits society and the environment through raising awareness about global warming or Earths limited resources.

Christina Chen, Year 11, Korowa Anglican Girls’ School, VIC

Christina began coding in primary school, where she participated in multiple competitions with design and technical coding aspects. She is looking forward to meeting girls from other countries who excel in informatics and believes participating in this competition will be a unique opportunity for her to compete with a wider range of competitors from different countries.

In future schooling years, Christina wishes to further her studies in computer science and maths with the hope of working in the technology sector, possibly relating to AI, which has been an interest of hers since year 5.

Honey Raut, Year 12, University High School, VIC

Honey has always enjoyed programming and problem-solving, so it was easy for her to fall in love with informatics. However, it was her experience in a camp meeting of like-minded peers, learning complex algorithms and getting a taste for the real fun of informatics which truly sparked her interest.

“As a young aspiring female informatician, my advice to others would be to try to consistently learn and solve problems. Each solved problem gives you an immediate dopamine rush, and the more you learn, the more problems you can solve. You’ll soon realise that the key to endless happiness is informatics.”

Alexa Wu, Year 8, Pymble Ladies’ College, NSW

As a naturally curious person, Alexa has always been interested in puzzles and problem-solving. Being only in year 8, Alexa hasn’t quite figured out what she would like to focus her futures studies on but knows that she wants to leave the world a slightly better place than how she found it.

“My advice to girls in informatics would be this: trust yourself and give every problem a shot.”

Heading into the EGOI, Alexa is looking forward to meeting other teams, involving her informatics schools and training with her friends – and doing the contest problems, of course.