One team of 4 students has represented Hong Kong in the 21st International Linguistics Olympiad which took place between the 23rd and 31st of July 2024 in Brasília, Brazil. The Hong Kong team has achieved the one Silver medal (Henry Wong), two Bronze medals (Maxwell Ji and Choi John Nathaniel), one Honourable mention (Lin Cheuk Hang), as well as an Honourable mention in the Team Contest!
Hong Kong representatives to IOL 2024
From left to right: Ian Tam (Observer), Maxwell Ji (Chinese International School), Lin Cheuk Hang (Queen's College), Henry Wong (Diocesan Boys' School), Choi John Nathaniel (St. Joseph's College), Vlad A. Neacșu (Team Leader).
One team of 4 students has represented Hong Kong in the 20th International Linguistics Olympiad which took place between the 21st and 29th of July 2023 in Bansko, Bulgaria. The Hong Kong team has achieved the absolute Gold medal (Tam Lok Hang, highest score achieved, 96.5 p), two Silver medals (Zhang Yixuan and Henry Wong), three Best Solution awards (Tam Lok Hang - problems 2, 3, and 5), as well as an Honourable mentionin the Team Contest!

Hong Kong representatives to IOL 2023
From left to right: Vlad A. Neacșu (Team Leader), Henry Wong (Diocesan Boys' School), Ian Tam (La Salle College), Ryan Lo (Diocesan Boys’ School), Zhang Yixuan (Hong Kong International School).
One team of 4 students has represented Hong Kong in the 19th International Linguistics Olympiad which took place between the 24th and 30th of July 2022 in Castletown, Isle of Man. The Hong Kong team has achieved one Silver medal (Tam Lok Hang), one Bronze medal (Henry Wong), two Best Solution awards (Tam Lok Hang - problem 4 and Henry Wong - problem 5), as well as an Honourable mention in the Team Contest!
Hong Kong representatives to IOL 2022
From left to right: Samantha Yung (Pui Ching Middle School), Henry Wong (Diocesan Boys' School), Vlad A. Neacșu (Team Leader), Ian Tam (La Salle College), Ryan Lo (Diocesan Boys’ School).
One team of 4 students has represented Hong Kong in the 18th International Linguistics Olympiad which took place online between the 19th and 24th of July 2021. All four students have been awarded a medal! (Xie Lingrui – Gold medal, Ian Tam – Silver medal, Ip Tsz Oi – Silver medal, Ng Truman Toby – Bronze medal). Moreover, Hong Kong team earned the Gold Trophy for the highest average team score at the individual contest.
Hong Kong representatives to IOL 2021
From left to right: Xie Lingrui (La Salle College), Ip Tsz Oi (Diocesan Girls' School), Ian Tam (La Salle College), Ng Truman Toby (St. Paul's College).
- 2019-09-12 Loan Words
- 2019-09-27 Mongolian Letters
- 2019-10-11 Word Order
- 2019-10-25 Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
- 2019-11-08 Morphology and Word Formation
- 2019-11-28 What makes both ‘I’ and ‘me’ representing the same word in Chinese?
- 2019-12-13 Some Semantics (Part 1)
- 2019-12-16 Some Semantics (Part 2)
- 2020-01-03 Pame and Its Octonary Number System (Part 1)
- 2020-01-03 Pame and Its Octonary Number System (Part 2)
- 2020-01-17 Tibetic languages
- 2020-06-12 The Tibetan script
23 February 2025 - 7th Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad
20 April 2025 - 7th Asia-Pacific Linguistics Olympiad
July-August 2025 - 22nd International Linguistics Olympiad (Taipei)
Chair
- Prof. Yao, Yao (Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, PolyU)
Ex-officio members
- Prof. Li, Ping (Dean of Faculty of Humanities, PolyU)
- Prof. Siok, Wai-Ting (Head of Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, PolyU)
- Prof. Friginal, Eric (Head of Department of English and Communication, PolyU)
- Faculty Advisor: Prof. Eric Pelzl (Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, PolyU)
- Competition Advisor: Mr. Farhan, Ishraq (HKUST)
Standing members
- Prof. Ahrens, Kathleen (Department of English and Communication, PolyU)
- Prof. Cummings, Louise (Department of English and Communication, PolyU)
- Prof. Huang, Chu-Ren (Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, PolyU)
- Ms Luo, Xin (Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, PolyU; Leader of HK team in IOL 2019)
- Dr Neacșu, Vlad A. (Member of the IOL Board; Leader of HK team in IOL 2021-2024)
- Mr Pan, Tung-Le (National Taiwan University; IOL Medalist; Member of the IOL Problem Committee)
Chair
- Faculty Advisor: Prof. Eric Pelzl (PolyU)
Members
- Competition Advisor: Mr Farhan, Ishraq (HKUST)
- Logistics Officer: Ms Wong, Kate (PolyU)
Chair
- Mr Farhan, Ishraq (HKUST)
Members
- Dr Neacșu, Vlad A. (Member of the APLO Problem Committee; Leader of HK team in IOL 2021-2024)
- Mr Pan, Tung-Le (National Taiwan University; IOL Medalist; Member of the IOL Problem Committee)
- Mr Tam, Lok Hang (University of Hong Kong; IOL Medalist)
- Mr Wong, Tok Shing Henry (IOL Medalist; Member of the OnLing Problem Committee)