Botanical University Challenge

An annual contest of botanical knowledge between teams of UK and Irish university students.

Dates for #BUC2024 were three on-line rounds in February. Recordings of all these are on our YouTube channel. There will be a live final in August, also streamed on on YouTube, or you can be part of the live audience!

There will be a Student Botany Festival open to all BUC2024 contestants following the live final.

Teams from 28 Universities and Institutions entered BUC2024. After Round 1, 18 remained in the contest. There were only 8 left after Round 2 and they competed in the quarterfinal on 28th February. The result was that teams from the Universities of York, Cambridge and Reading and the Royal Botanic Garden Kew will be in the Semifinal in August 2024.

What is Botanical University Challenge?

BUC is a fun and friendly competition between teams of undergraduate & postgraduate students. It embraces many aspects of botany including plant ID, taxonomy & evolution, ecology & conservation, plant health, horticulture, agriculture & forestry as well as plants in culture & history.

BUC 2024 featured three online rounds in February: two knock-out rounds of multiple-choice questions until 8 teams are left for the quarter final in which the teams will be asked more multiple-choice questions and some free answer questions.

The four top scorers from the quarter finals will be our amazing semi-finalists who will go head-to-head at the University of Oxford on 28th August in front of a live audience.

Why not join in?

Our Sponsors

We are grateful for financial support from the New Phytologist Foundation and Gatsby Foundation. Our in-kind sponsors include the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, Field Studies Council and the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management.

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