Global Talent Fund

Our mission is to discover, nurture, and empower talented math and science youth worldwide.

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

1/2 Announcing: A $40M commitment from @xtxmarkets to @GlobTalent

Many exceptionally gifted young mathematicians and scientists never get the chance to develop their talents. We are working to change that. GTF and XTX co-founded BIG Talent Scholars in 2023. With this new commitment, we will bring 150 more scholars to the world's top universities.

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

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Together, BIG Talent Scholars, GTF Coaches, and GTF Olympiad Grants help exceptional students in dozens of countries develop their talent and pursue their full potential.

Read Invisible Geniuses and learn more:
https://t.co/trLJ2cGl1O

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

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Congratulations to Hong Wang, Yu Deng, John Pardon, and @Jacob_Tsimerman, the 2026 Fields medalists.

Three of the four won Olympiad gold as teenagers: Deng and Tsimerman at the IMO, and Pardon at the IOI.

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

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In its first two classes, 77 BIG Scholars have enrolled at Oxford, Cambridge, and other leading universities. A third class of around 50 is now being finalized.

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

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Now #PAIO2026 is growing, going from 14 to 18 African countries and adding an in-person component in #Rwanda 🇷🇼.

It's a story about far more than one competition.

It's about building institutions that can develop talent for decades to come.

https://t.co/s6UOQHZk5n

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

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A WhatsApp group.

One big idea.

Less than two years later, Africa has an informatics Olympiad bringing together students from across the continent.

Here's the story behind the Pan-African Informatics Olympiad (#PAIO). 🧵

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

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After #IOI 2024 in Egypt, coaches from across Africa decided to change that.

They got organized, recruited leading computer scientists to ensure the originality and difficulty of the problems, built the technical infrastructure, and launched the first #PAIO in just one year.

[Ruchir Agarwal 🌍 @RuchirAgar]

Congrats to 2026 Fields medalists Hong Wang, Yu Deng, John Pardon and Jacob Tsimerman!

Three won Olympiad gold as teens: Deng and Tsimerman at IMO; Pardon at IOI.

In Invisible Geniuses, @patrickgaule and I found a similar rate: 14 of 26 in 1994–2018 were former IMO medalists.

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

Andy Wu 🇦🇺 #Australia moved from solving programming problems to creating them.

“I can come up with harder problems than I could ever solve in a timed contest because I have time to explore ideas from different angles.”

Andy is a GTF BIG Talent Scholar studying Computer Science at @TrinCollCam. An #IOI silver medalist in 2024, he first got into coding by making games in @scratch. Today, he is especially interested in algorithms and programming languages. He is applying the problem-focused mindset to building tools of his own by developing his own compiler and writing practice contests for students training for the IOI and #EGOI.

Alongside his studies, Andy continues to explore areas of computer science he had previously overlooked, including operating systems and graphics.

Andy also shared the training problem he thought he had solved, only to learn years later that the test data had been weak.

Full profile and interview:
https://t.co/RXIBpuT3w4

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

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Read Amir's full interview here:

https://t.co/k0xse6H9Cd

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

1/2 🧵

Five students, five 🥇 gold medals for 🇰🇿 #Kazakhstan at #IPhO2026 -- the world's top high school physics competition. Earning all gold is a remarkable achievement for any country, let alone a middle-income country of 21 million people.

GTF BIG Talent Scholar and two-time IPhO medalist Amir Pshenbayev helped prepare the team for the experimental round, using his personal GTF stipend to build training setups based on past Olympiad experiments and qualification exams.

In an interview last year, Amir identified limited access to equipment as a weakness in Kazakhstan’s preparation and said he hoped to help address it. This year, he did.

Congratulations to the students, coaches, and team leaders on this historic result!

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

#IMO2026 has come to a close in Shanghai 🇨🇳, with 117 teams taking part in this year’s competition.

Top 5 teams:
🇨🇳 #China
🇺🇸 #UnitedStates
🇷🇺 #Russia
🇸🇬 #Singapore
🇻🇳 #VietNam

Congratulations to all medalists, contestants, team leaders, coordinators, volunteers, and organizers on a remarkable week of mathematics.

Special congratulations to teams from Olympiad ecosystems GTF has supported: Argentina, Portugal and Spain through a joint IMO training camp, and Armenia, Bhutan, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Georgia, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Namibia, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa and Uzbekistan through general support.

GTF is proud to support Olympiad organizations helping students reach this level, and we look forward to following what they do next.

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

Participation in the first stage of Kyiv’s National Mathematics Olympiad rose from 2,725 students in 2024 to 6,800 in 2025, following changes that allowed students to register directly for regional competitions.

At the same time, many former participants now live abroad due to the war, leaving fewer experienced mentors to pass on the knowledge that sustained the program.

In Part 2 of our story, GTF Program Manager Zarina Kodyrova examines how Ukraine’s Olympiad system is widening access for students in 🇺🇦 #Ukraine and abroad while trying to rebuild the pipeline that develops mathematical talent.

Read Part 2:

https://t.co/KzmU3av4tq

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

Congratulations to all #IMO2026 contestants on completing both contest days in #Shanghai 🇨🇳.

After months and years of preparation, it all came down to two days of mathematical problem-solving at the highest international level for pre-university students.

As contestants wait for results, team leaders and coordinators begin the careful work of reviewing solutions and finalizing scores.

GTF wishes every contestant a well-earned rest and thanks the team leaders, coordinators, volunteers, and organizers for helping make the competition possible.

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

Hundreds of students with exceptional mathematical talent are gathering for International Mathematical Olympiad 2026 in #Shanghai 🇨🇳. Yet their preparation began long before they arrived.

This year, 685 contestants from 119 countries are taking part, an IMO record.

GTF’s Olympiad work is focused on the people and organizations that help students reach this level. Through Olympiad Grants and GTF Coaches, we help strengthen the training, coaching, and systems that identify and nurture high-potential STEM students in each country and region.

We wish every contestant who worked to reach #IMO2026, and every team leader, coordinator, volunteer, and organizer supporting them, a successful competition.

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

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Despite bombing, blackouts, and displacement, Ukraine's mathematical community continues to identify and support exceptional young talent.

Bogdan Rublov has led Ukraine's IMO team since 2012, while Ostap is an 11th-grade student who has grown up with that reality and is now on Ukraine’s team at the #IMO2026 in Shanghai.

Part 1 of our story explores how students and organizers have kept going — and what it takes to prepare for the IMO during war.

Read the full story:

https://t.co/7XMygurZmq

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

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The International Mathematical Olympiad – the world’s top math contest for high school students – is underway in Shanghai. #Ukraine 🇺🇦 has one of the world's strongest mathematical Olympiad traditions, winning 182 IMO medals since 1993.

Then came war.

Schools were destroyed, students and teachers were displaced, and training moved online. Yet thousands of young mathematicians kept competing.

[Global Talent Fund @GlobTalent]

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The human cost is never far away.

Yulia Zdanovska, a former European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad silver medalist, was killed during the war at just 21, after volunteering to work in her local administration building.

Today, her name lives on through initiatives supporting the next generation of young mathematicians.