Year 7 student Muyao Zhang will represent Australia at two upcoming International Olympiads in Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence.
International Cybersecurity Olympiad, Singapore, June 2025
The first of the two events is the inaugural International Cybersecurity Olympiad (ICO), which will be hosted by the National University of Singapore from 22 to 28 June. The event aims to identify and nurture the brightest young minds in cybersecurity.
Muyao first heard about the ICO only days before the registration deadline.
“At the time, over 40 teams had already formed globally, but none from Australia,” she said. “I was driven by my passion for cybersecurity and was eager to represent Australia on a global stage.”
Later that week, Muyao gained qualification to the ICO after sitting a three-hour preliminary contest, competing with more than 50 students from around Australia.
She was faced with 65 challenges that simulated real-world scenarios to test her cybersecurity skills.
Muyao completed all challenges and achieved a perfect score.
“This result is very encouraging for me,” she said as she looks ahead to the finals in Singapore.
In the Term 1 holidays, Muyao attended an intensive training session in preparation for the competition.
“In preparing for the ICO, I am excited to discover more of what cybersecurity involves, such as threat detection and digital forensics. I look forward to learning the skills needed to contribute to this important and dynamic area in the future.
“As the world becomes more digitally connected, cybersecurity is becoming a growing global concern. Its content is evolving rapidly, far beyond protecting data and systems.”
Muyao is interested in cybersecurity and in a future career in the field because she enjoys critical thinking and solving real-world problems.
“I am particularly fascinated by file navigation in cybersecurity.” She explains that by running basic yet powerful commands, such as “ls” to list directory contents, “cd” to change directories and “cat” to read file contents, she can discover hidden files and explore the underlying structure of a system.
“This process feels like digging for a hidden treasure chest and each command helps to reveal a new layer of information that is otherwise invisible.”
International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence
Muyao was also selected to represent Australia at the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI) in Beijing, just weeks after the ICO.
This marks her second appearance at the IOAI, after representing Australia at the inaugural edition in Burgas, Bulgaria in 2024, where the team won a gold medal.
She was selected for the upcoming Olympiad after her participation in the 2025 Australian Artificial Intelligence Olympiad Committee AI training camp held earlier this year.
The Olympiad was established to inspire and engage high school students worldwide in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence. Like the ICO, it brings together the brightest young minds from across the globe to compete, collaborate, and explore ethical and technological frontiers for the future.
The Meriden community congratulates Muyao for earning the opportunity to represent Australia at these elite events.
