iGEM for high school teams: what the rules have required

Parents and students who hear "iGEM" usually hear it as a university competition. It has had a high school section for well over a decade, and high school teams present at the same Grand Jamboree as everyone else. What follows is what the competition has required of high school teams, assembled from the iGEM Foundation's published team requirements and registration pages for recent seasons. Rules are reissued every year; the current version at igem.org is the only one that counts.

Who counts as a high school team

In the published requirements for several recent seasons, a high school team is one whose student members are all high school students on a fixed date in the spring of the competition year, including those who graduate that spring. A third-party guide to the most recent season adds that students must have reached a minimum age by that date and must be enrolled in a high school. High school teams compete against other high school teams in their own section, and in recent years have chosen a "Village", the thematic grouping in which projects are displayed at the Jamboree, alongside collegiate teams.

Who has to sign

A high school team needs adults. The Foundation's registration pages have required a principal investigator (PI) who is a high school teacher or principal, a consent form from the principal of every school represented on the team, and participant consent forms. This is the first practical step for a Taiwanese team: finding a teacher willing to be PI and a school willing to sign.

What a team may work with

From the most recent season described in the guides we checked, high school teams have been required to use only organisms and components on the Foundation's published white list. This is a safety measure, and in practice it shapes project design from the start: a high school project is built around well-characterized, non-pathogenic chassis and parts. Every team also submits safety forms describing its organisms, parts and lab practices, and must work in a supervised laboratory.

What the season looks like

Registration has opened early in the calendar year and closed in spring, with the Grand Jamboree in the autumn. Between them, the Foundation publishes a sequence of deliverable deadlines: the safety forms, the project description, the wiki freeze, judging forms and presentation materials. Medals (bronze, silver, gold) are awarded for meeting published criteria, and separate awards recognize the best projects in a section or in a particular area such as modeling, education or Human Practices.

High school teams from Taiwan

Taiwan is active in iGEM's high school section. According to iGEM's official team registry, checked in October 2026, the number of accepted Taiwanese high school teams was:

Year	Taiwanese high school teams
2022	4
2023	7
2024	7
2025	9
2026	8

In 2025, 9 of the 143 accepted high school teams worldwide came from Taiwan. Some are formed by schools and some by education companies; the registry lists them as secondary education and commercial organisers. For a school that wants to enter, the practical first steps are the two above: a teacher willing to serve as PI, and the principal's consent. Each team's project and results are on iGEM's team pages and annual results page.

What we verified, and what you must check

• Verified against the Foundation's own pages for recent seasons: the existence of the high school section, the "all members are high school students on a spring date" definition, the teacher-or-principal PI rule, and the principal consent requirement.
• Reported by third-party guides for the latest season, not yet checked against the Foundation's current text: the minimum age, the white list requirement for high school teams, and the Village arrangement.
• Always check for the current year: registration dates, fees, deliverable deadlines, judging criteria and the white list itself, at igem.org.