Botanical University Challenge is an annual competition in which ALL the questions are botany themed and which runs between UK universities and related institutions.

Due to the Covid pandemic, BUC2022 was held online and was live-streamed to our online audience. BUC2022 attracted eighteen teams, a big online audience and lots of positive feedback. The BUC planning team are currently developing a bigger and better event for BUC 2023, please contact us for more information.

BUC has been running since 2016, and is a novel and friendly way to teach students and audience about plants and also help connect plant aware students from different institutions. The quiz has been UK based so far, but the online audience is increasing international with, for example, ten different overseas countries watching the BUC2022 live-stream.

The BUC planning team are preparing an article about the international dimension of BUC and are reaching out to other countries that use quizzes for botany teaching within or between institutions. The theme of our article is the use of quizzes (online or live) for teaching about plants and botany and generating enthusiasm amongst plant aware students.

We are looking to extend our survey and would be delighted to hear from readers across the world, so please get in touch if you already do this kind of thing at any level, or if you know of other examples and / or if you would be interested to discuss potential international collaborations.

Contact details:
The BUC Planning Team, c/o Jonathan Mitchley: j.mitchley@reading.ac.uk

Twitter: @BUC_2022