TEHRAN – A three-member team of Iranian students has won two silver medals at the ninth edition of the First Global Challenge (FGC), an Olympics-style international robotics competition held in Panama from October 29 to November 1.

The First Global Challenge takes place in a different country each year. FIRST Global invites each nation to send a team to build and program a robot for competition.

Teams work together to complete tasks in a game themed around one of the greatest challenges facing the planet, including the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering, in an effort to foster understanding and cooperation among the youth of the world as they use their abilities to solve the world’s problems.

Its main objective is to inspire leadership and innovation in youth from all nations by empowering them through education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, known as STEM.

Based on the theme Eco Equilibrium, and with a focus on biodiversity, the 2025 FGC brought together students from  191 nations for the most international robotics challenge in the world.

This year’s challenge tasked participants with navigating their robots through a rich, simulated world to carefully restore habitats, maintain ecological balance, and protect vulnerable species, emphasizing the delicate systems that support our planet and the critical role innovation plays in their survival.

The Iranian robotics team consisted of Mohammad Montazeri, Mehdi Montazeri, and Saleh Azizi. Their project, titled ‘PyroGuard’, is a system developed based on the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) for the prevention, early detection, and response to forest fires through real-time analysis of thermal anomalies and environmental sensing.

The remote-controlled system is also capable of sending smart alerts, monitoring soil and vegetation temperature.

The team secured two silver medals for New Technology Experience and Courageous Achievement in awards called the Innovator Award and the Rajaa Cherkaoui El Moursli Award.

In 2024, Iran won a silver medal for Engineering Documentation (Katherine Johnson Award) and a bronze medal for New Technology (Experience Innovator Award).

Awards for environmental conservation

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) presented two awards, namely Reverse the Red and the International Ranger Awards 2025, to the country at the World Conservation Congress.

The congress was held in Abu Dhabi, the UAE, from October 11 to 15.

Reverse the Red is a global movement that ignites strategic cooperation and action to ensure the survival of wild species and ecosystems and reverse the negative trend of biodiversity loss.

The Iranian Ambassador to Abu Dhabi, Reza Ameri, received the award on behalf of the country.

The IUCN WCPA presented 13 rangers and ranger teams with the 2025 International Ranger Awards, recognising their incredible dedication to nature conservation.

The International Ranger Awards are intended to honour the courage, resilience, and perseverance of rangers across the world; displaying their achievements, raising public awareness about the importance of such professionals, and providing winners with funds to support the land they help protect.

Iran is the first country in West Asia to have won this award. Saidvaa National Park and the southern Parvar Protected Area Ranger Team (nine members) in Semnan province are awarded for determinedly overcoming social and ecological challenges to advance conservation.

Azin Saeedi, as the representative of the rangers, has received the award, doe.ir reported.

Moreover, Behzad Qiasi, a faculty member of the University of Tehran, won the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Young Scientists Awards for his project titled ‘Develop a sustainable hydrotourism model in Iran’s Miankaleh Biosphere Reserve’.

This year, 11 young researchers from across the globe, including Morocco, China, Congo, the U.S., Brazil, Ghana, and Algeria, received MAB Young Scientists Awards for their outstanding efforts and contributions.

The prize announcement took place during the 37th session of the MAB International Coordinating Council (ICC), held in Hangzhou, China, after the fifth World Network of Biosphere Reserves’ global summit, which took place from September 22 to 26.

MT/MG