Born in the Ukraine

18-year-old wins gold at the Computer Science Olympics

Dynatrace co-founder Sok-Kheng Taing (right) and OCG President Wilfried Seyruck congratulate Uliana Malanyak on her "European Girls' Olympiad in Informatics" gold medal.

(Bild: Ines Thomsen)

Uliana Malanyak has brought gold to Austria for the first time at the Computer Science Olympiad for young women. The Ukrainian-born student of the Linz International School Auhof has just finished school with the International Baccalaureate Diploma, and in the fall she will start studying at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - computer science, of course. 

"I could perhaps have scored a few more points, but I'm very happy with my performance," says Uliana Malanyak, looking back on the European Girls' Olympiad in Informatics (EGOI) in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. 194 young women from 57 countries - including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the USA - took part and attempted to solve highly challenging algorithmic problems. Gold medals were awarded to the 15 top finishers. Uliana Malanyak finished in an outstanding 12th place overall.

18-year-old already won bronze for Ukraine in 2022
The Ukrainian secured this literally at the last minute of the two-day competition, in which a total of eight tasks had to be solved. "About 15 minutes before the end, I suddenly found the solution to the very unconventional task after a lot of experimenting and trying. It felt like a comeback that secured me the gold medal," explains the 18-year-old. Malanyak was taking part for the third time. She won bronze for Ukraine in 2022 and silver for Austria in 2023. "That makes the competition all the more special for me. Because I know some of the participants from previous years. It's great to see them again."

From Khmelnytskyi to Linz
Uliana Malanyak had to flee her Ukrainian hometown of Khmelnytskyi with her parents and two brothers in 2022 to escape the war. Since then, she has attended the English-language Linz International School Auhof (LISA) in Linz, where she also completed the International Baccalaureate Diploma. In a few days, the budding computer scientist will be moving to Cambridge in the US state of Massachusetts to study at the renowned MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

OCG President Wilfried Seyruck and Sok-Kheng Taing, co-founder of the software company Dynatrace, congratulated her personally on her gold medal just in time for her departure.

"Female talent too often undiscovered"
 "IT is still male-dominated. We are still too rarely able to discover and promote the many female IT talents," explains Wilfried Seyruck, OCG President and founder and Managing Director of Linzer Programmierfabrik. This is why the importance of the EGOI for the promotion of young talent can hardly be overestimated. Its declared aim is to motivate schoolgirls from all over the world to pursue an education and career in mathematics and computer science. "I hope that Uliana Malanyak's success will inspire other young women to discover the fascinating world of computer science for themselves," says Seyruck.

"We need role models like Uliana Malanyak" 
"At the moment, too few girls and young women in Austria have the courage to start a computer science apprenticeship," says Sok-Kheng Taing. "That's why we urgently need role models like Uliana Malanyak, who prove that women are technically talented and enjoy technology," says the co-founder of Dynatrace, explaining why Dynatrace supports the Austrian EGOI team as a sponsor alongside the companies Stürzlinger and Walter. As Dynatrace offers internships to promote young talent, Uliana Malanyak may one day use her semester break to gain practical experience in Linz.