German & Austrian Physicists' Tournament (8th GPT)

Important notice: high number of attendees

Due to record registration numbers and consequent space limitations, bookings are finalized as of December 9th 2025. The readjusted maximum reimbursement for teams travelling from within Germany will be 70 euros. Further, due to room capacity, we will also not accept any new guest requests apart from the ones that were already requested by November 30th (registration deadline).

We look forward to hosting you in Stuttgart!

Important dates:

Summer 2025: The problems for the GPT 2026 and the IPT 2026 will be published on the website of the IPT.

September - November 30th 2025: Registration period for GPT 2026.

Team registration and jury member registration closed. Due to the high number of registered teams, we are not able to take any request for extra attendees.

December 15th 2025: Informative meeting for team leaders for questions on the online and in-person rounds.

January 10th 2026: Online round of the GPT, which is especially intended for new participants to learn how the GPT works. The registered teams will be contacted with further details later.

January 15th to January 18th, 2026: GPT 2026 in Stuttgart at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI-FKF).

Preliminary information: Online Round

The planned online round takes place on 10/01/26 from 9am to 5pm, and should involve presentation of 2 problems at the team’s choice. The problems do not need to be registered for the in-person round, and the captain for the online round also does not need to be the captain for the in-person round.

If your registered team intends to participate, please send an email no later than Jan 9th noon to benoit.richard@desy.de informing:

• Your team.
• Whether your team leaders can participate and are willing to be jurors.
• The two problems that you wish to present.

Final schedule for in-person GPT 2026

What is the International Physicists’ Tournament?

The International Physicists’ Tournament is a competition for teams of Bachelor and Master students of physics or STEM-related fields, where the participants research some open-ended unsolved problem in advance, and then discuss theirs and their opponents solutions during the event, developing fundamental research and soft skills.

• The general principles of the GPT and the IPT can be found at https://germany.iptnet.info/about/. More information on the competition can be found on the homepage of the IPT: iptnet.info.
• The IPT problem list for 2026 can be found here.
• Videos of example solutions can be watched at germany.iptnet.info/example-problem-solutions. 
• Discord Server for everything related to the competition: https://discord.gg/4z5ebvC2p.

Who is allowed to participate?

This year, we are very happy to host a joint national selection for teams Germany and Austria, promoting scientific collaboration, networking, exchange of technical expertise, and experience between teams of both countries.

All students that are somehow affiliated to German or Austrian universities, or a German/Austrian national not taking part in another IPT national selection abroad, and have not yet reached their Master degree (defense date before the tournament officially starts, with the problem list made public - for this edition, 08/09/2025), can participate as team members. Teams can consist from 3 up to 6 students, and up to 2 team leaders (team leaders provide support and coaching, but do not participate in the fights directly). If you did not manage to put together a team but still want to take part, send us an email and we will arrange for you to join a team. Note that the official language of the event is English.

The winners of the GPT 2026 will represent their home country (either Germany or Austria) at the 2026 international final in the USA (26-30/05/2026 in Stillwater, Oklahoma). To be part of the national teams, the participants must have taken part as team members at the GPT (sometimes, the winning team has less than 6 members and it is their choice to invite other national competitors to compose the national team).

There is no participation fee. Travel costs, accommodation, and catering for all participants of the GPT 2026 in Stuttgart will be fully covered by the event organization.