VNUHCM-Â鶹´«Ã½ (HCMUS) demonstrated exceptional prowess during the recent series of competitions, which included the 34th Viet Nam Student Informatics Olympiad, the Viet Nam Student Artificial Intelligence Olympiad, and the ICPC Asia Ho Chi Minh City Regional 2025 International Programming Contest. By securing the Super Cup Championship and dominating multiple leaderboards, the University achieved a significant milestone, reaffirming a reputation for excellence in Information Technology training.

Hosted between 8 and 12 December by the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, the event took place under the coordination of the Ministry of Education and Training, the Viet Nam Association for Information Processing, and the Central Committee of the Viet Nam Students’ Association. Distinguished bodies provided sponsorship, including the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations, the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee.

The event attracted nearly 1,000 students and 200 coaches from 87 universities, colleges, and academies, alongside international delegations from South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Characterised by intense competition and diverse examination topics—ranging from AI and competitive programming to simulation and application development—observers regarded the series as one of the most comprehensive academic arenas for Information Technology students in Viet Nam.

Results of the Viet Nam Student Artificial Intelligence Olympiad (OlpAI’25)

During the inaugural OlpAI’25, the HCMUS delegation delivered a stellar performance, with every participating group receiving an award.

National Final Round

• First Prize: HCMUS-PLV
• Second Prize: HCMUS-RPVC
• Third Prize: HCMUS-GG; HCMUS-PrompterXPrompter

Southern Regional Round

• First Prize (Regional National Champion): HCMUS-GG
• First Prize: HCMUS-PLV
• Second Prize: HCMUS-PrompterXPrompter
• Third Prize: HCMUS-RPVC
• Consolation Prize: HCMUS-epi; HCMUS-FlameReavers

Results of the 34th Viet Nam Student Informatics Olympiad (OLP’25)

HCMUS representatives dominated the proceedings, securing a string of prestigious honours.

Super Cup Category

• Super Cup Champion: Lê Kiến Thành
• Silver Cup: Lê Nguyá»…n Hữu An
• Bronze Cup: VÅ© Quốc Lâm
• Third Prize: Trần Thế Bảo; Võ Thanh Hải

Specialised Informatics Category

• First Prize: Ä�á»— Duy Lợi
• Second Prize: Trần Thành Lợi; Hứa PhÆ°á»›c Duy

Results of the ICPC Asia Ho Chi Minh City Regional 2025

On the international stage, the HCMUS delegation maintained a strong standing on the leaderboards:

• HCMUS-ThaiFamily: Gold Medal (9/12 problems solved), ranking as the highest-placed team from Viet Nam.
• HCMUS-AleaJactaEst: Silver Medal (8/12 problems solved).

According to the Organising Committee, HCMUS comprises three of the 19 Vietnamese teams qualifying to compete at the ICPC Asia Pacific Championship 2026, scheduled for Taiwan in March 2026.

With achievements spanning the Informatics Olympiad, the Artificial Intelligence Olympiad, and the ICPC Asia Ho Chi Minh City 2025, VNUHCM-Â鶹´«Ã½ has once again cemented a position at the forefront of Information Technology training and research within Viet Nam. These results serve as a source of collective pride for the University and stand as a testament to the discipline, strategic thinking, and competitive spirit displayed by HCMUS students when entering such highly contested academic spheres.

The University extends warm congratulations to the coaching staff and the entire delegation for the exceptional efforts made to secure these accolades. The institution wishes the teams continued success, encouraging the students to maintain a winning mindset and to excel in future competitions. HCMUS takes enduring pride in supporting students throughout every academic endeavour.

On the 7th of December, the Closing and Award Ceremony for the Euréka Student Scientific Research Awards 2025 convened at Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City, signifying the most competitive season recorded to date. VNUHCM-Â鶹´«Ã½ (HCMUS) achieved distinction by securing seven of the fifteen First Prizes.

The Euréka Student Scientific Research Award constitutes one of the most prestigious and influential academic arenas for undergraduates possessing a passion for scientific enquiry. The Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union organises this accolade annually in coordination with Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City, with support from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology. The Tam Nguyen Viet Charity Fund and the Centre for Youth Science and Technology Development function as the standing bodies of the Organising Committee. Over the course of numerous seasons, Euréka has evolved into a venue for encouraging scientific thinking, nurturing young creativity, and fostering research with high applicability—an important resource for national scientific and technological development.

The 2025 edition attracted 2,179 entries from more than 7,500 students representing 161 institutions nationwide. Following selection rounds at the institutional level and the semi-finals in Ho Chi Minh City, 192 projects from 84 universities advanced to the final round. Such submissions demonstrate high topicality and applicability, reflecting the capacity of students to adapt rapidly to new technological waves. This year, the competition comprised fifteen disciplines: Information Technology; Food Technology; Administration – Legal; Chemistry; Educational Sciences; Agricultural Sciences; Social Sciences; Medical – Pharmaceutical Sciences; Economics; Engineering Technology; Planning, Architecture and Construction; Biology; Natural Resources and Environment; Culture – Arts; and Physics.

During the final adjudication, the Organising Committee presented fifteen First Prizes, fifteen Second Prizes, twenty-one Third Prizes, and 141 Consolation Prizes, with a total value exceeding 400 million VND. From this allocation, HCMUS undergraduates made an impressive breakthrough, claiming seven First Prizes, one Second Prize, two Third Prizes, and eight Consolation Prizes.

Such achievements at Euréka 2025 once again affirm the research capabilities of HCMUS students, whilst simultaneously demonstrating the efficacy of an academically rich training environment and clear research orientation. These outcomes contribute to solidifying the position of the University in youth training and scientific research, continuing to spread the spirit of discovery and creativity within the student community.

The project groups winning Prizes at the Euréka Student Scientific Research Awards 2025. Photo: Organising Committee.

In a field often considered a ‘domain’ of men, Phạm Thanh Hoa—a fourth-year Materials Science student at VNUHCM-Â鶹´«Ã½â€”has asserted herself through unwavering passion and effort. The student became one of the 20 faces honoured at the Vietnamese Female Students in Science and Technology Award 2025 for her research on environmentally friendly biomaterials.

A Unique Path in Science

Born without a ‘fateful turning point’ that directed her toward scientific research, Thanh Hoa came to Materials Science through thorough investigation and natural enthusiasm. The student particularly enjoys small experiments focused on understanding the structure and properties of matter.

“I realised that materials are everywhere in life, from everyday objects to battery technology, sensors, and biomedical materials. This is a field that is both accessible and capable of creating major societal change,� Hoa shared.

Thanh Hoa’s decision to choose this discipline surprised many people around her. “People hear ‘materials’ and immediately think of cement, steel, and heavy labour, so they worried the work would be too hard for me,� Hoa recalled. Instead of stepping back, Hoa chose to clarify: the research direction she pursues involves polymers and composites—a highly applicable area, ranging from biological packaging to advanced materials. “Once they understood correctly, my family became my strongest supporters,� the student said.

Commencing the four-year university journey, Hoa entered the world of research with rare curiosity and persistence. “Scientific research has no shortcuts. There were weeks when I repeated the same experiment dozens of times, yet the result still would not materialise,� Hoa recounted. Late nights spent on lab duty, and failures where solutions changed to the wrong colour, all became an essential part of the maturation process.

Amidst these difficulties, Thanh Hoa always had the University and especially Assoc. Prof. Hoàng Thị �ông Quỳ as immense sources of support. “This university and that dedicated lecturer not only taught me technical expertise but also the spirit of scientific work: perseverance, meticulousness, and never stopping to question. I remember the warning that science is not for those in a rush, and I gradually understand that in every experiment I perform,� Thanh Hoa stated.

Green Materials and the Aspiration for Sustainable Development

The project that led to Thanh Hoa’s recognition as one of the 20 outstanding national recipients of the Female Students in Science and Technology Award 2025 is ‘Developing Ion-Conducting Membranes from Cellulose.’

The research utilises cellulose—a natural polymer abundant in agricultural by-products such as straw and rice husks—to create a proton-conducting membrane for application in hydrogen fuel cells.

This type of cell generates electricity through a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, producing only water, not CO2. “I want to take advantage of discarded raw materials to create clean energy, both reducing pollution and moving towards sustainable development,� Hoa said.

The greatest difficulty of the project lay not in the theory but in the practice. “On paper, every formula seems perfect, but in the laboratory, the material properties do not always match the desired outcome.� There were periods of continuous experimental failure, causing Hoa to doubt herself. But then, thanks to the support of her teachers and senior group members, the student gradually learned to remain calm, viewing the problem from multiple perspectives.

The spirit of persistence, intellectual curiosity, and focus on practical application helped Hoa’s project receive high praise at the Vietnamese Female Students in Science and Technology Award 2025. For her, the award is not just personal pride but also an affirmation that women can certainly stand firm in the technical and technological fields with enough passion.

Thanh Hoa expressed her gratitude to the University for providing excellent conditions for student research: modern labs, an international collaboration environment, and, crucially, lecturers who always encourage students to question, explore, and discover. For Hoa, the university is not just a place of study but a ‘cradle of serious and open research thinking.’

Phạm Thanh Hoa is a vivid demonstration of a new generation of VNUHCM-Â鶹´«Ã½ female students—elegant, intellectual, and courageous—confidently stepping into the era of green science and technology.

For Võ Ngá»�c Minh Anh, an Information Technology student at VNUHCM-Â鶹´«Ã½, technology transcends mere dry lines of code. The discipline serves as a tool to solve social problems and acts as a bridge to create positive value for the community. The journey of the student recently honoured in the Top 20 of the Female Students in Science and Technology Award is a testament to a spirit of ‘dedication,’ ‘real-world application,’ and a clear philosophy: always prioritising projects that directly benefit the user.

 ‘Answering with Results’

Minh Anh’s passion for technology began in secondary school with the Pascal programming language. She recounted feeling a sense of wonder after ‘writing a few lines of code and seeing the idea run.’ In university, upon encountering AI and Data Science, she realised technology offered a powerful instrument to address social issues in education, healthcare, and equality. Like many female students, Minh Anh once faced the prejudice that ‘engineering is for men,’ but she chose a determined way to overcome this: ‘answering with results.’

Instead of debating, Minh Anh focused on action, personally handling data, training models, and writing reports. The student has competed in contests such as UIT Data Science Challenge (First Prize, 2023), HackHCMC (Second Prize, 2024), and AI Hackathon (Second Prize, 2025). Furthermore, Minh Anh has authored and co-authored prestigious international research papers, including VCED and HORUS.

Moreover, the student actively shares knowledge, encouraging and mentoring younger female students. Minh Anh’s research achievements are closely linked to practical problems in Viet Nam. The most notable work is ‘VCED’—a Vietnamese cosmetics consultation chatbot model, accepted at the FETC 2025 International Conference.

This is not a typical chatbot. The model developed by Minh Anh and her colleagues uses a two-stage RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) architecture. This approach enables the chatbot both to retrieve specialised documentation and to analyse context (such as skin type and habits) to provide precise, natural consultation ‘like a real expert.’ The system was trained using actual Vietnamese data and integrated directly into Messenger to reach users in the most convenient manner.

Additionally, she is a co-author of ‘HORUS’—a multimodal AI system (understanding images, audio, and dialogue) for searching videos using natural language, presented at the MMM 2025 Conference.

A Bridge Between People for Shared Knowledge

Although she has accumulated numerous achievements, the most memorable turning point for Minh Anh was the moment she presented a different research idea at the Ho Chi Minh City International Student Science Forum 2024 (ISSF 2024). This project involved applying the RAG chatbot to support gender equality and legal consultation for women. To achieve these user-focused results, Minh Anh overcame considerable challenges, primarily the lack of resources and limitations concerning computational equipment (GPU). The student firmly believes: “In research, what matters is not how many tools you possess, but how much willpower and intellectual curiosity you hold.”

This journey has been supported by several sources of inspiration. From family, with the teaching that ‘strength lies in daring to move forward.’ From the academic environment, with Dr Lê Duy Tân (International University), who instilled research discipline and data-driven critical thinking. And from the enterprise mentor Lê Anh Tiến (Chatbot Viet Nam), who imparted the spirit of ‘dedication’ and the requirement that a ‘real product’ must serve as the standard for knowledge validation.

The ‘real-world application’ environment at VNUHCM, where students are encouraged to join labs early, closely connect with businesses, and work across multiple disciplines, has facilitated Minh Anh’s growth. She learned the ‘system thinking’ needed to complete the entire cycle: from problem, data, model, and evaluation to deployment, alongside the academic discipline ensuring every result is reproducible.

Currently, Minh Anh is working as a Junior AI Engineer at Ocany Viet Nam. For Minh Anh, the Female Students in Science and Technology Award is not a ‘destination’ but a ‘new starting point.’ She plans to continue delving deeper into multimodal RAG/LLM for the Vietnamese language, developing AI products with social impact, and especially mentoring, sharing resources with female students wishing to pursue AI.

Lê Nguyá»…n PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy’s journey into science and technology did not start in modern, gleaming laboratories. Instead, began in a small internet café in her home village. Few would have predicted that the curious young girl watching her youngest aunt type on a computer screen would go on to be named one of the 20 outstanding recipients of the Vietnamese Female Students in Science and Technology Award 2025. PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy remains a final-year Information Technology student at VNUHCM-Â鶹´«Ã½ (HCMUS).

From Childhood Curiosity to Career Path

Phương Thùy’s childhood involved accompanying her youngest aunt to the internet café. While her aunt worked and studied computing, Phương Thùy sat nearby, utterly fascinated by the ‘magical’ computers. Early passion was nurtured by her parents and teachers, who encouraged her to enter competitions like Violympic and IOE, where she subsequently won numerous district and provincial awards.

Awareness of technology’s true power became clearer during high school, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “I realised technology was the tool that kept society functioning amidst difficulties, and I wanted to be someone who understood, created, and improved those tools,” she explained. Choosing Information Technology at HCMUS in 2021 was a natural next step, opening up exploration of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

As a female student pursuing engineering, she inevitably faced some prejudice. However, PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy quickly grasped that ability lies not in gender, but in sheer perseverance and a willingness to learn. Her greatest inspiration is her mother—an elementary school teacher who taught herself AI to enhance her teaching quality. She also draws motivation from the excellent female programmers she met in competitions, such as her classmate Võ Hoàng Hoa Viên (Vietnamese Female Students in Science and Technology 2024). “They prove that women can absolutely go far in technology if they have enough passion and confidence in themselves,” PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy remarked.

The Humanitarian Value of Explainable AI

When honoured at the Vietnamese Female Students in Science and Technology Award 2025, Phương Thùy impressed the judges with a research topic rich in humanitarian value. Her project focuses on solving a core problem for AI in healthcare: trustworthiness.

She explains that many AI models can predict diseases accurately but function like a ‘black box,’ unable to explain why produced a certain result. Lack of transparency makes difficult for doctors to feel confident in the diagnosis. Furthermore, medical data is exceptionally sensitive and often unbalanced.

PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy’s group devised a two-pronged solution: researching how to make the AI model ‘articulate the reason’ for each prediction, while simultaneously utilising AI to generate safe, synthetic medical data. This approach helps train AI effectively without compromising patients’ real information.

“The distinctive element of the project lies in combining technology with human values. I understand that a scientific product is only truly meaningful when transparency and responsibility are built into the design,” PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy stated.

A New Chapter

Another pivotal moment in PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy’s journey occurred when she realised she loved not only research but also sharing knowledge. She transitioned from being a student to a mentor, explaining complex concepts to her friends. “That moment made me dream of one day standing in a lecture hall, both teaching and conducting AI research.” This ambition, inspired by her mother, has been fostered by the open academic environment at HCMUS and the VNUHCM system, where students are encouraged to begin researching early on. PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy expresses sincere gratitude to the lecturers of the Faculty of Information Technology for their continuous inspiration and support.

For PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy, the award is not a ‘destination’ but a ‘new starting point.’ The recognition is a powerful reminder to continue learning, exploring, and sharing her knowledge, especially by inspiring young female students to take up technology. In the future, PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy plans to conquer higher levels of knowledge, researching transparent and responsible AI in depth, with the ultimate aspiration of becoming a researcher and a lecturer.

Offering advice to young people, PhÆ°Æ¡ng Thùy shared: “Academic passion doesn’t require a grand beginning; one only needs to be genuinely curious and dare to persevere to the end… Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, and don’t worry about being slow, as every attempt is an opportunity for growth.”