Revealed: South East FameLab First Heat Winners
Posted by Science Oxford on October 21, 2011 | comments
Science communication enthusiasts took to the stage at Science Oxford Live last night for the first South East heat of the Famelab competition. Contestants have just three minutes to pitch a complex scientific idea to the panel of judges.
The twelve contestants were Calum McOmish, Gunes Taylor, Puck Rombach, Ceri Benner, Anthony Hardwicke, Abdul Sami Mughal, Suzie Sheehy, Andrew Holding, Adam Beveridge, Catherine Frankis, Amitava Banerjee and Mike Frost.
Four contestants secured a place in the regional final which takes on 17th November at Science Oxford Live. One was chosen by the audience vote while the panel of judges. The judges for the two heats are TV Presenter Chris Lintott, Science Writer Georgina Ferry and Former Famelab Winner Andrew Pontzen.
Andrew Pontzen
Ceri Brenner from Oxford, a PhD student with a passion for lasers, impressed the audience with a powerful performance and won the audience vote securing her place in the regional final. When asked about the win Ceri responded with “I’m absolutely blown away. I hope the science I do will inspire and fascinate others. As you can see I’m beaming!”
The judges awarded places in the regional final to Andrew Holding from Upper Cambourne, Suzie Sheehy from Abingdon and Catherine Frankis from London. The regional final takes place 7pm on Thursday 17th November at Science Oxford Live.
Suzie Sheehy is an accelerator physicist who designs new types of accelerators for medical and energy applications. Suzie said “I decided to audition to challenge myself to a different style of science presenting.” Suzie used the story of the philosopher’s stone, turning lead into gold, to illustrate how to use particle accelerators to deal with nuclear waste.
Catherine Frankis is a chemistry student pursuing a PhD in the production of biodegradable polymers. Catherine took to the stage with a corn on the cob and a plastic bottle. She illustrated how you create biodegradable plastics from corn.
Andrew Holding is a Researcher looking in to the interactions of proteins within the cell to help understand what goes wrong in diseases like cancer. Andrew used the story of scurvy, and an apple named Bob, to triumph the self-correcting nature of science. “I entered as I love to communicate and my subject and I thought that I could learn a lot about how to reach a new audience.”
Dominic McDonald, Head of Public Engagement at Science Oxford, said “I was pleased with the standard of entries in this first heat and I thought four excellent candidates have made it through to the final. I am looking forward to the next heat.”
In a twist this year contestants who did not get through on the night will have a further chance to secure a place in the final through the online facebook vote. Members of the public will be able to vote for their favourite performances on the Science Oxford facebook page. The two contestants with the highest votes will find themselves with a place in the regional final. Voting lasts for two weeks and begins on Thursday 27th October and ends at 9am on Thursday 10th November. The rules for voting can be found here.
The Famelab South East regional final will take place on Thursday 17th November at Science Oxford Live. The three heat judges will be joined by Timandra Harkness, Science Writer and Performer.
For more information on this, and other Science Oxford events, visit www.scienceoxfordlive.com
FAMELAB AT SCIENCE OXFORD LIVE
Famelab is the international competition that seeks to find the most talented voices of science communications. The two South East heats for Famelab take place 7pm on Thursday 20th October and 7pm on Tuesday 25th October. The South East Final takes place on Thursday 17th November. Events are open to the public and free to attend.
FAMELAB HISTORY
FameLab was set up in 2005 by Cheltenham Science Festival in partnership with NESTA with sponsorship and in-kind support from Pfizer, Silicon 19, Channel 4 and The Daily Telegraph. In 2007 the competition was adopted by the British Council as one of its flagship science engagement projects first in a South East Europe pilot and then expanding this in 2010 to include 14 across Europe, Asia and Africa. Thus FameLab has truly become a growing global phenomenon!
WHAT FAMELAB ACHIEVES
The value of FameLab is in building networks, developing talent, and giving national and international profile to science communication. Since FameLab was created, over 2000 scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians have applied to join the global competition with hundreds selected to enter the heats and over 150 giving their all in national grand finals.
FameLab sets out to support and encourage these talented young people to use the skills they learn to communicate their work to society as a whole, not just colleagues and peers.
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