The finals of the 5th edition of the FameLab Poland science communications competition, organized by the British Council and the Copernicus Science Centre, will be held on 16 April 2016 at the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw. The 10 charismatic scientists who qualified for the finals include four who are laureates of programmes of the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP), which has been a partner of FameLab Poland since its inception.
FameLab is an international competition encouraging researchers to communicate with the public as natural advocates for science. Scientists stand before the judges and the audience and give a 3-minute presentation on what they are excited about in their everyday research. If they communicate their ideas with clarity and passion, they have a chance to win the grand prize. The winner will receive PLN 30,000 for scientific purposes plus PLN 5,000 for expenses, and will take part in the finals of FameLab International in Cheltenham, England, during the Cheltenham Science Festival. Prizes are also awarded by the competition partners.
The finalists for this year?s competition include four winners of FNP programmes: Dr Magdalena Kulma from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, winner of the 1st prize in the 2014 INTER science popularization competition; Dr Łukasz Nowak from the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, a winner in the 2012 INTER competition as well as the IMPULS competition; Paweł Jarosław Mazurkiewicz from the College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Warsaw, the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Department of Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, winner of the eNgage competition; and Dr Piotr Wasylczyk from the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, a winner in the START programme.
The other finalists in FameLab Poland 2016 are Anna Kotlińska, PhD student, Jagiellonian University; Jakub Lewicki, PhD student, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm; Tomasz Madej, PhD student, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rzeszów University of Technology; Karolina Nowak, physician and PhD student at the Endocrinology Clinic, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, and the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw; Dr Anna Wierzbicka, Faculty of Forestry, Poznań University of Life Sciences; and Krzysztof Zawierucha, Department of Animal Taxonomy and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań.
The finalists at the 5th edition of FameLab Poland will be evaluated by judges Prof. Ewa Bartnik of the Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, and the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences; Irena Cieślińska, Programme Director, Copernicus Science Centre, journalist and promoter of science; physicist Prof. Arkadiusz Orłowski, dean of the Faculty of Applied Informatics and Mathematics and director of the Multimedia Education Centre, Warsaw University of Life Sciences; and media expert and rhetoric specialist Dr Jacek Wasilewski, affiliated with the Institute of Journalism at the University of Warsaw.
The finals begin at 6:00 pm on 16 April 2016. The event is open to the public free of charge, but the number of seats is limited.
Apart from the main hall, the organizers will also transmit the proceedings live in another hall. Anyone who cannot attend in person can watch the live online transmission. The emcee for the event is Jan Wróbel.
More information about the competition and the finalists is available at the FameLab Poland website: http://www.famelab.org.pl/index.php.
Good luck to all the finalists!