FameLab International Final 2013

Fergus McAuliffe from Ireland announced as top international science communication star at FameLab International Grand Final

An Irish environmental scientist from University College Cork has won FameLab International 2013, the international competition to find the top new science communicator for the 21st century.

Fergus had just three minutes to pitch a complex scientific idea to the panel of judges, which included: Kathy Sykes, Professor of Sciences and Society at the University of Bristol and co-director of The Times Cheltenham Science Festival; John Worne, British Council’s Director of Strategy and Marko Kosicek, biochemist at Ruđer Bošković Institute in Croatia and 2008 FameLab International winner. The event took place at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival.

You can see his winning performance in the video above.

Information on FameLab

FameLab is an exciting competition to find the new voices of science who can inspire and excite public imagination with a vision of science in the 21st century. The competition format is very much like popular reality shows on TV but just better. Contestants, armed with only their wits and the props they can carry on stage, have just three minutes to charm the audience and jury with clear scientific content. Presentations are judged according to FameLab’s golden rule of the three Cs: Content, Clarity and Charisma.

FameLab was created by Cheltenham Science Festival in 2005 in partnership with NESTA, and to date over 700 scientists and engineers have taken part in the UK competition. Working in partnership with the British Council the competition has been taken international, and globally more than 5000 competitors have taken part in the FameLab International programme. It is open to anyone working in or studying science, technology, engineering, medicine or maths. High profile partners around the world include NASA, CERN, Ministries of Education, science centres and leading local universities.