FameLab Scottish Regional Final 2018

On Saturday (10th March), the Scottish final of FameLab took place at the National Museum of Scotland.

FameLab is an international science communication competition organised by Cheltenham Festivals. Competitors get three minutes to communicate a scientific idea, with an emphasis on Content (must be accurate!), Clarity and Charisma. Anyone aged twenty-one or over who is studying or working in a STEM subject area can compete.

Earlier heats in Glasgow and Edinburgh produced seven competitors for the Scottish final:

We were also lucky to have an excellent panel of judges in the form of Nicola Stock (Roslin Institute, The University of Edinburgh), Clare Taylor (Edinburgh Napier University) and Kenneth Macdonald (BBC Scotland broadcaster), and Jamie Gallagher (freelance science communicator and former FameLab UK finalist) as our MC:

The standard among the competitors was excellent – including some brilliant props! Topics presented on ranged from how plants travel between continents to developing cures for cancer that target only harmful cells. There was a wonderful absence of slide presentations, and the retro interval quiz kept us all entertained.

So, the all-important question – who won? As per FameLab rules, the judges chose a winner and runner-up, who were Hannah Bialic and Erika Robinson. Both Hannah and Erika will go through to the UK final that takes place in London on 25th April. They will also get to attend a preparatory masterclass beforehand.

Thank you to all our wonderful competitors, our judges, our MC, the National Museum of Scotland and, last-but-not-least, Dawn Smith (Edinburgh Napier University) and GCU Engagement for their excellent organisation.