FAMELAB COMPETITION

"We are looking for people who have scientific stars in their eyes, people who can present an entertaining, original and exciting talk that is scientifically accurate but appealing to a non-scientific audience". Kathy Sykes, Cheltenham Science Festival, UK

We are pleased to announce the winners of the FameLab Final that took place on 30 March 2007 at the Hyatt Hotel!

Nijat Aliyev, an Engineering student at Qafqaz University, won the first prize for his exciting presentation devoted to “Angular Momentum”, and will attend the Cheltenham Science Festival 2007 in the UK. He also got a Toshiba notebook from Bank Standard. Nijat also won the Audience Award – an English course at the British Council.

The first runner-up was Sevinj Orujeva, a lecturer and PhD student at Baku State University. Her presentation was devoted to Fuzzy Logic.

The second runner-up, a Biology student at Baku State University, Zulfiyya Tagiyeva, in a very simple and artistic manner presented the basic principles of Cloning.

All ten finalists received a weekend masterclass in science communication provided by British Science Communication Consultant, Steve Mesure. They also received nano i-pods from Bank Standard.

We would like to congratulate our winners and wish them further success in their careers as science communicators!   

FameLab is an initiative of the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK and this is the first year the contest is going international in nine countries in South-East Europe through the British Council network. The aim of FameLab is to encourage young scientists (18 to 35 years old) to inspire and excite public imagination with a vision of science in the 21st century.

The competition is searching for the new faces of Science who will be able to develop their ideas and presentation skills for a TV audience. The model is familiar from TV programmes like Pop Idol and Mega Star – you have just 3 minutes to prove yourself to a panel of expert judges, with only the best going forward to the next round, and the talk should be entertaining and original, scientifically accurate but also engaging to a non-scientific audience.

The FameLab competitions were held in March 2007. All nine winners from South East Europe will attend the Cheltenham Science Festival 2007 in the UK.

In Azerbaijan FameLab is organised in partnership with Qafqaz University, and with the support of the Bank Standard and Caspian Energy Centre. Our media partner is Space TV.