What is FameLab International?

FameLab began in the UK in 2005 and since then through partnership with the British Council the competition has spread around the world. In 2007 to 2009 FameLab competitions have run in 9 countries in South East Europe and in the last two years the winners have journeyed to the Cheltenham Science Festival to compete in the FameLab International Final, with a Croatian winner in 2008 and a Serbian being victorious in 2009. This year, FameLab has now spread to even more countries in Europe, Asia and North Africa. For the 2010 International competition Cheltenham Festivals welcomes the newcomers Egypt, Hong Kong, Libya, Morocco and Portugal as well as the South East Europe contestants from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Cyprus, Israel and Serbia.

 

FameLab International 2010

FameLab has continued to spread its wings with exciting national competitions taking place earlier this year across Europe, Asia and Africa.

The Times Cheltenham Science Festival was the destination for the 11 international FameLab winners - Wolfram Steurer (Austria), Hristo Kolev (Bulgaria), Ivana Stražić (Croatia), Hazem Shoirah (Egypt), Vasalis Grigoriadis (Greece), Anthony Cheung (Hong Kong), Rony Atidia (Israel), Eman Elharam (Libya), Adnane Qasbar (Morocco), Alexandre Aibéo (Portugal) and Momir Djekic (Serbia). All of them had the chance to enjoy the festival before taking part in the FameLab International Final on 12th June alongside the UK's Matt Parker.

Each of the winners took to the stage with just three minutes to impress the international panel of judges - George Zarkadakis from Greece, Abdel Hamid El Zoheiry from Egypt, and UK judges Timandra Harkness and festival director Mark Lythgoe. The quality of all the presentations was incredible and the judges took longer than ever to decide who should be the overall winner. In the end it was Greek winner Vasalis Grigoriadis who was crowned champion. First runner up was Ivana Stražić from Croatia, who also won the audience prize, and Hazem Shoirah from Egypt was second runner-up. Vasalis walked away with the fabulous trophy and an apple iPad.   

Check back soon for video links to each of the presentations.

 

Inaugrual FameLab Winners from Morocco and Libya

The Moroccan National FameLab Finals were held on the 13 March at the National Centre for Scientific Technological Reserach in Rabat. The winner was Mr Adnan Qasbar. A student for a MSc in Water and Sustainable Development at Faculty of Science in Casablanca.

On the 16th March Ms Eman Al Harum won the Libyan National FameLab Finals in Tripoli at the Al-Fatah University. FameLab Libya was held as part of the Annual showcasing event, ELTEX Exhibition and Conference organised by the British Council and UK Trade and Investment.

Congratulations to both winners and we look forward to welcoming them to the Cheltenham Science Festival in June to compete in the FameLab International Grand Final.

FameLab Egypt Winner

Egypt hosted three regional FameLab heats in Cairo, Alexandria and Assuit. There were record entry numbers with Cairo having to put on another heat with over 200 people entering!

FameLab Egypt held its national final in Cairo on the 26th January and the winner was Hazem Mahmoud Shoirah, who will represent Egypt in the FameLab International Final in Cheltenham on the 12 June. Hazem is a Resident of Neuropsychiatry at the Abbaseyya Hospital for Mental Health.

Congratulations Egypt for running a fantastic competition and finding their in augrual Egypt winner! We look forward to seeing Hazem at the Cheltenham Science Festival in June.

FameLab Egypt Gets Underway

FameLab Egypt is the newest country to hold a FameLab competition. At the moment three regional heats are being finalised in Cairo, Alexandria and Assuit. Good luck to all the Egyptian FameLab contestants!

 

Congratulations to the First FameLab Hong Kong Winner

Hong Kong held their first FameLab competition this year, with their finals on Saturday the 21st November. The FameLab Hong Kong winner is:  Ka Lun Cheung who studys biochemistry at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he spoke about aging to win the overall prize. First runner up is Pau Man Lam a Research Associate in Advanced Composites and Fibre Optics from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Wang Yu, won second runner up. Wang is studying Industrial and Systems Engineering and is also from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.    

There were also many other prizes awarded at the FameLab Hong Kong competition such as:

Best Institution: Chinese University of Hong Kong - for sending the most number of contestants to the competition.

Audience Choice award: Ka Lun Cheung - Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Video Favourite: Chun Yat Fu- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Check out the contestants presentations on the FameLab Hong Kong website

Congratulations to all the ten finalists!

 

 

FameLab International Runner-Up 2009 Maja Marasovic Wins TOP Scholarship in Croatia

Winner of Croatian FameLab 2009 and First Runner-Up in the International Final Maja Marasovic has won a prestigious scholarship awarded by the Croatian magazine Nacional. The TOP scholarship awards the most outstanding Croatian students for their academic achievement, professional engagement and outstanding extracurricular activities and Maja's success in FameLab was highly appreciated by the scholarship panel. Maja was presented with the scholarship by the Croatian President Stjepan Mesic at a ceremony at the President's residence attended by the highest Croatian officials. Congratulations to Maja!

Hong Kong Comes Onboard!

We are pleased to announce that in partnership with the British Council Hong Kong is running its first FameLab competition!

The competition is up and running with the National Final set for 21 November with the winner then coming to the UK to compete in the 2010 Intenational Final. You can find out more on by clicking here to visit their website.

Keep watching this space for news of other countries holding FameLab competitions in 2010...

Good luck to all the Hong Kong contestants!

FameLab International Champion Opens University Games

In a piece of major worldwide FameLab exposure the International FameLab winner Mirko Djordjevic from Serbia was given the honour of bringing in the torch to light the University Fire at the grand opening of the 25th University Games in Belgrade on 21 July 2009. Mirko was watched by an audience of 12,000 in the Belgrade Arena along with television audiences watching through the Eurovision network and RTS TV satellite. Through this FameLab was present at the start of the biggest University Games to date with 8,500 participants from 170 countries competing in over 200 sport disciplines. Click here to watch the video.

News from the FameLab International Final 2009

As well as the 2009 UK competition this year FameLab has been running in 9 countries throughout Europe and each of their national champions travelled to the Cheltenham Science Festival courtesy of the British Council to compete in the FameLab International Final.

Appearing on stage on Saturday 6th June were Serbian Mirko Djordjevic, Austrian winner Lucia Aronica, Shani Waidergoren from Israel, Elchin Ibrahimov of Azerbaijan, Bulgarian Aneta Yovcheva, Ercan Tatli from Turkey, Sakis Litsios from Greece, Ionut Topala from Romania and Croatian winner Maja Marasovic and, finally, they were joined by the newly named UK champion, Tom Whyntie. Each contestant stepped forward in front of the excited and welcoming crowd hoping to impress our judges, Festival Director Kathy Sykes, New Scientist Editor Roger Highfield and international judge George Zarkadakis.

Both the audience and the judges contributed to the voting process and in the end it was Mirko Djordjevic, final year molecular biology student from the University of Belgrade, who won the title of International FameLab Winner with his talk about the science of sexual attraction in mammals. First runner up was Maja Marasovic, a chemical engineering student from Split, who spoke about the ageing effects and chemistry, of free radicals. Second runner up was Lucia Aronica, a PhD student at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Science who used a rather attractive set of flowers to explain the role of RNAi in genetics. Congratulations to them all!

FameLab Around the World

In 2008 & 2009 with the support of the British Council FameLab ran in these 9 European countires, the national winners of which went on to compete alongside the UK winner in the FameLab International Final at the Cheltenham Science Festival. Click on the websites below to find out more about past and future competitions in these countires.

And now in partnership with the British Council FameLab is also running in Hong Kong in late 2009.