As part of the European City of Science Katowice 2024 celebrations, the University of Silesia will organise the Polish edition of FameLab – a competition for young scientists and doctoral students (35 years of age or younger). You can apply until 15 May 2024.
3 minutes about passion
FameLab is the world’s largest science communication competition. The competition aims to promote science and present complicated scientific concepts in an easily digestible way.
The participants are tasked with presenting a selected scientific topic in 3 minutes in English to a live audience. Using a multimedia presentation is forbidden – participants themselves and their ability to fascinate the audience are the only things that matter on the FameLab stage. The performances are evaluated under three categories – content, clarity, and charisma (the so-called 3C).
A global phenomenon
FameLab was founded in 2005 in Cheltenham, Great Britain, as part of the local science festival and quickly won the hearts of audiences around the world.
Local editions of the competition were organised in over 30 counties on all continents with a total of 40,000 participants. Currently, the event takes place in, among others, Czechia, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, Malaysia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.
In Poland, FameLab was organised from 2012 to 2021 by the British Council Foundation in cooperation with the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw. Nearly 650 participants applied to the Polish edition of the competition and many of them became great science communicators.
The University of Silesia decided to continue this tradition and bring back the Polish edition of FameLab by inviting young scientists and doctoral students to Katowice – the European City of Science 2024.
Schedule
The competition will take place in the following stages:
- Recruitment (until 15 May 2024 – online) – those wishing to take part in the competition fill in the application form. The participants who qualified for the semi-finals will be announced by 17 May 2024.
- Semi-final (22 May 2024 – online) – participants give three-minute presentations on a scientific topic of their choice via the Zoom platform. The Jury evaluates the performances and selects 10 finalists.
- Masterclass (3 June 2024 – Katowice) – a science communication, self-presentation, and public speaking workshop for competition finalists conducted by Polish and British specialists.
- National final (4 June 2024 – Katowice) – participants give three-minute stage presentations on a scientific topic of their choice. The Jury evaluates the performances and selects the winner.
- International final (November 2024 – Cheltenham) – the winner of the Polish edition of FameLab represents Poland in the international competition final during the Cheltenham Science Festival.
Awards
National final winners will receive cash prizes in the amounts of: PLN 2,000 (1st place), PLN 1,500 (2nd place), and PLN 1,000 (3rd place). In addition, the Polish edition winner will represent our country in the international FameLab final in Great Britain.
Recruitment
The FameLab competition is addressed to young scientists and doctoral students (24-35 years of age). If you are interested in taking part in the competition, please fill in the online form.
The recruitment is open until 15 May 2024.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Piotr Kaszuba, competition coordinator: piotr.kaszuba@us.edu.pl.
