Science in three minutes!

To present science in an exciting light, to convey complex scientific concepts in a clear and precise manner - and yet to keep the audience glued to their seats

by Sonya Feldman

This was the challenge taken on by the young scientists from all over Israel who signed up for the FameLab competition, within the framework of which they were required to present scientific topics to judges and an audience in just three minutes.

Michal Dekal is the first FameLab bride in Israel. In the final stage of the competition, she mentioned in her speech "Mickey Mouse, Minnie doesn't need you anymore!" She explained to the audience, which filled the entrance hall of Hamada, the center for scientific education in Tel Aviv-Yafo, in early May 2007, how two female mice are able to conceive and give birth to healthy and whole children. Michal, who is finishing her master's degree in molecular genetics at Tel Aviv University, garnered thunderous applause, and the first place with the statement: "Don't worry men, we still need you!"

The FameLab competition is the brainchild of the planners of the British Science Festival in Cheltenham and members of the British National Foundation for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). The first competition was held in 2005 and became an international competition in 2007 after the British Council adopted it as part of the "Beautiful Science" project it is conducting in South-Eastern Europe. The British Council is the UK's international arm for creating educational opportunities and cultural cooperation. The Council, in cooperation with local organizations, held competitions during the spring of 2007 in nine countries: Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Israel, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.

The British Council in Israel turned to three Israeli organizations that responded enthusiastically to the challenge: the Science Festival of the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem and Hamada in Tel Aviv. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries supported the competition and awarded study prizes to the winners of the first three places and Scientific American Israel awarded the nine finalists with annual appointments. The first prize, a trip to the Cheltenham Science Festival, was awarded with funding from the British Council.

The competition was open to those with a bachelor's degree in science and 57 competitors participated, 12 women and 45 men, most of them between the ages of 40-27 with a background mainly in physics or biology. Among the participants were graduate students, scientists and researchers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine.

The first stage, which took place in Tel Aviv, Rehovot, and Jerusalem, included two rounds. In the morning, the participants were tested before a team of judges. The competitors who advanced to the second round presented a new topic that evening and this time also in front of an audience. In the two short lectures, the competitors only had 3 minutes to impress the judges. The use of computer presentations was prohibited, although some competitors brought small objects with them to illustrate their talk or emphasize an important point. Three participants from each site advanced to the final where they were required to prepare a third lecture, different from the first two, but also 3 minutes long and present it to the audience at the national event.

The competition in the final was extremely close, all nine showed outstanding talent and enthusiasm and the atmosphere in the hall was electrified when the judges announced the results. Dr. Noach Efron, head of the program for Science, Technology and Society at Bar Ilan University shared compliments with the participants and spoke about the judges, Prof. Elam Gross from the Department of Physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Dr. Adi Matan, the attaché for science and technology at the British Embassy and the host of the "News of Science" program On Channel 8, Tal Berman.

So why all this? Why hold a competition that many in Israel and abroad believed, at first glance, to be similar to the televised competitions we all know? To this, Jonathan Kestenbaum, CEO of NESTA, answered at the opening of the British competition: "We need role models in the scientific community who will serve as an inspiration to young people so that they will be the next generation of great innovators. We hope that FameLab will help achieve this goal.”

Simultaneously with the opening of the competition, NESTA initiated a survey which revealed that the public in Great Britain is very interested in receiving updates about new developments in science and technology. Kathy Skyes, Director of the Cheltenham Science Festival said: “FameLab organizers are looking forward to uncovering a new generation of people with communication skills who will be able to talk about science with the public directly or through the media. We are looking for people who have scientific stars in their eyes, people who are able to present a scientific topic to an audience that is not related to science in an entertaining, original and fascinating way, but also scientifically accurate."

The British Council, which adopted the competition as part of a science and society program it promotes, shares this goal. The council is interested in encouraging scientists to excite the public and ignite its imagination in the vision of science in the 21st century and to give science a positive image in the eyes of youth and the general public.

Together with our partners in Israel, we promoted the competition in an attempt to find the new voices of science in Israel, the talented scientists and engineers who can and want to share their work with the public and excite it. We wanted to increase awareness of scientific communication and create an international network of young scientists with communication skills and the ability to influence.

And the task is not easy: although the halls were full, the competition received almost no media attention. Channel 2 interviewed two contestants before the first stage. Channel 10 was interested in the competition, but unfortunately the matter was pushed aside when more urgent political matters came up.

The competition attracted a very diverse public of advanced students and professionals who were curious to find out if they were able to engage in communication with the public about the issues of their work. Many of them also hoped that if they reached the finals, they could win participation in a science communication workshop, prizes and maybe even a trip to the UK.

The highlight of the project was the trip of the competition winners from South-Eastern Europe to Cheltenham where they met with their colleagues from Great Britain, the competition winners from previous years, scientists, science communication people, facilitators and journalists. They also got a chance to present a short one-minute talk to the British audience. The famous British scientist Lord Robert Winston said about the competitors after the show: "I am very impressed with what they did. They made me trust them and that is one of the most important things in scientific communication." The international winners demonstrated their ability to stimulate the scientific appetite in a foreign language without being afraid of the large crowd in a foreign land! This is a considerable achievement and we are very proud that we were able to attract young scientists to reach such quality.

And what does the Israeli representative, Michal Dekal, think? "FameLab gave me a new point of view and a renewed appreciation for scientific communication, a field I already knew was fascinating. I am proud to be a part of sharing scientific knowledge, in a fun way, with people who are not normally exposed to it."

But for some of the participants in the competition, the novel with the scientific media has only just begun. These days, a group of competition participants is busy organizing to continue working and finding new ways to involve the public in scientific issues. And maybe this is the real prize of the competition.

And now, after reading about this unique and fascinating competition, are you ready to talk science? Join us next year and find out if you "have it", if you too are able to impress the judges and excite the audience in Israel.

For the immediate report on the conference in the only place where it was written - the Idan site