March Winners of FameLab Galway 2018 set to Advance to National Final

The College of Science at NUI Galway in association with the British Council in Ireland hosted FameLab Galway 2018, the world’s biggest science competition this March in An Taibhdhearc. The event saw nine scientists compete for two places in the national final, despite Storm Emma causing a last minute rescheduling.

The goal of FameLab is to explain scientific concepts to a general audience in just three minutes. The competition is open to scientists, mathematicians, and engineers working across Ireland in both the public and private sectors.

The nine participants in FameLab Galway 2018 came from a variety of backgrounds and career stages ranging from undergraduate students to established Post-Doctoral researchers from fields as diverse as Anatomy and Data Analytics. Presentations given were similarly diverse, featuring glowing fish, the importance of vaccination and a cardboard model of how gravitational waves affect lasers.

The winner of this year’s FameLab Galway was Eoin Murphy, a full-time PhD student and Science Ambassador at NUI Galway studying at the Centre for Chromosome Biology. His presentation, titled ‘The Ultimate Puzzle’, detailed the effects of Huntington's disease and offered hope for potential treatments from the cutting edge of biotechnology.

The runner-up was Christopher Lally for his presentation ‘Genetically Modified Foods’. Christopher is also a PhD student at NUI Galway working in CÚRAM (Centre for Research in Medical Devices). Christopher also spent time in the biopharma industry making pain medication for cats and dogs. His presentation about the revolutionary effects of plant breeding on food production and the future potential of genetic engineering won the public vote.

Dr Patrick Ryan, one of the event organisers and runner-up of last year’s competition commented on the success of the event: “FameLab is a wonderful opportunity for science enthusiasts to communicate their passion and the impact science has had on all our lives. Science communication is becoming increasingly relevant to modern scientists and the high standard of this year’s competition is testament to the huge amount of work each competitor put into their presentation.”

Eoin and Christopher will both have the opportunity to participate in the FameLab Ireland Final which will be held at the Science Gallery in Dublin on Thursday, 12 April. The winner of the National competition will have a chance to compete in the International FameLab final at the Cheltenham Science Festival, the UK in June 2018. 

For more information on FameLab visit www.britishcouncil.ie/famelab or follow on twitter @FameLab_Ireland and @FameLab_Galway.

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