Selections for Famelab Pisa will be held at EGO

Mar 17, 2023

The Italian edition of Famelab, the science talent show famous throughout Europe, comes to Pisa! Registration is now open for the local selections that will be held on May 19th at the Scuola Normale Superiore and the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO). Among the organising institutions are INFN, coordinator of the event, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, University of Pisa and INGV.

Young researchers from all over Tuscany are invited to register for the Famelab regional selection, which this year will be held in Pisa. Famelab is the world’s most famous science popularisation competition, in which participants have to capture the attention of the audience (and the jury!) by narrating a scientific topic in just three minutes. The pre-selections will take place on the morning of May 19th at the Scuola Normale Superiore, and the 10 best ranking participants will be admitted to the selections, which will take place in the afternoon of the same day at the European Gravitational Observatory, home of the Virgo interferometer, in Cascina.

The Pisa edition of Famelab Italia is organised by the most important scientific and research institutions in the area: the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the Scuola Normale Superiore, the University of Pisa, the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) and the National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).

To enrol, simply complete the enrolment form available at the link: https://famelab-italy.it/famelab-pisa/ by Thursday May 4th. FameLab is aimed at young researchers under the age of 35 who are studying or working in the world of scientific, medical, engineering or humanistic research at public or private research institutions and who want to get involved in telling the stories of science in an exciting and engaging way.

The international competition, born in 2005 in the United Kingdom, has involved more than 30 different countries and has been held since 2012 also in Italy under the coordination of Psiquadro in partnership with Cheltenham Festivals, the creator of the format.

How it works. A day of excitement and adrenaline for a real talent show: during the pre-selections in the morning at the Scuola Normale, participants will talk about a scientific topic in 3 minutes, in front of a jury composed of experts in the fields of science and communication. President of the jury this year will be Barbara Bernardini, a science communicator who has collaborated, among other things, with the television programme Superquark. The top 10 contestants will then bring a second 3 minutes talk to the finals, which will be held in the afternoon at EGO and for which the jury of experts will be joined by a jury of Tuscan high school students.

The finals. The Pisa contest will select two candidates who will compete with the other winners in the other 11 local selections to be held in various cities throughout Italy in the national selection in Perugia on September 30th 2023 on the occasion of European Researchers’ Night. Before going to the national final, as a prize, the two finalists from each local selection will participate in the FameLab Italia Masterclass, a training workshop in science communication and public speaking in Perugia from June 9th to 11th, with the participation of Wendy Sadler of Science Made Simple. The winner of FameLab Italia 2023 will have access to the FameLab International competition final, which will take place online on November 24th 2023.

To register: https://famelab-italy.it/famelab-pisa/

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/756258762432432