Making science part of culture.
SPEAKERS
Rudolf Zahradník
Prof. Ing. Rudolf Zahradník, DrSc., dr. h. c. mult. is a leading Czech physical chemist and the father of quantum chemistry. He is the author of more than 300 scientific papers and many books. He has received numerous awards for his scientific work. Professor Zahradník has been given honorary doctorates by several foreign universities and he is an honorary member of many international scientific associations. His exceptional professional and human qualities led to his appointment as director of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in the years 1993-2001. In 2000, he summarized his 7 years as director as ‘striving for an adequate position of science and education in society and the effort associated with the legislative standing of research and education’.
Didac Carmona
Originally from Barcelona, Didac studied biochemistry in Tübingen (Germany) and Seattle (USA) before finally settling in Graz (Austria). His research is mainly focused on exploring the molecular basis of aging and age-related diseases as well as possible anti-aging strategies. Besides being active in research Didac is also an active science communicator. He is closely connected to FameLab (an international science competition which he won in 2012) and co-founded the publishing group ‘Shared Science Publishers’. In cooperation with his home institution, the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Graz, he has developed and teaches courses on presenting and publishing science, both to specialized audiences and to the general public. He has also participated as an organizer and speaker in numerous scientific communication events for adults and children.
Bogdan Ghiorghiu
After completing his Master’s degree in English-Romanian Translation in 2013, Bogdan decided to do something bigger than that. He’s currently a 2nd year student at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Alexandru Ioan Cuza of Iasi in Romania. In his words: ‘I'm not a scientist yet. Until I get my PhD in Astrophysics I am focusing on my studies, on my small research projects and on science communication.’ Besides winning Famelab Romania in 2014 he has participated in several other Romanian science communication events. His passion for science and science communication inspired him to found and organize an annual science festival in his hometown, where he also leads the local amateur astronomy club.
Tran Nguyen is a 23-year-old medical student from the University of Tübingen. She is currently researching at the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene on a Bacterium called S. aureus. It is the most versatile pathogen we know. It uses a large scope of different strategies to make us sick and one of those strategies involves a mechanism that allows the S. aureus bacteria to talk to each other. This is a perfect starting point for tampering with the bacteria to make it less dangerous for us. Outside the lab Tran is a keen science communicator which led her to participate in, and subsequently win, FameLab Germany 2013.
Tran Nguyen
Dr Edward Duca is the Publications Developer and Editor at the University of Malta for the new research magazine Think. He is a PhD graduate in Genetics (University of Edinburgh) and a freelance science writer, editor and communicator. In Malta, he founded Malta Cafe Scientifique and the Science in the City festival. He aims to continue setting up projects that communicate science to the public and that bridge the gap between the sciences and arts.
Edward Duca
Andrew Steele
Andrew is a physicist making the transition to biology. He works as a computational biologist at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute, after a PhD researching magnetism and superconductivity at Oxford University. He is the winner of FameLab UK 2012; a blogger with the Guardian and The Conversation; presenter of the Lab, Camera, Action! series on YouTube; and talks about science on television, including BBC and Discovery. He is also a co-founder of Scienceogram, which tries to raise awareness about the stark disparities between what we spend on science, and the size of the problems science is trying to solve.
Karl is originally from Dromara, Northern Ireland. He carried out his undergraduate degree in Virology at Edinburgh University, before working in various laboratories around the UK.
He has been a full time science communicator since 2008, writing and presenting science shows, training scientists and science communicators, lecturing in science communication and designing exhibitions for science centres. He is currently the Senior Programme Coordinator at Cheltenham Science Festival.
Karl Byrne
Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón
Eduardo has a PhD in Mathematics and currently works at the University of La Rioja. He is also an active science communicator. In 2013 he won FameLab Spain and is a member of the science communication group “The Big Van Theory”. He has written several mathematics popularization talks and shows, organized several exhibitions and courses on mathematics and arts and was an invited to speak at TEDx Río de La Plata in 2014. He delivered courses on science communication around Spain and Latin America.
Helena González has a PhD in Biomedicine and is a "science performer", bridging the gap between scientific research and theatre. She’s been developing stand-up comedy shows, mixing humor and science, and she's a co-founder of the Spanish group Clowntifics and The Big Van Theory. She has over 5 years of experience working as coordinator and executer of cooperation and gender equality projects using clown and laughter as a universal language. Nowadays, she's devoted to designing science education programmes particularly focused on women and minorities.
Helena González
Dr Michael Londesborough has a PhD in chemistry from the University of Leeds. Currently, he is conducting research into boranes at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry AS CR in Řež. He has authored many scientific papers in peer reviewed journals and has won many awards, both for his outstanding research work, but also for his science communication activities. These include making regular appearances in programmes on Czech TV (PORT, Lovci záhad), being a FameLab judge and doing over 200 science shows for secondary school students. His work was recognized by the scientific community in 2009 when he was awarded the prestigious Vojtěch Náprstek Medal given by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic for science communication and education.
Michael Londesborough
Katya Sephton
Katya has been working in the field of science communication for the past 6 years. Apart from assisting with Dr. Michael Londesborough’s science shows, she has been co-organizing FameLab Czech Republic since its inception back in 2011. Having worked mostly as an organizer behind the scenes, Katya has recently made the transition onto the stage, co-hosting a few science events, most notably the International Echoes of FameLab in Prague and a TEDx event focused on science. She’s currently studying at the University of Surrey, where she is also involved in organizing student-run TEDx events.