Ireland's Simon Spichak speaking on Thursday

I’m a zombie and so are you. So says Simon Spichak, APC Microbiome microbiologist interested in the gut and Famelab Ireland winner. He’ll be representing Ireland in the international finals next week.

FameLab is the world's leading science communication competition. It is designed to inspire, motivate and develop scientists and engineers to actively engage with the public and stakeholders. The competition is simple: contestants need to give an exciting, engaging and educational talk about a STEM subject in just 3 minutes. 

In his talk Famelab Ireland winning talk, Simon says that humans aren’t single living things, but complex ecosystems that host trillions of bacteria and viruses. We are cities, not citizens it seems and some of these bacteria can even affect our mood. It’s a fascinating area of science for which Ireland is recognised globally and may lead to new health products that can not only affect the health of our gut, but also our mind. 

A partnership with the British Council and the Cheltenham Science Festival, Famelab has seen more than 10,000 emerging scientists and engineers participate from over 30 countries since 2005. In Ireland, FameLab has been running for only 7 years but already boasts an amazing network of 80+ science communicators, all skilled and committed to sharing their work and knowledge with public audiences nationally and internationally.

SAVE THE DATE! The online events will be streamed live on the FameLab YouTube channel:

• 11-12 November, 4pm: Semi finals. Tune in on 12 November to watch Simon wow the judges and the audience!
• 16 November, 12 pm: Announcement of finalists
• 26 November, 4pm: International final

https://www.youtube.com/user/famelab

Quote from British Council:

Mags Walsh, Director, British Council Ireland, said, “Clear and engaging communication about scientific subjects is more important than ever in light of the chaos visited upon our world by Covid-19. We in British Council Ireland are proud to support FameLab which helps scientists and researchers to hone their communication skills, and wish Simon the best of luck in the international stage of the competition. Collaboration between all communities - scientific, political, business or NGOs is crucial during this crisis and programmes like FameLab that support understanding and engagement have an important role to play globally”.