Dr Kristy Howells, Dr Philip Ulrich (both from the School of Psychology and Life Sciences), Dr Jane Lovell (Christ Church Business School) and Dr Sarah Lieberman (School of Law, Policing and Social Sciences) will all take part in the event on Wednesday 3 April, competing against colleagues from other south-eastern universities, including UCL, Imperial College London, the University of Oxford and the University of Kent. Their talks range from asking can smell affect our thoughts and behaviour, magical tourism and storytelling to the power of movement to support children's wellbeing and mental health.

FameLab is the largest, public facing, science communication competition and training programme in the world. The competition discovers, trains and promotes the best new voices in science, social sciences, technology and engineering. Encouraging researchers to communicate their work with the public in an engaging and exciting way.

The finalists will each have up to three minutes to present to a panel of judges on an area of science, engineering, technology or maths of their choice. Notes and slides are not permitted, but they are allowed to use whatever props they can carry on stage with them! The judges, including Professor Agnes Gulyas from the University’s School of Creative Arts and Industries, will then score each participant on the three Cs – content, clarity and charisma.

The winner from the south-east regional final will go forward to the national final, which will take place at the Cheltenham Science Festival in June.

Tickets for the regional final, taking place at the Gulbenkian Theatre at the University of Kent on Wednesday 3 April 2024, are now available free of charge. The event will be transmitted live on KMTV across Kent and Medway and streamed live globally.

Researchers reach FameLab regional final