On Friday 29 November 2024, we saw eight countries compete on the virtual stage: Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The National winners from each of these countries gathered online to vie for the title of world's best science communicator 2024. This annual event was live streamed on the FameLab YouTube Channel.

FameLab is the largest public-facing science communication competition and training programme in the world. Early-career researchers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths entertained a live audience with three-minute talks, armed only with their wits and a few simple props. Resulting in an engaging and enlightening way to encourage curiosity and expand the public understanding of scientific topics and research.

After careful deliberation the judges decided that this year's joint runners up were Julian Neugebauer from Germany and Yolanda Mbalentle Mngcongo from South Africa. What's more, after more than 400 people voted, Yolanda was awarded this year's audience winner. Sivaniya Subramanapillai from Switzerland was victorious and crowned the FameLab International winner 2024. 

All finalists received a certificate with Sivaniya, Julian and Yolanda also receiving trophies. Sivaniya also received an all-expense paid trip to 8th Silesian Science Festival in Katowice, Poland, courtesy of our FameLab Interanational Partner at the University of Silesia in Poland, The European City of Science 2024, as well as an invitation to join us at Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK in 2025. This Cheltenham Science Festival experience includes UK travel, accommodation, free tickets to events as well networking opportunities with international scientists, engineers and researchers.

This year's fantastic finalists gave us a bite-size taste of science covering a range of talks:

Name: Johannes Debler

Country: Australia 

Johannes, whose field is Biology, talk was titled Detected, not ignored - On her Lentil's secret service

Name: Luboš Brabenec

Country: Czech Republic

Luboš talk was titled The Brain, the Jungle and the Pathways Between Neurons and is working in the field of Neuroscience.

Name: Julian Neugebauer

Country: Germany

Julian is working in the field of Medicine and Health and Disease, Neuroscience, Psychology and gave a talk titled Listen to your heart: making feelings audible 

Name: Francesco Dattilo 

Country: Italy

Franceso's talk was titled Life teems in the darkness and is working in the field of Biology and Eart Sciences.

Name: Marcelina Jureczko  

Country: Poland

Marcelina is working in the field of Biotechnology and Environmental Engineering and gave a talk titled Fungi - Avengers who wear caps instead of superhero capes

Name: Sivaniya Subramaniapillai

Country: Switzerland 

Working in the field of Neuroscience, Sivaniya gave a talk titled A recipe to improve diversity in Alzheimer's disease

Name: Yolanda Mbalentle  

Country: South Africa

Yolanda is working in the field of Medicine and Health and Disease and her talk was titled Reimagining Healthcare: From Places We Go to Die to Spaces for Healing

Name: Joni Wildman  

Country: United Kingdom

Working in th efiled of Mycology and Civil Engineering, Joni gave a talk called Fungi aren't famous (it's a problem)

Meet the Judges

The esteemed judges included master communicater from Bulgaria Lyubov Kostova, journalist and head of communication and public relations from Norway Marina Tofting and science communicator from Portugal Cristina Fonseca. Keeping it all running smoothly was science presented, producer and BBC Radio and podcast host Greg Foot.

Special thanks to the team at Still Moving Media who expertly produce this year’s live streamed event to the world from their studio in Cheltenham.