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Publish Date: 
Thursday, May 7, 2015 - 16:15

FAMELAB FINALS FOR PAH RESEARCH DIETITIAN MEGAN ROSSI

FameLab is an initiative of the British Council of Australia where young scientists present their work in a 3 minute presentation to the general public. The catch? No powerpoint! No slides! Props only! Finalists will head to Perth on the 13th May to compete for the prize of representing Australia in the International competition to be held at the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK in June.

Megan Rossi, Research Dietitian from Princess Alexandra Hospital has been selected as a FameLab finalist for her presentation about kidney disease.

"FOR ME FAMELAB IS ABOUT BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIER BETWEEN SCIENTISTS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC- IT'S ABOUT ENCOURAGING EVERYONE TO ENGAGE, RELATE AND GET EXCITED ABOUT RESEARCH." ~ MEGAN ROSSI

The FameLab finalists for 2015 are:

  • Lizzy Lowe, The University of Sydney
  • Astrid Zeman, Macquarie University
  • Megan Rossi, The University of Queensland
  • David Gozzard, The University of Western Australia
  • Amber Beavis, Western Australian Museum
  • Navid Moheimani, Murdoch University
  • Sarah Marley, Centre for Marine Science and Technology (CMST); Curtin University
  • David Farmer, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience
  • Mahsa Mirmomeni, Monash University
  • Eleanor Velasquez, Queensland University of Technology
  • Sandip Kamath, James Cook University
  • Kiara Bruggeman, Australian National University

The FameLab event will include a 2 day training workshop to assist finalists with their presentations. Well known science communicator Malcolm Love will be mentoring the finalists during the workshop. Malcolm specialises in public engagement of science and runs workshops in the UK and internationally to help scientists and engineers to better engage with the media and the public.

We asked Megan what she was most looking forward to. "For me the most exciting thing is being mentored by Malcolm Love over a two day workshop in Perth leading up to the finals. Malcolm is such an inspirational science communicator, I can't wait!"

"I think sharing what we do as researchers with the public is becoming more and more critical in today's economic climate. In fact, I don't think scientists, particular young scientists, have a choice- you either learn to communicate or change careers. If we don't speak up and showcase the incredible work that scientists are doing research budgets will continue to deflate. We need to get the public on board to see the value in what we do- I believe this is key to keeping research on the Government's agenda."

Related Links

 
   

UQ PhD student Megan Rossi’s gut feeling about kidney disease won her a place in the finals of the FameLab contest

"My research is about gut health, specifically the trillions of bacteria that call our large intestine home (and out number human cells in our body 10:1). Research in this area has exploded in the past 10 years yet the general public are naive to their existence- my goal is to change that. My state finals pitch was focused on 'a gut feeling' and my national pitch delivers the confronting concept that humans are in fact 'Aliens in disguise'."