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Dr Abhimanyu Veerakumarasivam is Crowned the World’s Best Science Communicator

June 10, 2016by

Kuala Lumpur, 10 June 2016 – The title of best science communicator for FameLab International 2016 has gone to Dr. Abhimanyu Veerakumarasivam of Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Dr. Abhi sailed past over 2000 scientists from 27 countries on Wednesday 9 June by presenting “Cancer genetics” at the EDF Arena at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival. Aida Rafat from Qatar and Alba Aguion from Spain shared the runner up prize.

“Science communication is essential to ensure that the advancements in science translates to actual improvement of lives. There is a need to communicate effectively especially to the non-scientific audience” said Dr.Abhi who was ecstatic with his win. Abhi’s winning talk was on cancer cells. He explains why cancer incidents increase in age.  He pointed out how genetics is going to change the way cancer is going to be diagnose and treated in the age of precision medicine.

Watch Abhi competing at the FameLab Final 2016:

This is the second time Malaysia participated in FameLab International organised by the Cheltenham Festival. FameLab is one of the biggest science communication competitions in the world. It is designed to engage and entertain by breaking down science technology and
engineering concepts within 3 minutes presentation. FameLab Malaysia was jointly organised by the Malaysian Industry-Government for High Technology (MIGHT) and British Council Malaysia.

Datuk Dr. Mohd Yusoff Sulaiman, President and Chief Executive Officer, MIGHT congratulated Dr.Abhi for his achievement. “It’s a huge achievement for Malaysia as this is only the second year that we are participating. Through the national FameLab competition, we have
unearthed many talented science communicators from various background including Abhi.

Abhi’s victory is indeed special and timely as the national urgently need to rally everyone to embrace and leverage on science and societal wellbeing through simple, fun yet effective communication. We will continue to work with Dr. Abhi and the others (National FameLab
alumni) as our appointed science ambassadors under the Science to Action (S2A) programme.

Once again, thank you and well done, Dr. Abhi”. “This is really exciting news and we are thrilled for Dr. Abhi. While the result is truly rewarding for him personally, it is also an excellent achievement for Malaysia. Making science accessible and attractive to a non-scientific audience through good communication is an ever-growing priority for researchers worldwide” says Sarah Deverall, Director of British Council Malaysia.

Since its birth at the Cheltenham Science Festival in 2005, FameLab has grown into the world’s leading science communication competition, running across five continents. The British Council who teamed up with Cheltenham Festivals in 2007 now runs the competition in over 27 countries. MIGHT and British Council run the competition in
Malaysia.

The competition was judged by an international team of experts in science communication including Nadia El Awady, Robert Llewellyn, Mark Lythgoe and Professor Katherine Willis.

The 12 FameLab Internatinal Finalists:

  1. Dina El-Zohiry (Egypt)
  2. Alba Aguion (Spain)
  3. Erinn Fagan-Jeffries (Australia)
  4. Leandros Lamnis (Greece)
  5. Ilissa Ocko (USA)
  6. Kyle Evans (UK)
  7. Nozipho Gumbi (South Africa)
  8. Lorenzo Pizzuti (Italy)
  9. Aida Rafat (Qatar)
  10. Abhi Veerakumarasivam (Malaysia)
  11. Karolina Nowak (Poland)
  12. Constantinos Timinis (Cyprus)

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