British Council Director Elizabeth White grants Nada Ali her prize with AUC Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman, actress Bushra among others
British Council celebrates FameLab programme at the Giza Pyramids Photo courtesy of the British Council Media Office
Egyptian Nada Ali has won a trip to the UK to take part in the Cheltenham Science Festival and compete with 29 eager scientists from all over the world in the 2019 FameLab international competition on 23 March.
The British Council and the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology celebrated the new voice of science at the Giza Pyramids after she won the judges’ approval with her talk in only three minutes.
The jury was headed by Yasser El-Shayeb, visiting professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and the chief of party for USAID funded project the Centre of Excellence for Water, AUC Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman, Regional Director of the American Fellowship programme in Medical Education Samar Abdel-Azim Ahmed, as well as Egyptian actress Bushra.
Ali reached this stage after a long selection process from 1,633 applicants, passing a video submission phase where applicants submitted a three-minute video to present a scientific idea of their choice with clarity, content and charisma.
Nada received a Bachelor’s of Science in Pharmacy and a Master’s in Science in Microbiology from Alexandria University. Her main interest is in antimicrobial resistance and contributing to fighting this global problem. She is also a mother of two children, who were her motivation to start learning science communication so that she can sate their curiosity about everything in the world.
FameLab Egypt 2019 was hosted by Dr. Mohamed El-Nazer, a dermatologist and laser and aesthetic medicine specialist, and Yasmina Maher, FameLab alumnus of 2018 and a fifth-year student in clinical pharmacy at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University.
This year, the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology will fund the participation of FameLab runner-up Ahmed Saber El-Fiky to visit the Cheltenham Science Festival in the United Kingdom to support the efforts of the Egyptian government to promote science and build a culture that supports the positive role played by science in improving the economic and social development of countries. Ahmed also won the audience vote prize at the event.
Addressing the attendees, director of the British Council in Egypt Elizabeth White said, “The ancient Egyptians used the cutting-edge science of their day to build the pyramids, leaving the world this tremendous legacy – the oldest of the wonders of the world. We chose this venue to showcase the achievements of young Egyptians passionate about science, and the way that the British Council/ASRT FameLab programme helps to encourage them in the studies and research of science and engineering. More than 4,500 years after these monuments were built; we are in the same place – witnessing young Egyptians creating new wonders.”
In his speech, president of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) Mahmoud Sakr highlighted the significant increase in the number of participants this year as a result of the new system developed by the British Council. The new system allowed the participants to use an electronic platform to present a scientific subject in an interesting and innovative way to prove their abilities in three minutes. This platform helped reach all the governorates of Egypt, as some participants in previous years were unable to reach any of the six governorates, where local tours were held because of the distance barrier.
This year, FameLab celebrates 10 years in Egypt. Over the past 10 years, over 3,000 contestants participated in the FameLab competition from across all the governorates of Egypt.
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