A FameLab event is a contest in science communication. In just three minutes, a researcher must present their work in a manner that is understandable to any audience. Presentation slides are not allowed but supporting props can be used.

Due to the current Covid-19 situation, the FameLab TU/e heat 2020 moved from a theatre setting to an online webinar platform. In the event hosted by TU/e science communication officer Barry Fitzgerald, 10 TU/e researchers presented their pre-recorded pitch videos to an online audience of more than 200 people. After each pitch video, the researcher faced live, tough questions from a jury of Dan Jing Wu (FameLab TU/e winner 2019), Kees Storm (TU/e researcher), and Karlijn Meinders (BNR journalist).

After the 10 researchers presented their video pitches, two winners were selected – one by the jury and one by the online audience.

Jury winner : Eriola-Sophia Shanko

The jury winner was Eriola-Sophia Shanko (Microsystems group, Mechanical Engineering) who presented on “Swarming for diagnostics”. In her pitch video, Shanko spoke about developing accurate, faster and more accessible technological tests for disease diagnosis. The key to her diagnosis device is the use of magnetic microspheres that can increase the chances of detecting a biomarker in a sample. The jury selected the winner based on the three C’s of a FameLab pitch – content, clarity, and charisma. They felt that she was charismatic in her presentation and that the content of her story was very clear. She was also commended for how she answered the questions from the jury.

Audience winner : Christian van der Krift

The audience winner Christian van der Krift (Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences) spoke about “Perceptual distance between parties in projects”. During his pitch video, Van der Krift used a toy elephant to introduce a story about six blind men who were asked to investigate an elephant. As the elephant is bigger than any of the men, they all experience the elephant in different ways, which leads to conflict. Van der Krift outlined a perception meter that he has developed that can be used to collect the experiences of client and contractors in projects, help instigate dialogue, hopefully bring them close together, and perhaps prevent future project failure. He received the most votes from the online audience. 

Cursor recently published an article about the work of Van der Krift.