Imperial student takes top prize in science showdown

Leon Vanstone, Famelab champ, talks science at a recent Imperial Fringe

Engineering PhD student Leon Vanstone has been declared this year's Famelab UK champion.

In the annual competition, scientists from across the UK compete to entertain and engage an audience about a scientific topic in only three minutes.

Leon beat off finalists from the University of Oxford, UCL and the Wellcome Trust by describing the wonder of the Mars Rover landing safely on the surface of the Red Planet.

He will now go on to compete with Famelab winners from 20 other countries at the Cheltenham Science Festival in June.

Leon is a regular volunteer at the Reach Out Lab, Imperial’s interactive schools visitor centre. He has also appeared at the Imperial Fringe and will be at this year’s Imperial Festival answering big science questions from visitors as a ‘Soapbox Scientist’.

Leon said: "Obviously it was nice to win, although I was quite surprised as there were many strong acts that night. I'm looking forward to the Cheltenham Science Festival and I hope to do some work with some of the other Famelab finalists."

The Famelab UK final took place at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London and was judged by scientist and radio presenter, Jim Al-Khalili; UCL Professor, Mark Lythgoe; and Clare Matterson from the Wellcome Trust.

The judges were impressed by Leon’s charisma and commented on his fearlessness and ability to express his strong opinions.

Leon takes a prize of £1,750, part of which he must spend on a science outreach project. He is considering using the money to create a series of ‘how to’ videos, explaining what it takes to be a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist.

FameLab was started in 2005 in the UK by Cheltenham Science Festival, in partnership with Nesta. Now a global competition run with the British Council, it has seen more than 5,000 young scientists and engineers participating in 23 different countries from Hong Kong to South Africa and the USA to Egypt.