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This week, Westonbirt had nine students compete for a place in this year’s converted Famelab school competition. Famelab is an international competition that supports the world’s most talented new science communicators. Digby, in Year 9, won the school final on Thursday with his research topic, ‘How are quantum computers going to change the world?’. His victory sends him to compete at the Gloucestershire regional final, held at the Cheltenham Science Festival. Runners up were Edie WW and Amelia B in Year 9. 

The three judges for the school competition were Head of Biology, Mr Raw, 2020 Famelab winner and Sixth form student, Arwen and master’s degree student in Astrophysics, Sama Al-Shammari. Westonbirt has enjoyed significant success with Famelab and over the last three years, two Westonbirt students won the entire competition. In 2019, Arwen B was crowned victorious and in 2021 Emily B took the title.

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During this competition students have three minutes to engage and educate a general audience about their scientific research topic. They are judged by the 3C’s of content, clarity and charisma. Some of the topics presented by Westonbirt students this week were; ‘Can music help us study and concentrate’, ‘Why do cats purr?’ and ‘How do we prevent skin forming on hot chocolate?’ 

Head of Science, Mr Hopkins said, “The Famelab competition ties in really well with our Westonbirt big six characteristics; Kindness, Communication, Courage, Respect, Resilience and confidence. It is also a great way for students to develop these softer skills, but done within a STEM context.” 

Since 2005, Famelab has captured the imagination of young STEM researchers in more then 40 countries.  Since the beginning it has engaged over 40,000 participants and has reached an audience of millions.   

We wish Digby luck in Cheltenham and will keep you posted with how he gets on!