It is said that lifelong learning is an “ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated” pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. The main objective of the FameLab competition that is presented annually is to allow students to exchange knowledge and to practice public speaking. Conceiving great ideas that solve the everyday problems humanity is facing is great, but us scientists do not always possess the funds necessary to proceed and commercialise our research. Hence it is necessary for us to be able to convey our ideas in words that the public can understand and relate to, so that they could fund our research. FameLab is thus a platform created to help young scientists develop and/or perfect their ability to do public speaking in an easy-to-understand way. For the 2019 edition, the GRC was represented by three students:
Ms Amogeleng Thibedi, Mr Msimisi Mlangeni and Mr Daniel Tshisungu. The competition was held over two days: the first day was for students to be guided (trained) on public speaking (the history of the platform, the format of speeches, the attitude to carry and a small practice.
The competition was held on the last day. The GRC projects were defended, the protection of wildlife by means of drones and remote detection program that could help farmers asses the need for water. the second consecutive year, one of the GRC representatives won the second runner-up trophy for his presentation. The atmosphere of the audience made him feel at ease; saying that, “I expected a scientific approach as opposed to the casual feel throughout the competition. For the participants, FameLab was an amazing experience allowing some of them to conquer their fear of speaking in public, as well as transcending the walls of science by preparing easy-to-understand speeches.
Recent Comments