2019_05_15_MUSCIE_fame_lab

Iñaki Echeverría Huarte(@Inaki_Huarte), student of doctorate of department of Physics and Applied Mathematics of the University of Navarra, has won the national final of the VII scientific monologue contest Famelab Spain, organized by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (Fecyt) and the British Council, with the partnership of the Obra Social "La Caixa".

With the monologue "Let me out" -about the research that he himself develops in the laboratory of Granular Media of his department to study how traffic jams occur and how science can help to design safer evacuation systems-, this graduate in Physics from the University of Zaragoza and Master's Degree in Mathematical Modeling, Statistics and Computing won the first prize award. With it, he has obtained a direct pass to the international final of the competition, which will take place at the Cheltenham Festival of Science, in the United Kingdom, next June.

The national final was held at the Teatro Gran Maestre in Madrid, and was attended by authorities such as Queen Letizia, the acting Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Pedro Duque, and the British Ambassador to Spain, Simon Manley. The University's Science Museum was represented by its director, Ignacio López-Goñi.

The jury for this seventh edition of Famelab España was made up of Carmen Agustín Pavón -doctor in Neurosciences-; Marcos Pérez Maldonado -physicist-; and Pampa García Molina -theoretical physicist and scientific journalist-. 

The first finalist was Mariola Penadés, PhD in Veterinary Medicine and Master's Degree in Psychobiology and Cognitive Neuroscience, with her monologue "El silencio de mis neuronas". And the second finalist was Kevin Fernández-Cosials, industrial engineer and Master in Nuclear Science and Technology, for his monologue "Risky Bussiness".

The first winner of Famelab España was the mathematician and presenter of Órbita Laika (a scientific knowledge dissemination program broadcast by TVE2) Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón, followed by other scientists who have continued in the field of scientific knowledge dissemination , such as the biologists Ricardo Moure, Álvaro Morales and Alba Aguión -winners of the second, third and fourth editions, respectively-; and the mathematicians Pedro Daniel Pajares and Juan Margalef.