Winner 2005 - Dr Mark Lewney
Biography:
Mark is 32, and from Liverpool, he studied physics at Edinburgh University, and then a PhD in guitar acoustics at Cardiff, where he now lives. Mark currently works at the UK Patent Office in Newport dealing with new inventions in telecoms.
Media and events since winning FameLab 2005:
Appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Material World discussing plastic guitars, and on Good Morning Wales explaining Einstein’s relativity on the 100th anniversary of his ‘miraculous year’.
Press articles in the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Science magazine and an in-depth interview in the October edition of BBC Focus magazine.
Speaking engagements including Oslo Science Week, the launch of MusiQuest (a hands-on science of music exhibition at TechniQuest, Cardiff Bay), and various university Fresher’s Weeks and sixth-form conferences.
Forthcoming media, events and initiatives:
Appearance on CBBC’s Xchange on November 14th, explaining the science of sound to an audience of kids using props from Wendy Sadler at Science Made Simple.
First project as a presenter for Channel 4 is already in development, and discussions about further projects are ongoing.
Guest speaker at the Institute of Physics’ Young Physicists Conference, Trinity College Dublin, along with lectures at Ulster University and Swansea’s new National Waterfront Museum. Next year’s calendar includes various national science festivals including Cheltenham 2006.
Collaboration with biologist Harry Witchel and chemist Graeme Jones in a stage show entitled “Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll”.
Mark also hopes to write a book if he can find the time.
Two Finalists Talk About FameLab:
Trevor Cox, Professor of Acoustics, University of Salford
“The phrase ‘was a finalist in FameLab’ is very useful on the CV, the association with TV seems to mean a lot to people. I still get a steady stream of enquiries from the media for help with research, as I did before FameLab, and some of these might be due to FameLab, but I don't know. I've been too busy to try and sell TV ideas!”
Luke Jerram, NESTA Fellow & AHRC Fellow of University of West of England.
“Meeting fellow FameLab contestant Trevor Cox last year has led to a project I'll be developing with him called ‘Sound Matters’. I've a screen test with the BBC coming up to be a science presenter and Channel 4 have expressed interest in commissioning a project of mine called Sky Orchestra.”
Other Finalists 2005:
Dr Andrew Bebb - a physicist who now works for the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in their public engagement programme.
Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock - a scientist who has spent her career to date making novel, bespoke instrumentation in both the industrial and academic environments.
Dr Shini Somarathne - after completing a BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering in 1999 she then immediately continued to study at Brunel University to complete an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
Simon Watt - an evolutionary biologist originally hailing from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
David Wharton - a Principal teacher of chemistry in a comprehensive school located in a large housing estate in Dundee,
Dr Matt Wilkinson - a zoologist and Junior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge.
Rebecca Lloyd-Evans 'Bex' - graduated with a first in Human Sciences from UCL. In her final year she specialised in the neurobiology of mental illness and creativity and her findings have been published in "Recent Advances in Creativity".
Christopher Rowlands - currently studying Chemistry at Imperial College London.
Dr David Booth - since completing his doctorate in evolutionary biology at the Queen’s University of Belfast in 2003, David has been working as a post-doctoral researcher.
© Cheltenham Festivals 2006/7