Malaysia's Dr Zaid competes in the international search for voice of science

KUALA LUMPUR: 31 science communicators from around the globe will gather in Cheltenham, United Kingdom to compete in the 2017 FameLab International Final – a competition that aims to discover up-and-coming scientists who inspire people to see the world from a different perspective.
Each contestant of this prestigious meet is a national champion representing their countries, and amongst these finalists is Malaysia’s own Dr Zaid Omar.
Dr Zaid displayed tenacity in the competition. Participating each year in the FameLab Malaysia since its inception in 2015, this year, he emerged as the National Best Science Communicator and will represent Malaysia at the 2017 FameLab International Final with his presentation – The Rise of Superbrain Computing.
The topic is right up his alley. Dr Zaid Omar, a senior lecturer at Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, hopes to harness the huge potential of technology through his research in computer vision and artificial intelligence. Dr Zaid also chairs the IEEE Young Professionals (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).
FameLab is a competition that requires its participants to engage audience on their chosen science concept in a 3-minute presentation.
Judging will be based on the golden rule of 3Cs: content, clarity and charisma; and sitting in the panel for this year’s finals include Ellen Stofan (former Chief Scientist at NASA), Jim Al-Khalili (theoretical physicists, author and broadcaster) and Tim Slingsby (Director of Skills and Education at Lloyds’s Register Foundation).
Dr Zaid Omar has his work cut out for him. The father of three will be competing against 30 other finalists from all over the world for the recognition as the world’s most interesting, accessible and charismatic science communicator.
It will feature contestants from Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Kazakhstan, Latvia/Estonia, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom and Vietnam with Mauritius, Uganda and India represented for the first time ever.
In 2016, Malaysia National Champion, Dr Abhi Veerakumasivam became the Best Science Communicator at the FameLab International Finals.
FameLab was created by the Cheltenham Festivals in 2005 and co-produced by the British Council since 2007.
The partnership pushed the competition global with more than 9000 young scientists and engineers participating to date, involving more than 30 different countries with over 22 million media views each year, making it one of the biggest science communications competitions in the world.

This tenth FameLab International Final will take place on 8 June from 8.30pm – 10.30pm, UK time, at the Parabola Arts Centre in front of Cheltenham Festival audience, and will be live streamed on the FameLab International Facebook page: www.facebook.com/FameLabInternational. — Bernama