FameLab Trieste 2024 concludes with two winners from the University of Trieste. Francesco Dattilo and Federica Moretti will advance to the national final of FameLab Italia in the fall, competing against the winners from the other 11 Italian selections.
Francesco Dattilo, 27 years old, a doctoral student in Marine Ecology at the University of Trieste and the OGS-National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics, clinched the first place. Francesco succeeded in conveying topics such as network theory and the theorem of symmetry, narrating the stories of those who formulated them.
Taking the second spot is Federica Moretti, a doctoral student in Nanotechnologies at the University of Trieste. Also winning the Audience Award, Federica linked polymers to mirrors, car headlights to injection molding.
Michele Libralato, a researcher in Environmental Technical Physics at the University of Udine, secured the third position.
Presenting the competing contestants was Daniele Tavagnacco, a researcher at OATs-INAF and the University of Trieste, adept at engaging the audience in the room, mostly comprised of students from the Galilei Scientific High School, the Carducci-Dante High School, the Volta Technical Institute, the Deledda-Fabiani Technical Institute, and the Buonarroti High School in Monfalcone.
The winners were honored by Maurizio Del Blasio, Councilor for Education and Family Policies of the Municipality of Trieste, Serena Mizzan, President of Immaginario Scientifico, Caterina Falbo, Delegate of the Rector for the Third Mission and Scientific Outreach of the University of Trieste, Elisabetta Scarton, Delegate of the Rector for Public Engagement at the University of Udine, and Andrea Gambassi, Director of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Natural and Human Sciences at SISSA.

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The 2023 edition of FameLab Italia put a scholar from the University of Trieste on the podium. Francesco Giacomarra, a PhD student on the course in Applied Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, won the national title in September, allowing him to participate in the FameLab International online final two months later. In his performance, Francesco Giacomarra explained how generative artificial intelligence models work, involving the audience and judges in an amusing experiment imitating how they learn.

The local edition of FameLab was held in Trieste on 31 March in Sala Luttazzi (Magazzino 26). The candidates, from the University of Trieste, the University of Udine, OGS, ICTP, Elettra Sincrotrone, the University of Trento and the University of Padua, challenged each other on stage by recounting their research in three minutes, in a clear, engaging and comprehensible manner, even to a non-expert audience, without the aid of projections, graphics or videos. Angelo Scopano and Lucia Zanetti, both from the University of Padua, qualified first. The audience consisted of around 200 high school students from Trieste and Gorizia. The day was enriched by the account of Thomas Gasparetto, astrophysicist at INAF and former FameLabber, on his experience in Antarctica.

Trieste also hosted the regional selection of FameLab in 2022. The event took place on May 11th in Sala Luttazzi (Warehouse 26, Old Port). The presentation topics, led by researchers, ranged from nuclear physics to immunology, from climate change to neuroscience, from Data Science to infectious and tropical diseases.
Diego Panzeri and Giovanni Gandolfi secured the podium positions. The first-place winner, Diego Panzeri, was a doctoral student in Environmental Biology at the University of Trieste and the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics - OGS. Giovanni Gandolfi, a doctoral student in Astrophysics and Cosmology at SISSA, claimed second place, while Eleonora Vania, specializing in Infectious Diseases at the University of Udine, took third place.
Only Panzeri and Gandolfi participated in the national final of FameLab Italia, scheduled for September during the European Researchers' Night, alongside other winners from local selections. The audience, including students from ITS Deledda-Fabiani, Liceo Scientifico Galilei, and ITS Volta in Trieste, voted for the Audience Award, which went to Nicoletta Braidotti, a doctoral student in Nanotechnologies at the University of Trieste and CNR-IOM.
During the morning session, Domenica Bueti, Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at SISSA, explained how the perception of time works—a crucial element for FameLab, where condensing a presentation into just 3 minutes is the main challenge. The Trieste Science + Fiction Festival - La Cappella Underground provided an interlude to entertain the audience.

On April 26, 2021, Trieste hosted the regional selection of FameLab, an international talent show for scientific communication that was presented in a different format than usual due to Covid-19 measures. The competition took place at the Science Centre of Immaginario Scientifico and was live-streamed on YouTube and Facebook pages of Immaginario Scientifico, the University of Trieste, and the University of Udine. The winners of the 2021 edition of FameLab Trieste were Daniel Rossato and Chiara Brancato. First place went to Daniel Rossato, who is a graduate in Chemistry from the University of Trieste. In his presentations, he spoke about the torture of Tantalus relating it to element 73 of the Periodic Table, Tantalum. Second place went to Chiara Brancato, a graduate in Neuroscience from the University of Trieste. In her presentation, she talked about the system that regulates stress, and how its alteration is the basis for anxiety and depression disorders. In third place was Teresa Baggio, also a graduate in Neuroscience from the University of Trieste, while the audience award went to Edgar Keller, a student in Dentistry at the University of Trieste. Competing for the local titles were 15 participants from the University of Trieste, University of Udine, University of Trento, and CNR-IOM. During the competition, there was an intervention from the internationally renowned physicist and climatologist Filippo Giorgi, interviewed by Donato Ramani. Giorgi resumed the discussion he started at FameLab a year ago, before the pandemic, on the state of the Earth's health. Giorgi was the vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which, in 2007, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with former US Vice President Al Gore. In 2021, he was included in Reuters' Hot List as one of the most influential climatologists worldwide.

Pierre Fromholz and Valeria Di Biagio conquered the podium of FameLab Trieste 2020. Fromholz, who was a research fellow at ICTP and SISSA at the time, spoke about superconductors and Quantum Supremacy in his presentations, engaging the audience by improvising as a door-to-door salesman and a banking consultant.
Valeria Di Biagio, a research fellow at OGS, explained how the study of ocean currents allowed for the reconstruction of an escape route from Alcatraz in a raft. In her second presentation, she used yoga poses to explain photosynthesis.
Andrea Oddo, a PhD student in astroparticle physics at SISSA, came in third place, while the Audience Prize went to Pierre Fromholz once again.
The competition featured an interview with the renowned physicist and climatologist Filippo Giorgi. Referencing his book "Man and Butterfly – 6 questions to reflect on to understand climate change," Giorgi was interviewed by Donato Ramani (SISSA Communication Unit), discussing what climate change is, why it is happening, and what can be done to combat it. Giorgi, director of the Earth Sciences section at ICTP in Trieste, was vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) working group, which shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice President Al Gore in 2007.