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Biotechnologist Inés Mármol and mathematician Víctor Manero, both from Unizar, compete on September 9 in the Spanish Famelab final.
Straight to the final. This is how Zaragoza's Inés Mármol and Víctor Manero have seen themselves, along with their ten companions, scientific stand-up comedians like them. As a collateral effect of the pandemic and the suspension of the semifinal of Famelab Spain, the largest international competition for scientific monologues, scheduled for March 13 in Pamplona, all the semifinalists went directly to the final. For this reason, Inés Mármol feels "as if I had sneaked into the final more than having earned it, but, since I have come this far, I will try my best that day, since there are few opportunities like that." And when he signed up for the contest, after going through the training classes for doctoral students of 'Your thesis in three minutes' and getting the first second prize in the contest organized by Campus Iberus, I didn't even imagine that I would be select for the Famelab semi-final... But here we are.
This biotechnologist who is pursuing a doctorate in Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences at the University of Zaragoza is not the only representation of Unizar in the final of Famelab, a competition organized in our country by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) and the British Council. The mathematician Víctor Manero, professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences and Education of Huesca, will also compete in the final that will be held on September 9 at the theater of the British Council School in Madrid in atypical conditions, behind closed doors, as prevention measure against coronavirus.
Manero, who "although my ID says I was born in Palma de Mallorca, I have always considered myself from Sástago (Zaragoza), where my family is from and where I returned when I was 10 years old", also suddenly found himself in the final. "I didn't even plan to make it to the semi-finals," he says. Furthermore, "in February, when all the stand-up comedians were brought together in Madrid and I saw the quality of my classmates' monologues, it seemed even more difficult for me to reach the final."
A final without an audience in front
Although the usual thing in something as direct as scientific monologues is interaction with the audience, Inés Mármol confesses that "the truth is that I am a little relieved that in the end we are going to perform in front of empty seats. I was terrified by the prospect to say my monologue in front of so many people, the only time I spoke to more than 50 people was at a conference and I almost collapsed right there from nerves.
Manero imagines it "cold; it will be strange not being able to see people's reaction to a gag that you have prepared in the monologue or not hearing how the audience goes 'ahhh' when they are surprised by what you have just explained to them" . In any case, he trusts that there will be some audience even if it is very small."
Mármol believes that "I will enjoy it more if only the rest of the Famelab participants are there, it will be like a chat between friends." That is if he manages to "not pay attention to the camera and not think about the fact that they are streaming it, of course."
Because the Famelab final, presented by the popularizer Manuel González, can be followed live, on the 9th at 20.30:XNUMX p.m., on Fecyt's YouTube and Facebook channels. The jury will be made up of Marián García (Boticaria García), doctor in Pharmacy and scientific and health communicator; Santiago García Cremades, mathematician and scientific communicator; and Ignacio López-Goñi, microbiologist at the University of Navarra.
In total, seven men and five women with ages between 21 and 43 and training in Biology, Engineering, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Medicine and Psychology will compete in the final. The winner of Famelab Spain 2020 will represent our country in the international competition, organized by the British Council, which will be held virtually in autumn.
Mármol is halfway through writing his thesis on the use of new metal derivatives against colorectal cancer, but he is not going to talk about it in Famelab. His monologue is titled 'Requiem for a Cell' and talks about two types of cell death.
During confinement, he has recorded a couple of short monologues. "One of them has been part of our private semi-final: all the participants prepared a new monologue and we posted them in the same Twitter thread to compensate ourselves for not performing in Pamplona," she tells us.
