We could not be more proud than ever! Two of the 12 candidates to compete tomorrow in the FameLab NSW semi-final are Partcat researchers: Rahman Daiyan and Dr Emma Lovell. FameLab is a science communication competition run since 2005 by British Council in collaboration with the Times Cheltenham Science Festival. It is a 4th year event in Australia and tomorrow is the NSW FameLab semifinal event. There are 12 contestant all from NSW to will go head to head at the Powerhouse Museum, where one of them will go to the state final in May in Freemantle, WA. The national winner will complete in the international final at the Time Cheltenham Scienec Festival  in the UK. To reserve your seat and support Emma and Daiyan, register your seat in this FREE event.

The contestants will have 3 minutes to explain the science behind their research to the audience and judges in a way that is easy to follow and understand, and at the same time exciting and entertaining. Not easy right?

Rahman Daiyan, a second year PhD student will attempt to share his research and passion in tackling climate change issue by converting CO2 into valued added chemicals. In his research, Daiyan developed a catalyst to be used in electrochemical reduction of CO2, in a method that is known as artificial photosynthesis. The electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2RR) can be carried out in ambient conditions though application of external bias and also provides the opportunity to be coupled with electricity generated from renewable energy resources, such as solar panels.

Dr Emma Lovell, recently completed her PhD thesis on 'Closing the carbon loop: activating Ni-based catalysts for CO2 reforming of methane' will convince the audience the importance of making a fine (stable, effective and cheap) catalyst to use CO2 and methane (renown greenhouse gases) to produce diesel, which is a stepping stone to a sustainable future.

Daiyan and Emma as interviewed by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, the ABC-science broadcaster