Success for Olga in Biochemical Society Competition

Year 10 student at Stamford High School, Olga Kryl, has achieved second place in the Biochemical Society's Science Communication competition, for her video discussing the purpose of sleep.This year's competition was open in two categories, for secondary/A Level students, and higher education students. Entries were required to be themed around bioscience and accessible for a general public audience, as a written piece of no more than 1500 words or in a media format such as video or audio. Olga chose to create a video which can be enjoyed below. If you have any issues accessing this video, please watch it on YouTube here.Olga's win in the competition earned a monetary prize, with her video being shared on the Biochemical Society's online channels, as well as a summary of her entry being published in an upcoming edition of The Biochemist magazine.In a discussion about her entry, Olga said: "Throughout lockdown I tried to keep myself busy and get involved in various competitions. They gave me wonderful opportunities to broaden my aptitude and develop new skills. When I found out about the “Science Communication Prize”, I didn’t waste much time and got to work. It was a whole process to research the topic, write a script, film a voice over, and montage the video itself, although the time it took was unimportant to me, as I relished every step of the way. After submitting the project, I decided not to get my hopes up, and simply anticipate for the results."When I found out the news, that I had won a second place in the Secondary School category, I was filled with excitement and happiness, I never thought my work would be recognized in such an extensive competition. Although overall, I didn’t do the competition for the win, I did it for the participation, as even being part of the “Science Communication Prize” gave me some new knowledge and proficiency that will hopefully come at use to me in the future."Sharing her passion for the subject matter, she said: "In my entry I decided to explore the topic of human sleep. Sleep is such an uncharted source of study; it truly fascinates me since there are so many unanswered questions eager to be examined. I know that many people view sleep simply as a source of resting and remobilization, almost no one wonders of the purpose of sleep, why do humans daily drift away, waking up with a clean slate?"In my video I mainly talk about the anatomy of sleep, which parts of the brain are responsible for this bizarre phenomenon, later on I describe the stages of sleep. And, to finalize my exploration, I mention the most undiscovered part of sleep – dreams. I talk about the origin and brain functions throughout dreams. In the end, as much as we know now is nothing compared to the totality of sleep and I hope someday I will be able to sum up this obscure topic."I decided to communicate my topic through a video, as I believe verbal delivery of material is perceived much better when combined with visual representation. As well it gave me the ability to discover my filming skills and have fun in the process."

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Olga has also been involved in a number of other science competitions, including Super Physics 2020, the Youth Industrial Strategy Competition , the '#Engineers in the Making' Competition and the 'Save our Shores' competition.