And this happened shortly after a chancellor was elected in Berlin and shortly before a pope is elected in Rome.
At the 11th Science Slam at our UAS, it wasn't a chimney that smoked, but the audience's heads that smouldered at the thematic diversity and professional presentation of the various research areas. Media science, business law, biotechnology and electrical engineering formed the canon of information that the four slammers and one female slammer presented yesterday in a vivid and impressive way.
The winner 2025 is Franko Wegner. Franko is doing his doctorate under Professor Dr Christine Linke from our Faculty of Architecture Design in collaboration with the University of Rostock. In his contribution, he managed the balancing act between crime fiction and outer space: just as we all have a media-influenced image of outer space in our heads without ever having been there, we all also have an idea of what supposedly normal violence is. Using the crime series "Tatort" as an example, he analysed how gender-based violence is shown and thus shapes our ideas and perceptions.
Julian Reh took 2nd place with his slam about Ukrainian antitrust law. In a self-deprecating manner and with the help of football metaphors, he managed to make this complex topic understandable for laypeople. Julian is doing his doctorate under Prof Dr Hans-Joachim Schramm in collaboration with the University of Kiel.
Luca Lass from our branch in Malchow on the island of Poel delivered an equally impressive slam presentation. Luca is doing his doctorate under Prof Dr Falk Hillmann. In his presentation, he demystified supposed miracle yoghurts as a marketing ploy with a high proportion of quackery. Lisa Brune and Anand Burji also presented their talks in an interesting and well-prepared manner. Lisa analysed gender-based violence in true crime formats on internet platforms such as YouTube and Anand demonstrated how the technology works that allows YouTube videos to be played at half or 1.75 times the speed and why our voice becomes so distorted. Both set a new record: Lisa was the first communication designer and Anand the first international student at our university's ScienceSlam.
This year, the audience also found it quite difficult to judge this firework display of good presentations. With almost 90 spectators in the foyer of House 6, the event was a complete success for everyone involved. This was also evident from some of the feedback collected over a cold drink at the Block17 stand during the break and after the event.