Destined to win IAS?

Thinking about taking part in I’m a Scientist, but wondering how to increase your chances of winning? Wonder no more, we’ve done some analysis of last year’s winners and here are our top tips on how to win I’m a Scientist…

1. Change your first name to Jo (or Joe). It seems that if you are named Jo in any way you are more likely to win! Five of our winners from 2010’s events were called Jo or Joe. Out of the 125 scientists who took part in the events only 6 were named Jo or Joe.

2. Change your surname to one beginning with C, M or S. 32% of our winners from both the March and June events had surnames starting with C or M. This is closely followed by those with who begin with S who won 12% of the zones. Out of everyone that took part (n=125) 11 had surnames starting with C, 13 with M and 13 with S.

3. Go arty. Only two people used a black and white photo – however both won their zones!

4. Have something interesting in the shot. An interesting background seemed to have an effect on your odds of winning.  68% of this year’s winners had one, the pictures included aquariums, mountains and the sea. A brightly coloured wall also seemed to work.

5. Get speedy with your question answering. The more questions you answer the longer you seem to survive. Some scientists from last year’s event who survived the early evictions answered over 400 questions!

6. Head vs Long Shots. Last year the majority of people gave us head shots (115 people), only seven gave us long shots and three people used either no picture or a non-photographic image. Out of this only two people with long shots won their zone and those who gave no photo did not win at all. This looks like a reasonable showing for long shots, but actually those five non-winners were more likely to be evicted first or second – and no-one wants that, do they?

So as you can see, in order to win you need to change you name to Jo McCormick and then take your picture in black and white in front of the Taj Mahal. Once you’ve done all of that you’d better get practicisng your speed typing! Easy right…

Oh, it isn’t???

OK, so correlation doesn’t mean causation and we don’t really recommend changing your name. BUT do give some thought to your photo. A friendly-looking photo does seem to make a difference (we mentioned this in our top tips last year). A close-up picture where people can see your face seems to make a difference. – i.e. showing just your head, or head and shoulders. Other than that, just be yourselves, and relate to the young people as people – don’t expect to lecture them!

If this has whetted your appetite, and you’re interested in taking part in ‘the world’s most stunningly innovative teen science education programme‘, then you can find out more, and sign up, here. Good luck!