Speakers

Professor Simon Conway Morris

Professor Simon Conway Morris holds an ad hominem chair in the University of Cambridge. He is a leading authority on the Cambrian explosion and the Burgess Shale, and in his recent book Life’s Solution he re-affirms the importance of evolutionary convergence. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1990, and gave the Christmas Lectures in the Royal Institution in 1996. This year he was awarded the Kelvin Medal by the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow and the Ide & Luella Trotter Prize by Texas A & M. In the evenings he can usually be found with a glass of wine (or something slightly stronger) reading G.K. Chesterton.

Professor John Hedley Brooke

Professor John Hedley Brooke held the Andreas Idreos Professorship of Science & Religion and Directorship of the Ian Ramsey Centre at the University of Oxford from 1999 to 2006. He is an Emeritus Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford and Honorary Professor of the History of Science at Lancaster University. A former Editor of the British Journal for the History of Science, he has been President of the British Society for the History of Science and of the Historical Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. His main books are Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 1991), which won the Watson Davis Prize of the History of Science Society; Thinking About Matter: Studies in the History of Chemical Philosophy (Ashgate, 1995); and (with Geoffrey Cantor) Reconstructing Nature: The Engagement of Science & Religion (T & T Clark, 1998; Oxford University Press, 2000). He has recently served as Director of the European Science Foundation’s Network on ‘Science and Human Values’ and is a founder member of the Oxford Centre for the Science of the Mind (2005-). He is currently President of the UK Forum for Science & Religion and serves on the Executive Committee of the International Society for Science & Religion. In 2007 he became a “Distinguished Fellow” at the Institute of Advanced Study, University of Durham.

Professor Brian Goodwin

Professor Brian Goodwin was born in 1931 in Canada where he studied biology. He then took a mathematics degree at Oxford and a PhD involving biology and mathematics at Edinburgh University. He has held research and teaching positions at MIT, at the University of Sussex, and the Open University, UK, where he was Professor of Biology. He was connected with the Santa Fe Institute for a number of years in the 80s and 90s, where he was involved in the development of complexity theory. He now teaches Holistic Science at Schumacher College in England. His interests are in extending science to include qualities so as to address issues of health and quality of life in diverse areas, to promote holistic patterns of living, and to encourage the reunion of the arts and humanities with the sciences.

Professor Dame Julia Higgins

Professor Dame Julia Higgins DBE FRS FREng: University of Oxford, BA and DPhil. Professor of Polymer Science in the Department of Chemical Engineering in imperial College, London, her research career has focussed on the application of scattering techniques, notably neutron scattering, to the understanding of polymer behaviour. She has explored the way that molecular organisation and motion controls material behaviour, most recently in polymer blends and mixtures.

Career milestones: Appointed to the academic staff in Imperial College 1976. Professor in 1989, Dean of the City and Guilds College (Engineering faculty) from 1993 to 1997. Currently the Principal of the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College, she is also President of the Association for Science Education, a Trustee of the National Gallery and of the Daphne Jackson Trust. Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a foreign member of the National Academy of Engineering of the USA. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2002 and a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur in 2003. She holds honorary doctorates from a number of Universities.

Professor John Holman

After studying Natural Sciences at Cambridge, England, John Holman became a teacher of chemistry. He taught in a number of secondary schools, and between 1984 and 1994 he also worked as a writer and curriculum development specialist. He is author or co-author of nearly 20 science books for schools, including Chemistry in Context, Salters Advanced Chemistry in the UK and Science Spectrum in the USA. In 1994 he became Head of Watford Grammar School for Boys (a Science Specialist School), where he continued to teach chemistry. In 2000 he left Watford to become Salters Professor of Chemical Education and Director of the Science Curriculum Centre at the University of York. Here he taught chemistry at undergraduate level and directed a number of innovative curriculum development initiatives including Twentyfirstcentury Science. In August 2004 he became Director of the National Science Learning Centre, which opened in York on 1 November 2005. This initiative, funded by the Wellcome Trust, is dedicated to the professional development of science teachers. From October 2006 he has been seconded half-time to the government’s Department for Education and Skills to be National STEM Director. John Holman is interested in the teaching of science at all levels, from primary to undergraduate. His specific professional interests include the teaching of chemical thermodynamics, curriculum development, scientific literacy, public awareness of science, the professional development of science teachers and science education policymaking.

Professor Amory Lovins

Professor Amory Lovins, a MacArthur Fellow and consultant physicist, has advised the energy and other industries for more than three decades as well as the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense. Published in 29 books and hundreds of papers, his work in 50+ countries has been recognized by the “Alternative Nobel,” Onassis, Nissan, Shingo, and Mitchell Prizes, the Benjamin Franklin and Happold Medals, nine honorary doctorates, honorary membership of the American Institute of Architects, and the Heinz, Lindbergh, Jean Meyer, Time Hero for the Planet, and World Technology Awards. A Harvard and Oxford dropout and former Oxford don (receiving in consequence an Oxford MA by Special Resolution), he advises industries and governments worldwide, and has briefed 19 heads of state. He co founded and is Chairman and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute), an independent, market-oriented, entrepreneurial, non-profit, nonpartisan think-and-do tank that creates abundance by design.

Scott Mandelbrote

Scott Mandelbrote is Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he is also Perne Librarian and Tutor for Undergraduate Admissions. Since 1990, he has been a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He is a historian of early modern thought and intellectual culture. His publications on Isaac Newton include Footprints of the Lion: Isaac Newton at Work (Cambridge 2001).

Professor Andrew Parker

Professor Andrew Parker spent 10 years in Australia studying marine biology and physics. On returning to the UK as a Royal Society University Research Fellow at Oxford University in 1999, he worked on colour, vision, biomimetics and palaeontology, where he found interesting links. Today he works at The Natural History Museum, London and The University of Sydney, while retaining a position at Green College, Oxford. He wrote the popular science books In the Blink of an Eye and Seven Deadly Colours, and speaks at literary festivals as well as scientific institutions. He was one of the eight "Scientists for the New Century" chosen by The Royal Institution and The Times.

 

Professor Michael Reiss

Professor Michael Reiss is Professor of Science Education at the Institute of Education, University of London and Head of its School of Mathematics, Science and Technology. He is Director of Education at the Royal Society, Chief Executive of Science Learning Centre London, Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of York, Docent at the University of Helsinki, Director of the Salters-Nuffield Advanced Biology Project, a member of the Farm Animal Welfare Council and editor of the journal Sex Education. Books of his include Braund, M. & Reiss, M. J. (Eds) (2004) Learning Science Outside the Classroom, RoutledgeFalmer, Levinson, R. & Reiss, M. J. (Eds) (2003) Key Issues in Bioethics: A Guide for Teachers, RoutledgeFalmer and Reiss, M. J. (2000) Understanding Science Lessons: Five Years of Science Teaching, Open University Press.