Alison Woollard: Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

Hertford Fellow and Tutor in Biochemistry, Dr Alison Woollard, will deliver the 2013 Royal Institution’s CHRISTMAS LECTURES.

The CHRISTMAS LECTURES, which are as much a fixture in the Christmas scheduling as the carols from King’s College, Cambridge, were inaugurated by Michael Faraday in 1825. Former Lecturers have included Nobel Prize winners, such as William and Lawrence Bragg, and illustrious science communicators such as Sir David Attenborough. Alison is delighted to have been invited to join their number. 

Alison will present a three-part series called Life Fantastic which will air on BBC Four in late December. It will be filmed in front of a live audience in the iconic theatre at the Royal Institution and will be packed full of engaging demonstrations, showing how genes work in the body and why evolution makes us and every other species on the planet different from each other.

The series will uncover the remarkable transformation of a single cell to a complex organism and answer some of the most profound questions about life itself: where do we come from? Can we live forever? And, in revealing the  fundamental science behind recent biological developments such as chimera embryos and using stem cells to potentially cure blindness, Alison will also explore the serious ethical questions that stem from these discoveries.

For an outline of Alison’s three lectures please click here.

Tickets to the filming of the CHRISTMAS LECTURES are available by ballot to Royal Institution Members and UK registered schools only. For information on becoming a Member and getting tickets to the once in a lifetime show, visit www.rigb.org. For more information on the entire series visit www.rigb.org/christmaslectures2013. You can watch past CHRISTMAS LECTURES for free on the Ri’s science video channel: www.richannel.org.

Alison is only the fifth woman to the deliver the CHRISTMAS LECTURES and Gail Cardew, Director of Science and Education at the Royal Institution comments: ‘I am especially pleased to have a woman presenting the series and absolutely delighted that we have discovered an exciting new talent in Alison. She has a wonderful way of bringing this microscopic topic alive for young people.’ Alison is, however, the third Lecturer to come from Hertford – the others being Sir Walter Bodmer and Sir Christopher Zeeman, both former Principals of the College.

In response to her appointment, Alison said: “I won a science prize when I was 12 that gave me the opportunity to attend the CHRISTMAS LECTURES. All these years later as a developmental biologist, it is truly an honour to be returning to present the 2013 series on Life Fantastic. I am looking forward to sharing my passion for this amazing topic and discussing some of the complex issues being thrown up by advances in bioscience with young people. After all, they will be the scientists, parents and citizens of tomorrow.”

The 2013 CHRISTMAS LECTURES are supported by the Wellcome Trust.