Who Are We?

Hannah is a neuroscientist with a background in neuropsychiatry. During her PhD she was awarded a Fellowship at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge and as an undergraduate received three University Prizes as Best Biologist.

After completing her studies Hannah worked with the neuroscience community, in communication and policy fields - as Strategic Manager for Cambridge Neuroscience and on secondment helping to steer and coordinate the re-launch of the British Neuroscience Association.

Hannah is now setting her sights on stripping down the brain with the Naked Scientists. Using Radio, on-line channels and public focused live events she is designing, producing and presenting a neuroscience focused, interactive multimedia experience targeted at 14 yrs and upwards.

Hannah’s choice of career stemmed from working as a Nursing Assistant at St Andrews Psychiatric Hospital. When not being enthused by all things brainy Hannah spends her time splashing about by the river and living the houseboat dream. 

Richard is an award-winning science writer and broadcast and so is in healthy competition with his Planet Earth co-presenter as to who makes the best podcast.  A former senior producer on the BBC’s Today programme, Richard is the author of two science books, including the critically acclaimed Blood and Guts.  
 
Despite a degree in biology, Richard is editor of space:uk magazine. He also provides launch commentary for the European Space Agency and co-founded the Space Boffins podcast.  He has reported for BBC Radio 4 and the World Service on science and the environment from more than 40 countries - including Libya, Antarctica and the Arctic.  Some of his most memorable moments have been at twenty degrees below zero.

Sue is an award-winning science writer and broadcaster, and a presenter of the Planet Earth podcast (edited versions of their content can be heard on Naked Scientists).  Sue wrote to NASA as a teenager asking how to become an astronaut. They advised studying physics, which she did, but was diverted into the BBC instead.  She has been making science programmes for BBC Radio 4 and the World Service ever since.
 
A former BBC science & environment correspondent for TV news, she has a passion for space science and astronomy and is a founding member of the Space Boffins podcast.  Sue also writes drama and comedy and, despite the physics degree, somehow ended up editor of The Biologist.  She cannot stand the sight of blood.

Redi Tlhabi was born in Orlando East, Soweto, in 1978. She studied Journalism and Communications at RAU and also has an honours degree in English Literature from the University of Johannesburg. She presents the Redi Tlhabi Show on Talk Radio 702.

Dominic is a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy based at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Since completing his PhD in 2008, his time has been split between researching how stars form and designing a large new radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array. Dominic is a regular contributor to Naked Astronomy, and has made guest appearances on Ask The Naked Scientists and The Naked Scientists.

In his spare time, Dominic can often be found pointing a pair of binoculars skywards, working late into the night on one of his pet free software projects or enjoying a Chopin prelude. He is also known for having something of a weakness for fine port.

Carolin is an astronomer, and divides her time between the Institute of Astronomy and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. This means she's usually busy organising outreach activities for the department, and teaching maths to students. Carolin does a lot of talking - she is keen to communicate her enthusiasm for astronomy to as wide an audience as possible. In the occasional quiet moment she tries to squeeze in some research on the properties of the most massive galaxies in the Universe, using data collected from the largest ground-based and space telescopes.

In 2009 Carolin was noted as one of the UKRC's Women of Outstanding Achievement for the communication of science with a contribution to society.

Andrew is a cosmologist, currently based at Emmanuel College and the Kavli Institute for Cosmology in Cambridge. He received his PhD from Cambridge University in 2009. His research interests span everything from galaxy formation to the microwave background (the radiation left over from the big bang).

Andrew has been involved in communicating science from the beginning of his PhD. He recently won the 'Masterclass Award' in the FameLab 2009 national final. When not embroiled in science, he can occasionally be found working on sound or music for London fringe theatre productions (most recently, Dream of the Dog at the Finborough Theatre).

Sue Marchant is a BBC radio presenter for the eastern region. She hosts the Sue Marchant Show on weekday evenings across the eastern counties, and teams up with the Naked Scientists each Thursday to produce "Ask! The Naked Scientists", our interactive and wild science phone-in show and podcast. Sue's weaknesses, apart from an attraction to bottles of brightly-coloured hair dye, are furry creatures and fine wines. That said, we're still waiting for her to turn up to the studio with something for us to drink. We live (thirstily) in hope...

Tom started burying himself in archaeology in his home town of Cambridge when he was 16. Since then, he has taken part in fieldwork at different sites from different periods in different places. Tom has enjoyed Gravettian period sites in the Czech Republic, helping reconsolidate a Scottish broch, wandering along valleys in Pre-Hispanic Peru, digging deep into a Neolithic Tell site in Turkey, uncovering Roman cisterns and Etruscan cuniculi in Italy, as well as trundling around prehistoric and medieval sites in England. He will dig at almost every opportunity.

Tom is the ‘backyard archaeologist’ for Naked Archaeology, where he contributes on a variety of different things related to archaeology (except when he is away digging!). Other than eating with his fork and knife the wrong way round, Tom likes to campaign for real ale, except when it’s a hot summer’s day and he betrays his morals for a crisp lager.

Duncan is a doctoral researcher in archaeology at Cambridge. His research interests include Aegean and Cypriot prehistory, underwater archaeology, pre-classical seafaring, and maritime cultural landscapes. To date, he has directed five seasons of underwater survey along the western and southern coastlines of Cyprus. His PhD thesis focuses on how maritime trade and exchange affected the socio-political and economic establishment of southwest Cyprus during the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Duncan got involved with Naked Archaeology in April 2009 when he gave an interview on his current research in Cyprus. Since then he has finished a project with Dr. Albert Ammerman on the earliest seafaring in the Mediterranean, which should appear on your televisions shortly! After the PhD Duncan is returning to the eastern Mediterranean to start an experimental archaeology project that aims to recreate the journey of the first seafarers from the Levant to Cyprus in the epi-Palaeolithic c. 12,000 years ago.

Sarah studied Zoology for her degree, so although a 'squishy scientist' by trade, she still likes to delve into a bit of harder science now and again, particularly general relativity. A chance meeting with the Naked Scientists set her off down the road of science journalism, and she's never looked back.

She produces and co-presents Naked Oceans, writes, presents and produces the Naked Science Scrapbook video podcast and writes and presents This Week in Science History. When not spreading the good word of science, Sarah enjoys the rather more domestic pursuits of knitting and serious cake baking.

Diana trained as an archaeologist at Cambridge University, capitalising on the sponsored trips to exotic places like Argentina and er…Peterborough. But feeling the inevitable tug of science, and because she got to study cool mummies, she took on a Masters in bioarchaeology - a qualification which came in handy in her next role, organising the lives of various Cambridge virologists. Through this she met the Naked Scientists and became the host of Question of the Week.

Diana produces TNS, Naked Archaeology and Sporran; she contributes to obesity in chaffinches; eats lots of cake and burns it all off in the gym. She has also been seen shooting arrows, riding horses, climbing big hills and putting computers back together – usually with a screw and a cable or two left over. She is currently a doctoral researcher at Magdalene College.