BHA 2016 Speakers

Born in Iran in 1973, Shappi Khorsandi and her family were forced to flee from Iran to London after the Islamic Revolution, as her father had written satirical poetry. She is a comedian, performs stand-up, and has appeared on many radio and television shows, including Shappi Talk and Question Time.

In 2015, she was one of several contributors What is Humanism?, a new book from Michael Rosen and Annemarie Young aimed at introducing Humanism to children. She became President of Humanists UK in January 2016.

Professor Alice Roberts is an anatomist, author, broadcaster, and Patron of Humanists UK . She studied medicine and anatomy before developing a research interest in biological or physical anthropology – looking at what ancient skeletons can tell us about human evolution. She has presented several science shows on television, including Coast, Don’t Die Young, The Incredible Human Journey, Horizon, and Origins of Us.

She is an honorary fellow of the British Science Association and Patron of the Association of Science and Discovery Centres.

Peter Tatchell is a human rights campaigner and has been active for decades. He attempted a citizens arreest of President Robert Mugage in 1999 and 2001, and was a co-founder of LGBT rights group ‘OutRage!’. Tatchell is a strong proponent of freedom of speech and has spoken out on the topic.

Polly Toynbee is a journalist, writer, and columnist for the Guardian, is Humanists UK Vice President, and was Humanists UK President from 2007 until 2012.

Having studied the Bible for all her life, Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou describes herself as ‘an atheist with huge respect for religion’ She is Professor of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at Exeter’s Department of Theology and Religion. She presented the BBC TV series The Bible’s Buried Secrets and also contributed to Channel 4’s The Bible: A History.

Dr George Zarkadakis is a science writer, playwright, and novelist with a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. He has worked for organisations including the European Commission and the British Council, Silicon Graphics and the European Bioinformatics Institute; appeared on the History Channel; written for publications such as Aeon digital magazine and the Washington Post; and been knighted by the French government for his services to science communication.

David Wootton is Anniversary Professor of History. He works on the intellectual and cultural history of the English speaking countries, Italy, and France, 1500-1800. He is currently writing a book entitled Power, Pleasure and Profit based on his Carlyle Lectures at the University of Oxford in 2014. His most recent book is The Invention of Science, published by Allen Lane.

David Aaronovitch is an author, broadcaster, and journalist. He is a regular columnist for The Times and the author of several books, including Voodoo Histories: The Role of Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History. He won the Orwell Prize for political journalism in 2001, and the What the Papers Say Columnist of the Year award for 2003. He is an honorary associate of the Rationalist Association, publisher of the New Humanist.

Monica Grady is Professor in Planetary Sciences at The Open University, and is one of the UK’s leading space scientists. She worked on the Ptolemy instrument on the Philae lander, that made the first successful soft landing on a comet, in November 2014. She delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 2003, and has said that ‘the biggest question we are trying to get any answer to is ‘where did life on Earth come from’? Asteroid (4731) was named Monicagrady in her honour.

Dr Thom Scott-Phillips is Senior Research Fellow in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Durham University, and he researches evolutionary and cognitive approaches to the human mind and culture, and in particular to communication and language. His first book, Speaking Our Minds, was published in November 2014. Among his major prizes and awards are the British Psychological Society’s prize for Outstanding Doctoral Research (2010). Thom delivered the Darwin Day Lecture 2016 in Newcastle.