As part of our #AtHome with the British Council programme, we are organising a series of Higher Education dialogues which will help you connect with colleagues from around the world and share your experience.
As it was the last session of the series, we focused on Has ‘following the science’ ever been as important as it is today? with two very special guests - the first British astronaut, Helen Sharman, and the award-winning science communicator, Jim Al-Khalili.
Since the start of the pandemic, international collaboration in research and innovation has greatly intensified. The global scientific community has come together and developed promising tests and treatments for COVID-19 in as little as a few months. We’re seeing more scientists across different media than we have ever seen in the past.
Has the role of science been strengthened, and will it continue post-Covid?
About the speakers
Helen Sharman CMG OBE is a pioneer, a role model and inspirational speaker. She became the first British Astronaut in 1991, when she launched in a Soyuz spacecraft to carry out experiments on the MIR space station. After her spaceflight, Helen became a science communicator and corporate speaker, winning prizes for radio and TV programmes and for her talks on STEM, teamwork and resilience.
Jim Al-Khalili OBE FRS is a physicist, author and broadcaster and one of the best-known science communicators in Britain. He has written twelve books on popular science, between them translated into over twenty-six languages, as well as his first novel. He is a regular presenter of TV science documentaries and the long-running Radio 4 programme, The Life Scientific. His latest book, The World According to Physics, was published this year by Princeton University Press.
Session moderator Summer Xia - Country Director Azerbijian, British Council and the Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy in Baku. Summer is also the Wider Europe Regional Higher Education Programme Director, leading the British Council activities to support countries in the region with their education transformation by bringing UK expertise and experience.
Tune in to find out more, the session is free of charge.