The Speakers - 2025
Find out more about your workshop leaders, panelists and producers
Andy Extance
He fuses chemistry and physics – and whatever other elements cross his desk – into words, thanks to a career infused with both fields. He has been a freelance science writer since 2003, working for employers such as Chemistry World and BBC Future. He was news editor for Compound Semiconductor magazine from 2006-2009.
Before that, Andy worked in industrial chemistry, briefly making adhesives and rubber after spending six and a half years working at Tripos Discovery Research, an early-stage contract pharmaceutical research company. He is also a director of Exeter Community Energy and director of Exeter Empirical.
Workshop leader & producer: Journalism from scientific papers: Finding the most valuable stories
Deborah Cohen
Deborah was the Editor of the BBC Radio Science Unit for many years, where she was responsible for programmes on Radio 4 and the World Service such as The Infinite Monkey Cage, The Life Scientific, Inside Science, All in the Mind, Health Check and Discovery. She has lectured on science broadcasting to a variety of audiences, judged book and essay prizes and awarded grants for public engagement with science. She studied Physics a long time ago, is a Life Member of the ABSW and received an MBE for services to science and media in 2009.
Producer: Career paths in science journalism
Tom Crawford
Tom Crawford, is a Mathematician at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. At Oxford, he holds the position of Fellow by Special Election at St Edmund Hall and Public Engagement Lead at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. At Cambridge, he is a Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Robinson College. He also runs an award-winning website and associated social media profiles on Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube @tomrocksmaths. Tom was featured as YouTube’s ‘Creator on the Rise’ in December 2020, and has recently passed over 30 million views on the platform.
Workshop leader: Becoming a science YouTuber
Aisling Irwin
She freelances, mostly about science, the environment and development. Her work appears in publications such as New Scientist, Nature and SciDev.Net.
She has lived in, and freelanced from, various countries in Asia and Africa and is the author of a couple of books -- a travel guide to Cape Verde and the story of an African journey she did with her husband.
In the distant past she was science correspondent on The Daily Telegraph. She has won a couple of awards for her writing and has been on the ABSW Board for four years.
Producer: 5 things we wish we'd known when we began our feature-writing careers
Workshop leader & producer: From subject to story
Alok Jha
Alok Jha is the science and technology editor at The Economist. He's also the host of the paper's weekly science podcast, "Babbage".
Before that, he was science correspondent for ITV News and the Guardian, covering daily news and current affairs for more than a decade. He has also written and presented multiple TV and radio documentary series for the BBC. In 2018, he spent a year as a Wellcome fellow, developing new storytelling formats for complex topics.
He has reported from all over the world, including live from Antarctica, and is also the author of three popular science books, including “The Water Book” (Headline, 2015).
Workshop leader: Interview skills: Getting the story you need from the person in front of you
Mun Keat Looi
Mun Keat Looi is a Features Editor and journalist with 15 years of experience in science writing, digital content, long-form features, narrative storytelling, growth/audience engagement and social media. He is the International Features Editor at The BMJ, lectures on journalism at Imperial College London, and is the author of two books, ‘Big Questions in Science: The Quest to Solve the Great Unknowns (2013) and the Geek Guide to Life (2016).
Mun-Keat was awarded the silver Rising Star Award at the 2015 British Media Awards and has written and produced news, features, podcasts, and videos for Quartz, The Guardian, BBC Focus, Chemistry World and others. He is the author of the Association of British Science Writers’ ‘How to become a science writer‘ guide.
Workshop leader & producer: The art of pitching
Panelist: Your digital future
Alex O'Brien
Alex O'Brien is a science writer based in London, UK. Her work has been published by The Times, BBC, Scientific American, New Scientist, The Guardian and others.
In her first non-fiction science book ‘The Truth Detective’ she calls on all of us to regularly interrogate the narratives and information we are given. It’s a book on critical thinking.
She is particularly passionate about teaching critical thinking skills to young people. She spearheaded the UK Young Science Writer Award, which is aimed at students from state-funded schools to help encourage them into a career in STEM.
When she doesn’t write she competes on the global poker circuit.
Producer: Interview skills: Get the story you need from the person in front of you
Benjamin Plackett
Benjamin is a freelance journalist and has spent close to a decade reporting on science from the Middle East — working from countries such as Iraq, Lebanon and Tunisia. It continues to be a passion of his to ensure that research from non-western countries enjoys coverage and is subjected to journalistic scrutiny. His work has been published by Associated Press, C&EN, Discover Magazine, Engadget, Nature, Scientific American and Wired amongst others.
He has a B.Sci in biology from Imperial College London and an M.A. in journalism from New York University with an advanced certificate in science, health and environmental reporting.
Producer: Becoming a science YouTuber
Andy Ridgway
Andy Ridgway is a former Deputy Editor of BBC Science Focus and he continues to write, his work appearing in Focus, New Scientist, The Economist and Men's Health. He is a Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at the University of the West of England in Bristol and programme leader of their internationally renowned MSc in Science Communication. He was UWE's Principal Investigator on the Europe-wide online science communication research project RETHINK, which considered current challenges such as misinformation and trust. Andy has spent several years as a member of the judging team of the Max Perutz Science Writing Award run by the Medical Research Council.
