The British Science Association (BSA) is today announcing our Scientific Section Presidents for the 2025 British Science Festival, which takes place from 10 – 14 September in Liverpool.
The Scientific Section Presidents are science professionals who play a crucial role in developing content and shaping the British Science Festival programme each year.
Since the Festival’s founding, the Scientific Sections have played a key role in developing the Festival’s programme of events, talks, demonstrations, installations and other activities.
They help advise the British Science Association’s Festival team on the latest developments in their fields, and ensure that every corner of science, from natural sciences to the arts are included, so that Festival-goers find the programme diverse, relevant, and current.
Each Section President also delivers an address. This year’s talks cover subjects including ‘weight-loss jabs’, trees’ communication networks, the ethics of at-home ancestry testing, and science’s hidden women.
Full details of this year’s talks will be released as part of the full festival programme at the beginning of July.
The British Science Festival 2025 Section Presidents and their address titles are:
Biological Sciences - Giles Yeo, Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology, Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge - Gut feeling: How do the new weight loss drugs work? (title tbc)
Economics - Ellen Greaves, Lecturer in Economics, University of Exeter - The ins and outs of school admissions
General - Katie J. Field, Professor of Plant-Soil Processes, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield - Is there really a ‘wood wide web’?
Geology - Anjana Khatwa, Honorary Associate, School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Science, The Open University - The whispers of rock: stories from the earth
History of Science - Gregory Lynall, King Alfred Chair in English Literature, University of Liverpool - Searching for science’s invisible women
Mathematical Science - Kit Yates, Professor of Mathematical Biology and Public Engagement, University of Bath - Expect the unexpected
Medical Sciences - Chamion Caballero, Co-Founder and Director, Mixed Museum, and Sophie Kay Genealogist, - The ethics and emotions of at-home ancestry
Physics and Astronomy - Jessica Wade, Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer in Functional Materials, Imperial College London - Ethics and morality of quantum
Psychology - Liz Pellicano, Professor of Autism Research, University College London - Embracing autistic joy
Science and the Arts - Gina Czarnecki, Artist, GCz Studio Ltd - Deepfakes, identity, and bioethics
Sociology and Social Policy - Mark Davis, Professor of Economic Sociology / Deputy Head of School, University of Leeds - Can your cash inspire climate action?
The British Science Festival is Europe’s longest standing science festival, hosted in a different UK city each year. The Festival connects people with scientists, engineers, technologists and social scientists in an inspiring programme of free events.
This year’s festival is a partnership between the British Science Association, the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University.
More details about the British Science Festival 2025 programme, including the Presidential addresses, will be released in the coming months.
Sign up to the British Science Association’s newsletter, follow us on Bluesky, and visit www.britishsciencefestival.org for more information and updates.
(Main image: Some of this year's Section Presidents. Top l-r - Liz Pellicano, Kit Yates, Chamion Cabellero, Sophie Kay - photo by Lenka Jones, Greg Lynall. Bottom l-r - Mark Davis, Giles Yeo, Anjana Khatwa - photo by Rob Coombe, Gina Czarnecki, Jess Wade)