Judges and Contributors

As well as coordinating the Institute of Ideas 2011 Battle Satellite programme, David is TV columnist for spiked, poetry editor for Culture Wars and co-founder of the Institute of Ideas’ Current Affairs Forum. He is an alumnus of Debating Matters and having competed in its first year 03/04 he has continued to support the competition ever since. Aside from his work on the national competition, David has also had a key role in several DM side-projects including the Global Uncertainties Network (in partnership with Research Councils UK) and co-ordinator for the Northern Ireland Showcase in 2009. Aside from his work with DM and the IoI, David has also worked in public affairs for organisations including Libertas and the Design and Artists Copyright Society.

Iain’s background is in philosophy, and he has taught at Manchester since 2006.  His research interests are varied; he has published on a range of applied and theoretical topics (from genetically engineered children to artificial wombs to whether there’s a duty to conduct scientific research), and he recently gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament in favour of legalising assisted dying.  He’s currently on sabbatical, writing a book provisionally called “Bioscience and the Good Life”, which will be published by Bloomsbury.  This is the company that publishes Harry Potter, so he predicts he’ll become vastly wealthy from the royalties.  Since the autumn of 2008, Iain has been a contributor to, and an editor of, the Journal of Medical Ethics’ blog.

Andy graduated from Princeton University in 2009 with an A.B. in sociology and a certificate in East Asian studies. He founded Princeton’s first graphic design initiative, the Student Design Agency, and was awarded the Pyne Honor Prize, the university’s highest general undergraduate distinction. Andy’s work focuses on design that addresses issues of social concern. His ‘Own What You Think’ campaign against anonymous online hate speech garnered the attention of ABC’s ‘20/20’ and BusinessWeek. In the summer of 2009, he completed an internship under Paula Scher at the New York office of Pentagram Design. Currently, as Fulbright Research Associate at the Royal College of Art’s Helen Hamlyn Centre, he is partnering with Age UK to create graphic design solutions that address social stigma surrounding ageing and sexuality.

A social scientist with a background in health services research and social gerontology, Lynne specialises in researching the health and social care of older people, specifically the psychosocial and economic aspects of dementia. She has a particular interest in quality of life assessment, outcome measurement and the involvement of older people in research.

Pauline has a PhD from Newcastle University and a First Class Honours degree from the Open University, and lectured in economics at the University of Northumbria from 1997 to 2000, before lecturing in education policy at Newcastle University. Pauline was the International Research Coordinator on the John Templeton Project from 2003-2005, working in six countries in Asia and Africa searching for private schools catering for low-income families. Pauline was a leading teacher on, and writer of, the course ‘Educational Freedom: A Global Perspective’, that was a winner of the Freedom Project, managed by the Atlas Economic Freedom Foundation and funded by the John Templeton Foundation.

Jim represents our partners on this event, Newcastle University, but also brings his scientific and wider background to the debate as the retired founding Director of the IAH and the first Chair of Years Ahead - the North East Forum on Ageing, which addresses the challenge of how the North East can be a flourishing, sustainable region with a population age-structure much older than that experienced by previous generations. Jim is also an Honorary Vice President of the Alzheimer’s Society with long-standing research interests in this disorder and the needs of people with dementia.

Caspar is a freelance engineer and mathematician with nearly twenty years of research experience in academia and industry. He has taught and lectured a variety of subjects including mathematics, Darwinian theory, theories of human nature, philosophy of science and environmental issues. He is the founder and chair of The Great Debate, a group based in the North-East of England who organise workshops, courses and public discussions on scientific and social issues. He is currently working on a book about humanism and the notion of progress.

Anne Johnstone is chief leader writer at The Herald newspaper where she has worked for more than 30 years. Like George Osborne, she studied Modern History at Oxford and has the same degree, which she finds vaguely worrying. She has three “grown up” children.

Jane has held several senior administrative positions in public and private sector organisations of all sizes, in both London and Edinburgh, including several internationally renowned architects’ practices, the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, the NHS, Glenmorangie whisky and a Scottish Premier League football club! She is a double graduate of the University of Edinburgh with an MA and an MBA.  As a consultant, Jane supports businesses through reorganisation and reviewing business processes and effectiveness.  She is a coach and mentor, both professionally and as a volunteer. Jane serves on the Royal Society of Arts Scotland Committee, the Board of the Volunteer Centre in Edinburgh and is a member of the Business Committee of the General Council of the University of Edinburgh. She is fluent in Italian and visits Italy at least once a year, and in her spare time enjoys photography and tending her allotment at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh. 

Educated in biology and mathematics at Cambridge and Oxford, Tom worked at the National Institute for Medical Research, where he formed and led a new research division, until in 1993 he became Professor of Biological Gerontology at the University of Manchester. His research is focused on the basic science of ageing and on understanding how genes as well as non-genetic factors, such as nutrition, influence longevity and health in old age. He chaired the UK Foresight Task Force on ‘Healthcare and Older People’ and was Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Science & Technology Select Committee inquiry into ‘scientific aspects of ageing’. Tom serves on the editorial boards of eight other journals. He has published more than 250 scientific papers and won several international prizes for his research. His books include the award-winning ‘Time of Our lives: the science of human ageing’ and ‘The end of age ‘, based on his BBC Reith Lectures in 2001.

Suzanne trained as a speech and language therapist, working in Newcastle upon Tyne, London and Mumbai before embarking on a post-doctoral research career in 1990. Until 2000, she worked on environmental epidemiology studies investigating the health of communities living near industry. Since 2000, she has undertaken a number of studies which have focused on health, welfare and well-being among older people. Her current and long-term interests are in the health and well-being of older people, the impact of changes to the welfare state on older people, tackling health and social inequalities and applying research to policy and practice.

Sean is the co-adapter of the acclaimed ‘Juliet and her Romeo’ at the Bristol Old Vic, which uses Shakespeare’s text, but casts the lovers in their 80s, with their anxious children, not their parents, seeking to prevent an imprudent and costly match.

Jim’s work specialises in Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy. He was formerly a high school teacher of PE and English, and worked for many years in teacher training. He is a former professional footballer, has a book series in Ethics and Sport, and is Founding Director of the British Olympic Academy. He is currently International Professor of Olympic Studies at the University of Ghent, Belgium.

Joao’s research is on the molecular mechanisms of cellular ageing. He obtained his degree at the University of Porto, Portugal and conducted his PhD on the subject of cellular ageing at Newcastle University. Following his PhD he did his post-doc at Newcastle University and at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Joao has published various papers on cellular ageing, and is invited regularly to international conferences, having been awarded various prizes for his research. He did a Café Scientifique lecture in 2006 entitled ‘Eternally young: a dream or a reality?’

Sam has been in post as Eaga’s Social Responsibility Manager since the Autumn of 2007. He has had various roles with Eaga since 2002, working predominantly on domestic energy efficiency and social inclusion schemes. Sam has experience of the public, private and voluntary sectors, with an academic and professional background in mental health service provision and human communication. He describes his current role as an unusual and exciting fusion of a range of his professional and personal lifetime experiences. Sam has three children and lives in Bristol, where he loves to go on family bike rides and play football for the world famous Easton Cowboys.

Paul has worked as a civil servant in Leeds for over 20 years. He has a degree in Social Sciences and an MA in British History, and is a qualified FE teacher. He is co-founder of The Leeds Salon public debating forum and writes regularly for online journal Freedom in a Puritan Age and the Leeds-based Culture Vulture magazine. He has also written for Culture Wars, spiked , the Independent Blog and the Guardian Leeds Blog. Paul has been a Debating Matters judge since 2008, and as a supporter of the competition also acts as a debate chair and helps run competition events in both the UK and India.

Carmel has worked in media relations for the last 25 years, mostly in the areas of health, science or medicine. Her first job was at the City of London Corporation, and she later moved to the British Medical Association and then the BBC.  She is embarrassed to admit she has a degree in Media Studies, but claims that way back in the 1980’s it was (almost) quite a cool course.

Jack is a doctor and pharmaceutical executive whose work on healthcare disparities takes him around the globe. He is also a great lover of the arts and believes that education changes everything.

Kevin’s research interest include race in the twentieth century United States, the growth and destruction of postwar liberalism, recent policy history, the history of the civil rights movement, and current issues in the United States. He is currently writing a book on the humanist, libertarian case against suicide and has recently published a book entitled Richard Nixon and the Rise of Affirmative Action.