Biographies of speakers

Published: Nov 11, 2010

JOHN WYATT
John Wyatt is Professor of Ethics and Perinatology at University College London.  He has worked as a consultant neonatologist at University College Hospital for more than 20 years but is now concentrating on teaching and research into ethical dilemmas raised by advances in technology.  He is Chair of the Medical Study Group of the Christian Medical Fellowship and a board member of Biocentre.  He is a member of the Ethics Committees of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and has been frequently involved in professional and media debates on ethical issues concerning the beginning and end of life.


DAVID PULLINGER
Dr David Pullinger, a previous Director of the SRT Project, now works for the UK Government in setting policies and standards for the use of digital media by the public sector.  He continues the academic career he began earlier through writing papers, particularly on IT and ethics, and in participation as a visiting professor at universities.  Between working at the Church of Scotland and becoming a civil servant, he led the introduction of digital into blue chip commercial publishing companies (winning international awards for thought leadership), conceived and initiated the means by which all academic articles link to each other, led some major international research projects, and wrote an introductory book on Internet ethics.  His primary interest is the design interplay between technical opportunities and what people do and how they think about what they do, and reflecting on the associated spiritual and ethical aspects.
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THOMAS S TORRANCE
Dr Thomas Torrance was born in Alyth, Perthshire. He holds degrees from the Universities of St Andrews and of Edinburgh and, after a working life of 36 years at the University of Aberdeen and at Heriot-Watt University, he retired from the position of Senior Lecturer in Economics at the latter institution in May 2009. His chief fields of academic interest are in international economics, the history of economic theory and the philosophy of science as it applies to economics and the other social sciences.

SAM BERRY
R. J. (Sam) Berry, DSc, FRSE, was Professor of Genetics at University College London 1974-2000. He is a former President of the Linnean Society, the British Ecological Society, and Christians in Science. He received the 1996 Templeton UK Award for his “sustained advocacy of the Christian faith in the world of science”. He is a Gifford Lecturer (Glasgow 1997-8) and has written a number of books, including God and Evolution, God and the Biologist, and God’s Book of Works; he edited three books published in 2009 - Real Scientists, Real Faith; Darwin, Creation and the Fall; and (jointly with Professor Michael Northcott of New College) Theology After Darwin.


ERIC PRIEST
Prof Eric Priest is James Gregory and Bishop Wardlaw professor of mathematics at St Andrews and is a world leader in the study of the Sun’s magnetic field and atmosphere. In particular, he builds mathematical models the subtle nonlinear interaction between the plasma atmosphere of the Sun and its magnetic field, which is responsible for much of the dynamic behaviour we see. He is a Fellow of Royal Society and on the Advisory Boards of the Faraday Institute and the John Templeton Foundation. He organises the highly successful James Gregory Public Lectures at St Andrews three times per year on Science and Religion, attracting 500-600 audience. He has edited 15 books and written 2 research monographs and 440 journal papers.


DONALD BRUCE
Dr Donald Bruce is the managing director of the ethics consultancy Edinethics Ltd. He holds doctorates in chemistry and theology. From 1976-92 he worked in nuclear energy research, safety and risk regulation, and Government energy policy. From 1992-2007, he was Director of the Church of Scotland’s Society, Religion and Technology Project, pioneering the examination of ethical and societal issues in emerging technologies, notably on GM crops and animals, cloning and stem cells, and nanotechnologies. He has also worked on the ethics of technological risk, gene patenting, sustainable development and climate policy. He is a regular speaker, writer and broadcaster on bioethics nationally and internationally. He is much involved in public participation in science, especially with the New Economics Foundation on the Democs card games. 

 

ANGELIKI KERASIDOU
Dr Angeliki Kerasidou is a bioethicist and theologian. She is based at the Department of Public Health, and Ethox at Oxford University. She has studied theology and ethics in Greece, Germany and the UK and she gained her DPhil in Bioethics at the University of Oxford in 2009. Her research so far has focused on theories of philosophical and theological anthropology, cloning, stem cell research, assisted reproduction, synthetic biology, research ethics, and on the moral value of human life.


HOWARD DAVIS
Howard Davis is Professor of Social Theory and Institutions in the School of Social Sciences, Bangor University. He studied sociology at Cambridge and Edinburgh before moving to Glasgow, where he was one of the founder members of the Glasgow Media Group. Following some years at the University of Kent he was seconded to be Director of the SRT Project from 1983-1985, when the key issues included the social impacts of new information and communications technologies, the ethics of defence and disarmament, and environmental responsibility.  He returned to Kent
until his move to Wales in 1997. Among his various roles he is a co-director of the Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD). His research interests include the cultures of technology, the organization of creative work, sociology of the media, and questions of local, national and European identity. He has published on the trajectories of social and cultural change in western and eastern Europe before and after the end of communism, combining his research
with a series of EU funded projects to develop the sociology curriculum at universities in the central Volga region of Russia. His professional and personal commitment to the dialogue between religion, ethics and the social sciences is ongoing.

 

ALISTAIR DONALD
Formerly a parish minister in Aberdeenshire, Alistair has a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Wales. He is currently Chaplain to Heriot-Watt University; a former Convener of the Scottish Churches Apologetics Committee, he has been a member of the SRTs Synthetic Biology working group. He has a long-standing interest in the relation of science and faith, and has lectured and debated on the subject in a variety of church, university and public contexts.

 

DAVID ATKINSON
An expert in agricultural research and its management, largely focussing on crop protection, the functioning of crop root systems and mycorrhizal fungi. He has worked at a number of institutions, including the East Malling Research Centre, The Macaulay Institute, The University of Aberdeen and the Scottish Agricultural College. He teaches stem cell ethics in the University of Aberdeen and is still concerned with research issues related to food production in cool climates and soil biology. Formerly a member of the SRT Committee and its subcommittees on Genetic Modification, Stem cells and Energy, Rev Atkinson is now a Priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church concerned with Rural Issues and science and faith issues. He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh) lay advisory group and management board of MRCP Qualification, a trustee of British Crop Production Council, a member of Scottish Gov Food Forum, and chaired the Scottish Governments Committee on Food security. He is also a member of the Board of Falkland Rural Enterprise Ltd.

 

ADRIAN SHAW
Adrian Shaw is the Climate Change Officer for the Church of Scotland and secretary of Eco-Congregation Scotland.  He previously spent twenty five years in local government working in different authorities in London and in the West of Scotland.  He was also a member of the Board of Friends of the Earth Scotland and the Scottish Council of WWF.  He holds degrees in geography from the Universities of Cambridge and Toronto.


JOHN M FRANCIS
A nuclear scientist turned environmentalist and the first director of the SRT Project, John Francis spent 25 years in The Scottish Office as a senior civil servant (until 1999), working with successive Secretaries of State & Scottish Ministers. He was Principal Adviser on Science & Technology for Development, WCC, Geneva (1971-1983) and also Senior Research Fellow in Energy Studies at Heriot-Watt University.  In 1984, he was appointed as Director-Scotland, Nature Conservancy Council (GB) and then chief executive of the Nature Conservancy Council for Scotland until 1992.  After leaving the Scottish Office, he was elected as chair of the new UK National Commission for UNESCO (1999 – 2003).  He remains closely involved in the work of the SRT Project, serving both on the Church & Society Council and on the SRT Committee. His wide-ranging current involvements include Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (since 1991); Honorary Fellow, Royal Scottish Geographical Society; Honorary Fellow, Royal Zoological Society Scotland; Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh; Governing Board (since 2008) - UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy & Science, University of Dundee; Deputy Chair, UNESCO Scotland Committee/UK National Commission for UNESCO. He is a member of St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh.

 

HEATHER MCHAFFIE
Heather McHaffie is a member of Wardie Parish Church in Edinburgh and is involved in helping to co-ordinate the Edinburgh Eco-congregation network. She trained as a primary teacher and taught for nearly 20 years before changing career. A life-long enthusiasm for plants eventually led to a job at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh where she works on the conservation of Scottish plants. Heather also teaches a range of plant identification courses and enjoys gardening, especially growing ferns.

 

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