SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Andrea Brunello
Biography
Independent researcher, playwright, director and actor, Andrea has a Ph.D. in Physics. He works at the boundary between theatre and science, creating original works that have been performed all over Europe and beyond. He runs Arditodesìo a theatre company devoted to increasing scientific literacy and directs the Theatre of Wonder Festival in Trento (Italy). Andrea teaches science communication by means of theatre and storytelling at the Master in Communication of Science and Innovation and at the Physics Department of the University of Trento and at the Physics and Astronomy Department of the University of Bologna (Italy). Andrea is member of the board of directors of EUSEA – the European Science Engagement Association.
Carla Almeida
Biography
Science communicator and researcher at the Museu da Vida, science museum of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), in Brazil, where she works in the areas of public engagement with science; science, media and society; and science-theatre. Almeida teaches the Fiocruz’s Diploma Course in Communication and Popularization of Science and the the Master’s in Communication of Science, Technology and Health. She is co-author of the books Cordel e Ciência: A Ciência em Versos Populares, Ciência em Cena: Teatro no Museu da Vida and Science & Theatre: Communicating Science and Technology with Performing Arts.
Carlos Fiolhais
Biography
Full professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Coimbra since 2000, now retired. Author of 70 books and numerous scientific, pedagogical and dissemination articles. He writes for national newspapers and magazines and he is guest of the Now TV channel. He received several national awards. Recently, a new Library was created in Coimbra with his name. Former director of the General Library of the University of Coimbra, is the current director of the «Ciência Aberta» collection from book publisher Gradiva.
Daniel Abdalla
Biography
Daniel Ibrahim Abdalla is Lecturer in the Department of English and Deputy Director of the Literature and Science Hub at the University of Liverpool. He works on literature from 1800-present and focuses on the ways that authors engage with science, race, and the environment. His first monograph, on heredity in American literary culture, is forthcoming in the Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine series.
Daniel Gamito-Marques
Biography
Research Fellow at the Interuniversity Centre for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT). Historian of the connections between science and colonialism in Africa (19th-20th cent.). Works as a professional playwright and dramaturge since 2016. Explores the use of historical knowledge of the sciences in theatre.
Emma Weitkamp
Biography
Professor in Science Communication and Co-director of the Science Communication Unit at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Her research interests explore narrative in science communication, spanning both arts and media practice and the actors involved in science communication. Emma is involved in developing a Science Communication Academy, as part of another EU-funded COALESCE project and recently convened a conference exploring arts and science (funded by Schering Stiftung). She has published three books: Science & Theatre, communicating science and technology with performing arts; Creative Research Communication; and Introducing Science Communication.
Joana Lobo Antunes
Biography
Head of Communication at Instituto Superior Técnico. Lecturer in Science Communication and Social Media for Scientists, FCSH NOVA and Universidade Nova de Lisboa Doctoral School. Her main interests are the use of theatre improvisation techniques and storytelling in Science Communication. Coordinator of science radio show 90 Segundos de Ciência. Founder and former President of Portuguese Science Communicators Network SciComPT.
Liliane Campos
Biography
Lecturer in English and Theatre studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, and fellow of the Institut Universitaire de France. Her research explores how art transforms the images and discourse of science. Books include Sciences en scène dans le théâtre britannique contemporain and Life, Re-Scaled: The Biological Imagination in Twenty-First-Century Literature and Performance.
More info: Sorbonne Nouvelle and Science and Literature Group.
Paul Johnson
Biography
Paul is Professor of Theatre and Performance and Deputy Provost at the University of Chester. He studied Physics and Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow before undertaking a PhD on the use of science as a framework for writing about performance. He has published variously on performance and science, as well as writing a number of science related plays. He convened the Performance and Science working group of the Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA) and is currently co-editing the Routledge Companion to Performance and Science.
Simon Parry
Biography
Senior Lecturer in Drama and Arts Management based in the department of Drama and Film at the University of Manchester. His current research focuses on the practice, policy and theory of creative health. He recently led a UKRI-funded project Organisations of Hope exploring the potential contribution of creative activity to health equity in Greater Manchester. He has also worked with Manchester Art Gallery and other partners to develop a network exploring responses to trauma in the arts. He has worked with a number of organisations on different approaches to engaging with health and science through the arts and has published widely on this topic including the book Science in Performance (MUP, 2020).
Steve Abbott
Biography
Steve Abbott is a professor of mathematics at Middlebury College (Vermont, USA) with a long-term interest in real analysis, logic, and foundations. Bewitched by his experience as a consultant on a production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia over twenty years ago, Professor Abbott devoted himself to researching, watching, and eventually directing plays that engage mathematics. The results of this intellectual journey are recounted in The Proof Stage (Princeton University Press, 2023), which explores how playwrights from Samuel Beckett to Simon McBurney brought the power of abstract mathematics to the human stage.
Teresa Girão
Biography
Director of the Botanic Garden (University of Coimbra) and researcher in science communication at the Centre for Functional Ecology – Science for People & the Planet (CFE). Her research activity was firstly focused on the field of biotechnology and neuroscience. She now focuses on the impact of science and technology and of science communication activities on society.
Theatre about Science 