X Factor-style search for 10 academics from generation think

Young specialists with broadcasting flair were sought by BBC Radio 3 and research council to bring fresh voices to the public They are, in theory, the brightest of our bright young things: 10 academics chosen in an X Factor-style talent search with specialist subjects that range from the history of fan mail to the significance of the desert in modern culture. The Guardian can name the winners of a competition to find a new generation of thinkers and communicators, pictured as they gathered on Monday at the BBC. The talent search was a collaboration between Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Matthew Dodd, head of speech programming at Radio 3, said they wanted to find academics with a flair for broadcasting earlier in their career. “We felt that the people in academia we were dealing with were often very established with published books who were on air regularly,” he said. “We are looking for people with the most interesting ideas who want to share their knowledge and can make fantastic programmes.” It began with whittling down more than 1,000 applications – “far in excess of what we expected,” says Dodd – to select 57 finalists at a series of day-long workshops and auditions. He said: “It was a revelation to us how media savvy they were. The notion of being in an ivory tower was a long, long way away. They were all brimming with ideas and eager to spread their knowledge. There was none of the gaucheness that a stereotype of the scholar might throw up.” The list was then whittled down to the 10 winners. One is Alexandra Harris, who won last year’s Guardian First Book award for Romantic Moderns, her revisionist work on culture between the wars. Harris, an English lecturer at Liverpool University, got through with her specialist subject on how the weather – and more specifically being cold – has influenced English art, music and literature, although she admitted “it is research which is very new and I’m just starting.” She called the New Generation Thinkers scheme a fantastic opportunity and added: “I’ve never been a believer in the ivory tower university and all the people who have inspired me have been just terrific communicators who have made their research buzzing and relevant. “It also felt like a breath of hope at this point where it’s just cuts, cuts, cuts and this sense of academia being irrelevant and the government turning its back on the humanities. In a way, I wanted to apply just to say, ‘I love the sound of this scheme.’” Another of the 10 is Philip Roscoe, a lecturer at University of St Andrews school of management, who is looking at how economics shapes the moral landscape in everyday settings, including internet dating, an industry he called “social engineering on a massive scale”. He said much academic research is important and interesting but is a hard-sell in terms of generating headlines. “The prospect of being able to make some programming about the ideas and the concepts behind the research and take some time and do it properly was very appealing.” The others and their specialist subjects are Corin Throsby, Cambridge University, the history of fan mail; David Petts, Durham University, the commercialisation of British archaeology; Jon Adams, London School of Economics, on crowding in the modern city; Laurence Scott, Kings College London, on the image and significance of the desert in modern culture; Lucy Powell, University College London, a literary exploration of prisons; Rachel Hewitt, Queen Mary, University of London, on the 1790s: the Age of Despair; Shahidha Bari, also Queen Mary, on the Arabian Nights; and Zoe Norridge, York University, on cultural responses to the Rwandan genocide. All 10 can be heard on the next 10 editions of Night Waves from tonight and they will then develop their broadcasting ideas further with Radio 3 as well as appear in special New Generation Thinkers debates. Radio 3 Higher education BBC Lecturers Entertainment Mark Brown guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 28, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.