Building Bridges 2022 Spotlight Series: an interview with Nancy Cartwright MAE

Building Bridges 2022 Spotlight Series: an interview with Nancy Cartwright MAE


Winner of the Hypatia Prize, Nancy Cartwright tells us about her recent work and the role philosophy can play in facing present-day challenges.

About Nancy Cartwright MAE

Nancy Cartwright, Lady Hampshire, is a distinguished and influential contemporary philosopher of science and professor at Durham University (UK) and the University of California at San Diego. She served as the President of the Philosophy of Science Association from 2009-2010. She is a Fellow of the British Academy, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She was elected to AE in 2018. Her research focuses on objectivity and evidence and evidence-based policy.

In February 2022, the AE Barcelona Knowledge Hub announced Nancy Cartwright winner of their Hypatia European Science Prize for her outstanding contributions to philosophical research. The award ceremony was held and hosted by the Barcelona City Council, in collaboration with the Academia Europaea Barcelona Knowledge Hub.

Read More Read More

Building Bridges 2022 Spotlight Series: an interview with Sir Shankar Balasubramanian and Helga Nowotny MAE

Building Bridges 2022 Spotlight Series: an interview with Sir Shankar Balasubramanian and Helga Nowotny MAE


In this joint interview, Sir Shankar Balasubramanian and Helga Nowotny discuss a range of topics, including innovation, interdisciplinary research, public and policy engagement, and the impacts of technology.

About Shankar Balasubramanian

Sir Shankar Balasubramanian is the Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and senior group leader at the Cambridge Institute. He works on the chemistry, structure and function of nucleic acids, spanning fundamental chemistry and its application to the biological and medical sciences. Sir Shankar was knighted in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours in 2017 for his services to science and medicine, and awarded the Royal Society’s Royal Medal in 2018. In 2021, he was awarded the 2020 Millennium Technology Prize (jointly with David Klenerman), and the 2022 Breakthrough Prize for Life Sciences (jointly with David Klenerman and Pascal Mayer) for their work on sequencing technologies.

About Helga Nowotny MAE

Helga Nowotny MAE is Professor emerita of Science and Technology Studies, ETH Zurich, founding member and former President of the European Research Council. She has held teaching and research positions at universities and research institutions in several European countries, and continues to be actively engaged in research and innovation policy at a European and international level. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Falling Walls Foundation, Berlin; Vice-President of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings; a member of the Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development; and Visiting Professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her latest publication, In AI we Trust: Power, Illusion and Control of Predictive Algorithms was published by Polity Press in 2021.

Read More Read More

Celebrating physiology: an interview with David Paterson MAE

Celebrating physiology: an interview with David Paterson MAE


David Paterson, current President of the Physiological Society, was in Cardiff on 29th September to mark the life and work of neurophysiologist Thomas Graham Brown FRS (1882-1965).

About David Paterson MAE

David Paterson MAE is a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford at the University of Oxford. He is Head of the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics. Professor Paterson was Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Physiology from 2011 to 2016 and Consulting Editor for Physiology from 2016 to 2021He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (2003) an Honorary Fellow of The Royal Society of New Zealand (2014) and a Fellow of the American Physiological Society (2019). He was elected as a member of The Academia Europaea in 2021. Professor Paterson is President of The Physiological Society which held its latest roadshow in Cardiff on 29th September.  

Read More Read More