The Imperial professor explores how surgery overlaps with the worlds of art, performance and craftsmanship

Adapted from a news release from the Wellcome Trust

Professor Roger Kneebone has been awarded a prestigious fellowship from the Wellcome Trust to support his work promoting public engagement with science and medicine.

The Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowships champion and develop upcoming stars in public engagement with science. The scheme, now in its second year, provides support for science communicators with a strong track record of delivering high-quality public engagement and aims to propel them to become leaders in their field.

Roger Kneebone, Professor of Surgical Education at Imperial College London, plans to use his fellowship to build on his passion for education, and for communicating and exploring new ideas. In particular, he will look at how his field of surgery overlaps with the worlds of art, performance and craftsmanship. During his fellowship, Professor Kneebone will build links between Imperial College London’s world-leading biomedical research and a wide range of public engagement events and venues, creating imaginative ways for scientists and the public to share ideas and influence one another’s thinking.

Professor Kneebone said: “I'm passionate about education, and especially about bridging the worlds of medicine, science and the public. This Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowship is a fantastic opportunity to explore my ideas in a wide range of settings. The Fellowship will support me in developing as a leader in the field, within the creative setting of the Wellcome Trust. I find this extremely exciting.”

The Engagement Fellowships are part of the Wellcome Trust’s strategic vision of working with researchers and the creative industries to help societies explore and become involved with biomedical science, its future directions, its impacts on society and the ethical questions that it brings.

The fellowships were launched last year with awards to anaesthetist, astrobiologist and TV science presenter Dr Kevin Fong and medical historian and creator of the Sick City Project Dr Richard Barnett. Besides Professor Kneebone, one other Engagement Fellow is announced today: Dr Erinma Ochu of the Univerisity of Manchester will explore innovative ways to embed biomedical science in people’s everyday lives.

Clare Matterson, Director of Medical Humanities and Engagement at the Wellcome Trust, says: “Kevin and Richard, our first two fellows, have impressed and surprised us over the first year of their fellowships with imaginative projects that engage the public through live events, TV and radio and mobile ‘apps’. Roger and Erinma already have strong track records in public engagement, and we hope that these fellowships will enable them to join Kevin and Richard as pioneering communicators.”