Gail Cardew is the

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

of EuroScience. She previously served as Professor of Science, Culture and Society at the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

. In 2020 she was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

(DSc) degree from the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

Early life and education

Cardew became interested in science at high school, and attributes her enthusiasm to Mr Buckby and Mr Savill. Through them she learned about

John Maynard Smith John Maynard Smith (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British theoretical and mathematical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he took a second degree in genetics und ...

, which inspired her to study biology at the

. She earned her bachelor's degree in biology in 1989. She remained there for her doctoral research, where she studied regulation of the

embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...

nic

cell cycle The cell cycle, or cell-division cycle, is the series of events that take place in a cell that cause it to divide into two daughter cells. These events include the duplication of its DNA (DNA replication) and some of its organelles, and subs ...

in (the African clawed frog ''Xenopus laevis'') in 1994. During her doctorate she particularly enjoyed meeting visiting guest speakers and frequently considered switching to a different discipline.

Career and research

After a short period as a

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

investigating

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

at the

, Cardew decided to work in

science publishing : ''For a broader class of literature, see Academic publishing.'' Scientific literature comprises scholarly publications that report original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and social sciences. Within an academic field, scienti ...

. She worked as an editor for the

Novartis Foundation The Novartis Foundation (formerly known as the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development) is a non-profit organization and part of the corporate responsibility portfolio of Novartis in Basel, Switzerland. The foundation conducts projects to ...

symposia series, supporting biomedical researchers in leading proposals for future events. Cardew works at the intersection of society, culture, science and the arts. Cardew was elected President of EuroScience in 2006, on their executive committee in 2018 and as Vice President of their

governing board A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

in 2019. She serves as Chair of the EuroScience Open Forum Advisory Board, through which she devices the host cities of their annual events. She serves on the advisory board of the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

science communication campaign ''ERC=Science².'' Cardew has served as judge for the international science communication competition

Falling Walls The Falling Walls Conference is an annual science event in Berlin, Germany, that coincides with the anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall (9 November 1989). The one-day scientific conference showcases the research work of international scient ...

Royal Institution

Cardew joined the

in 2000, where she led their education and

public engagement Public engagement or public participation is a term that has recently been used to describe "the practice of involving members of the public in the agenda-setting, decision-making, and policy-forming activities of organizations/institutions respons ...

programmes. In 2011 she became their first Director of Science and Education, in which capacity she oversaw science education and policy work. She represented the

at a

Government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal coat of arms of t ...

roundtable on effective ways to encourage girls to choose physics, engineering and mathematics. She was appointed a professor of Science, Culture and Society in 2015. Cardew has supported almost twenty years of the

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sci ...

. The storyline of each lecture series typically took around four months to develop. She left the

in October 2019.

Awards and honours

* 2014 Elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology Fellowship of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB), previously Fellowship of the Society of Biology (FSB), is an award and fellowship granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Biology has adjudged to have made a "prominent contribution to ...

(FRSB) * 2020 Awarded an Honorary

(DSc) by the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardew, Gail Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Academics of the University of Sussex Alumni of the University of Sussex Science communicators Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology British science writers