science and society directorTony Gilland
Tony Gilland is the Science and Society Director at the Institute of Ideas. Tony directs the IoI’s programme on scientific and medical controversies, particularly in relation to genetics, medical science and public health. He has programmed many symposiums, and edited several books on the subject.
Most recently, Tony initiated the Science Education Project, investigating the state of science education in the UK. The project has thus far resulted in a book edited by Tony, What is science education for?, which generated widespread coverage. Tony was recently quoted in The Guardian in response to the evaluations of the new science GCSE.
Tony has also written widely on the problem of risk aversion and defensiveness about scientific experimentation, contributing an article, ‘Trade War or Culture War? The GM Debate in Britain and the European Union’ to the book Let Them Eat Precaution.
Tony is National Coordinator of the IoI’s acclaimed Debating Matters competition for sixth-form students, now in its third year. He is producing the Battle for Science strand at the Battle of Ideas 2007 and is a frequent guest on radio and television programmes in the UK. Tony holds a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from the University of Oxford.
Recent articles
Selected appearances
- 31 October 2007. Tony presented a Battle Talk on science and barriers to research.
- 24 August 2007. Tony appeared on Channel 4 News to critique the contemporary obsession with individual behaviour and ‘ethical’ lifestyles.
- 15 March 2007. Tony spoke to the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency on 'Selling Science Short: the legacy of GM'.
- 10 January 2007. Tony spoke about biodiversity, plant science and the dangers of nature worship at the Danish Plant Congress in Herning, Denmark.
- 11 October 2006. Tony appeared on the Today Programme, Sky News, and More4 News to discuss the new compulsory science curriculum.
- 19 June 2006. Tony appeared on the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2 to discuss exciting scientific developments in screening embryos for serious genetic diseases
Publications
- What is science education for? (ed.) (2006)
- ‘Trade War or Culture War? The GM Debate in Britain and the European Union’, chapter contributed to Let The Eat Precaution, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 2006
- Science: can we trust the experts? (ed.) (2002)
- Animal Experimentation: good or bad? (ed.) (2002)
- Nature’s Revenge: Hurricanes, Floods and Climate Change (ed.) (2002)
- 'Precaution, GM Crops and Farmland Birds', chapter contributed to Rethinking Risk and the Precautionary Principle, Butterworth Heinemann, 2000
Debating Matters series
Selected articles
- 28 June 2007. Digging up the roots of the IPCC spiked-online
- 19 January 2007. Behind the IVF ‘trial by television’ spiked-online
- October 2006. Are we paralysed by risk aversion? Battles in Print
- 1 April 2004. Biodiversity: don't get in a flap spiked-online
