Dual lives: Gareth Mitchell
5 March 2010
Universities are sometimes accused of being ivory towers, where academics lose touch with the real world. At Imperial, however, the emphasis has always been on applying academic work to real-world challenges.
Gareth Mitchell (Humanities) is certainly a lecturer who practises what he preaches – as well as being a full-time lecturer in Science Communication at Imperial, he also leaves the College every Monday afternoon to step into the hallowed halls of the BBC and record the Digital Planet programme for Radio 4. “My teaching commitments make me a better presenter, as the teaching ethic forces me to learn my theory before the show, and my real-world experience of creating the show 52 weeks a year makes my lectures more relevant too, so everyone is a winner,” he says.
My real-world experience of creating the show 52 weeks a year makes my lectures more relevant”
Gareth first came to Imperial in 1993 to take the MSc course on which he now teaches. He then worked for the BBC for four years before taking up his current post at Imperial whilst still presenting Science in Action. Four years ago he moved from science to technology and took up the reins at Digital Planet and, in the last two weeks, he has also been called upon to present the chemistry show Material World. His career has also led to many interesting encounters.
“During a discussion on piracy with my absolute god Fergal Sharkey of the Undertones, I had to sheepishly admit that as a teenager I copied the band’s music onto cassette, which is ironic now that Fergal is head of the industry body UK Music,” he reveals. Gareth recently interviewed Kevin Spacey about his involvement in a short film competition, and has also met the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, Generation X author, Douglas Copeland, and Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. “My only regret is being too nervous to ask Vint Cerf from Google for an interview when meeting him,” he adds.
— Toby Wood, Biomedical Engineering
Tags: Issue 215
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