Hay Festival Trans.MISSION

Hay Festival and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) have joined forces to create Trans.MISSION, a new project pairing leading scientists with award-winning artists to communicate cutting edge science. Each pair has produced an original piece of work launched in a series of public events at Hay Festival 2018:

Illustration created for Hay Festival Trans.MISSION by Chris Haughton

Message from Antarctica by Chris Haughton and Professor Emily Shuckburgh

Clean Air Starts at Home by Dan Binns and Professor Ally Lewis

Weather Watching by Nicola Davies and Ed Hawkins
No Ice

Like a Circle, Like a Spiral

The Ben Nevis Weather Watchers

Find out more at Hay Festival 2018...

Climate scientist Emily Shuckburgh joins award-winning designer, author and illustrator Chris Haughton to explore polar science and climate change on Saturday 26 May.

Atmospheric chemist Ally Lewis pairs Aardman Studios’ director Dan Binns to look at air pollution on Monday 28 May.

Climate scientist Ed Hawkins joins children’s author Nicola Davies to analyse extreme weather events on Tuesday 29 May.

NERC is the driving force of investment in environmental science, advancing the frontier of environmental science, by commissioning new research, infrastructure, innovation and training that delivers valuable scientific breakthroughs. Find out more about NERC.

Hay Festival addresses environmental concerns through its Hay on Earth programme of conversations and lectures, and through its own efforts to operate sustainably. This year’s festival will be powered entirely by renewable energy from Good Energy, while it will be the first festival in the UK to trial a reusable hot drink cups system. 80% of waste produced on site is recycled. Find out more about Hay on Earth.

#HayTRANSMISSION #NERCengage

Meet the Trans.MISSION pairs...

Dr Emily Shuckburgh

Dr Emily Shuckburgh is a leading climate scientist, mathematician and author working at the British Antarctic Survey. She holds a number of positions at the University of Cambridge (fellow of Darwin College, fellow of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, associate fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy and member of the Faculty of Mathematics). In the past Emily has worked at Ecole Normal Superieure in Paris and at MIT. She is a fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society and co-chair of their Climate Science Communications Group. She has also acted as an advisor to the UK Government on behalf of the Natural Environment Research Council. In 2016 she was awarded an OBE for services to science and the public communication of science. She is co-author with HRH The Prince of Wales and Tony Juniper of the Ladybird Book on Climate Change.

Chris Haughton

Chris Haughton is an Irish author/illustrator based in London. He was listed in Time magazine's 'DESIGN 100' for the work he has been doing for fair trade clothing company People Tree. He has written and illustrated four books A BIT LOST, OH NO GEORGE!, SHH! WE HAVE A PLAN and GOODNIGHT EVERYONE. His iOS app, HATMONKEY came out in 2014 and virtual reality experience LITTLE EARTH launched in August 2017. Chris has also created a social business, madebynode.com to connect design and fair trade and make rugs and toys. chrishaughton.com

Professor Ally Lewis

Professor Ally Lewis is an atmospheric chemist and works for the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) and the University of York. Ally’s main research focus is air pollution and how to detect chemicals in the atmosphere. He also regularly provides advice to government about the quality of the air in cities and inside buildings.

Dan Binns

Dan Binns is a designer and director at Aardman. Since having a short film screened at the ‘onedotzero’ film festival in 2010, Mr Binns has worked in the animation industry for multiple studios across Bristol and London. In various roles Mr Binns has worked for clients like Tesco, Disney, Google and Sky TV on projects for broadcast, advertising, short film and series. Later, as a director, Mr Binns has been has been involved in a variety of different projects, ranging from short films for charity’s to advertising and promotional work. vimeo.com/danielbinns

Professor Ed Hawkins

Professor Ed Hawkins is a climate scientist and works for the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) and the University of Reading. Ed focuses on improving predictions of climate change and its impacts, but he is also passionate about the history of climate science, rescuing lost weather measurements using volunteer citizen scientists (weatherrescue.org) and engaging the public about climate change. @ed_hawkins.

Nicola Davies

Nicola Davies is the author of more than 50 books for children, fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her work has been published in more than 10 different languages and has won major awards in the UK, US, France, Italy and Germany. Nicola trained as a zoologist, taking a degree in Natural Sciences from Kings College Cambridge. She spent some years as a field biologist and studied humpback and sperm whales and bats before joining the BBC Natural History Unit as a researcher and then presenter. Following the start of her writing career she became a senior lecturer in Creative Writing, at Bath Spa University but has been writing full time for over a decade. She now regularly runs workshops for children and adults to help them find their voices as writers and advocates for nature. In 2017 she was the first recipient of the SLA’s award for Outstanding Contribution to Children’s Non Fiction and in 2018 had four picture books longlisted for the Greenaway Award. She is a Trustee of the World Land Trust, a conservation organisation with partners in countries across the world. nicola-davies.com