Summary
My undergraduate degree was in zoology, my postgraduate training in philosophy of science. I didn’t go into academia straightaway, but in fact was a school science teacher for 13 years, in various London schools, including being head of biology at Quintin Kynaston. When I was a teacher, in the 1980s and 90s, school science had a much more questioning and critical curriculum than it does now, and it was this experience which led me into science communication.
Before coming to Imperial College, in 1999, I was trying my hand at many sorts of science writing, including radio plays for the BBC, children’s books of various sorts, introductory texts to the philosophy of science, and even a weather column for The Guardian. All this led me to become co-director of the Birkbeck diploma in science communication in 1995, while still a school teacher. A few years later I transferred to Imperial College, and became Senior Lecturer in science communication.
I was director of the Unit from 2008 - 2023.
Publications
Journals
Lacchia AR, Webster S, 2021, La Commedia Scientifica – Dante and the scientific virtues, Geoscience Communication, Vol:4, ISSN:2569-7110, Pages:129-145
Books
Mellor F, Webster S, 2017, The Silences of Science: Gaps and Pauses in the Communication of Science, Routledge, ISBN:978 1 4724 5997 8
Webster S, 2014, Charles Darwin, The History Press, ISBN:978 0 7524 9940 6