Ep23: Scientists on the Radio (Part 2) - Gareth Mitchell

March 7, 2016 in Season 2

Photograph of Gareth at work. — Gareth at work. Image credit: Gareth Mitchell.

Before becoming a journalist and lecturer in science communication, Gareth Mitchell trained as an electrical engineer.

His entry into the media world started as a broadcast engineer - scaling giant antennas to work on radio transmitters. However he soon realised he quite liked the idea of being behind the microphone instead.

Interviewing Gareth at Broadcasting House. Image credit: Stuart Higgins

But then I quite quickly realised that I wanted to talk about it more than I wanted to actually do it!

In this interview we talk about his transition into broadcasting, and how he became a lecturer at Imperial College London, teaching students on the university’s renowned science communication course.

We also talk about Gareth’s experience as a journalist, including his experience reporting from a school in Brazil, what it’s like working at the BBC, and the one story he’d most like to cover. We also discover the geek beneath the chic, when Gareth recounts combining his engineering background with his love of the BBC to resurrect some classic broadcast clocks.

You can find Gareth on Twitter at @GarethM.

‘Click’ is broadcast Tuesdays at 20:32 local time, on the BBC World Service. The most recent episodes are also available as a podcast.

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