Bonus - In conversation with Jim Smith

WonderLabs with Chris Richardson

Sir Jim Smith is Head of the Wellcome Science Review and Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute’s Developmental Biology Laboratory. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society and was knighted in 2017 for services to medical research and science education.

In this episode we talk about Sir Jim’s work on embryonic development, using frogs as a model organism, and how this work might lead to stem cell therapies for humans. Moving beyond his science, we talk about his role in deciding who gets funding, how science can be made more collaborative, and how to think about diversity in STEM beyond just the people involved.

This episode is part of a longer conversation I had with Sir Jim at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). The full conversation is the first episode of the OIST Podcast, a new show discussing the latest from the university’s scientists and distinguished guests. Go and check out the other episodes!

If you’d like to get in touch with Sir Jim to continue the discussion, you can find him on Twitter @ProfJimSmith.

Enjoy!