Scottish lecturers win Radio 3 competition

TWO Scottish academics have become winners in a competition to find the 10 brightest young minds in the UK.

Dr Christopher Harding, who lectures in Asian history at Edinburgh University, and Dr Sarah Dillon, an English lecturer from St Andrews, wer e chosen after a competition run by Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The contest aims to find the best academic broadcasters of the future with the potential to turn groundbreaking ideas into radio programmes.

Dr Dillon said: “The scheme presents a brilliant oppor tunity f or young researchers who have a passion for communicating their research to a wider audience. I’ll be on a steep learning curve getting to grips with a media world very different to academia, but I can’t wait.”

Dr Harding added: “I’m tremendously excited and looking forward to being part of this.”

Matthew Dodd, head of speech programming for BBC Radio 3, said: “This year’s applicants showed a sharp sophistication about how their research might make strong programmes and a real willingness to reach beyond academia into the lives of our audience, and to find new formats to do that.”

The winners will spend a year working with Radio 3 presenters and producers to develop their research and ideas into broadcasts.