Tracy King

Judge

Tracy King is a writer, columnist and award-winning animation producer specialising in science, critical thinking, and videogame and technology culture.

Minna Lyons

Judge

Minna Lyons is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology, currently working at the University of Liverpool. She is mostly interested in evolutionary bases for behaviour.  Her research includes important topics such as choice, competition, and coercion in human mating. She has published some books and many scientific articles on these topics.  Minna was part of a team that won the IgNobel prize for psychology in 2014 with a study that investigated psychopathy in night owls. Since then, she has become interested in psychopathy in domestic cats, and is eager to extend the research to other non-human species too.

Ed Thorne

Judge

The greatest scientists are only appreciated after their deaths. Ed Thorne is still alive.

After four years of him competing in BAHfest, the establishment decided his scientific theories were too radical, so they made him a judge to shut him up.

Ed performs with the London improv troupe Hivemind at the Museum of Comedy. In his spare time, he likes to go work in an office in exchange for money. He has a truly vast list of scientific credentials and accomplishments, which unfortunately this bio is too small to contain.

Miranda Lowe

Judge

Principal curator and museum scientist at the Natural History Museum, London. Her research interests are crabs, shrimps, corals, jellyfish and woodlice whilst being responsible for a plethora of historically important specimens from both the HMS Challenger and RRS Discovery oceanic expeditions. In her spare time Miranda has taken to the stage to preform at the Festival of the Spoken Nerd, Museum Showoff, Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People and BBC R4’s Nature Table.

Hansa Shree

Contestant

When not at the BioLab building novel synthetic molecules, Hansa is at the Enterprise Lab building startups to catalyse healthcare by a few decades. Or so she would like to think, as a scientific publication and a successful exit have so far eluded her. Nonetheless, this does not deter her from continuing to valiantly juggle studying a BSc Hons at Imperial College with cofounding multiple award winning startups, and occasionally jumping out of a plane in the name of skydiving. She wanted us to recommend keeping up to date with “insanely cool” health tech on her nascent instagram @thebioentrepreneur, but – honestly – we would rather leave that to your discretion.

Esther Redhouse White

Contestant

Esther is a science communicator living in Newcastle upon Tyne. She has a degree in biochemistry, and has previously worked in molecular biology laboratories, a railway museum, and a haunted house. She believes in learning by making mistakes, mostly because that implies that she’s learnt a lot of things.

Jack McMinn

Contestant

Jack McMinn is a palaeontologist and teacher in London. Hobbies include playing music, reading, and alienating friends and co-workers. He returns to BAHfest London for the second year in a row, valiantly and selflessly looking for the same rush as last time.

Diego Quinones

Contestant

I’m a Mexican physicist, highly enthusiastic about quantum mechanics and big fanatic of salsa (‘The condiment, the music type or the dance style?’ Yes). I’m back at London to take the gold and glory, or whatever is the equivalent for the BAHFest.

Hit Dice: 1d8
Armor class: 13
Alignment: True Neutral

Jack Powell

Contestant

Jack is a 3rd Year Chemistry undergraduate right here at Imperial College London, and also represents the Imperial Rowing team in his spare time (of which he has absolutely none, as a result of this). His passion for bad scientific hypotheses stems from desperately trying to come up with rationales for massive, inexplicable peaks in product NMR spectra produced in synthesis labs, and many hours of ad lib defence when viva examiners decide to throw curveballs.

Originally from Bristol, he quickly lost his farmer’s accent on moving to London, and will be starting his Master’s Research Project later this year, hoping that his supervisor-to-be isn’t watching this talk.

Ed Bilson

Contestant

Ed Bilson is a chartered engineer whose previous experience in materials science, public transportation and satellite technology leave him uniquely placed to deliver fully automated luxury space communism after the revolution.
His work on rolling stock structural repairs has been described as ‘slapdash’ and ‘deeply concerning under the circumstances’. He is easily bribed with donuts and beer, and is definitely more scared of you than you are of him.