Gareth Mitchell

Gareth Mitchell
Gareth Mitchell in Tallinn (2017)
Born (1970-08-15) 15 August 1970 (age 56)
Eastleigh, England
OccupationsTechnology broadcaster, science communicator
Gareth Mitchell's voice
recorded January 2014
WebsiteTwitter, Facebook (official)

Gareth Mitchell is a Welsh technology journalist, lecturer and former broadcast engineer.

Early life

Mitchell was born Gareth James Mitchell in Eastleigh, England to a Welsh father, Colin Mitchell. He spent his childhood in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. When Gareth was seven, his father lit up a bulb with a closed circuit, and that sparked his interest in science.

He was a member of the computer society at school (Welshpool High School) and participated in bellringing and organ playing at his local church. As an undergraduate studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London, Mitchell joined campus radio working behind the scenes, but saw that "[t]he people who seemed to be having all the good fun were the creative types in the studios." Because of that, after getting his engineering degree and relevant work, he took up an MSc in Science Communication, also at Imperial.

Broadcasting

Mitchell joined the BBC during the mid-1990s, starting his career as a broadcast engineer. His initial dream was to be part of Tomorrow's World, BBC's flagship technology TV programme, but a visit to a radio studio at Bush House got him obsessed about radio journalism.[failed verification] Mitchell eventually decided to trade climbing TV and radio transmitter towers for science and technology journalism. He had worked for Radio Netherlands on science programmes.[citation needed]

His first hosting role on the BBC was for the youth science program, The Lab.[failed verification] Occasionally, he had also presented Science in Action and The Science Hour on the BBC World Service, and reported on the television programme Click.

He presented on the BBC most notably as the host of Digital Planet (previously known as Click and Go Digital) a BBC radio programme broadcast worldwide on the BBC World Service with Bill Thompson until its end in March 2023. During his time on the show he interviewed people such as Jimmy Wales, Stephen Fry, Professor Dame Wendy Hall, Martyn Ware, Feargal Sharkey, Jean Michel Jarre and Vint Cerf. From time to time, he is a stand-in presenter for BBC Inside Science on BBC Radio 4. Additionally, Mitchell wrote for the Q&A section of BBC (Science) Focus Magazine and hosted the Q&A podcast from 2008 to 2017.

After the end of Digital Planet, in April 2023, Mitchell and Thompson returned with a new technology podcast, The Gareth and BillCast as well as Mitchell presenting ""Somewhere on Earth: The Global Tech Podcast"

Lecturing

Mitchell has lectured at Imperial College London since 1998 in broadcast and written journalism on the Science Communication and Science Media Production MSc programmes since 2000 and 2002 respectively. He also presents the Imperial College Podcast. The key event leading to his appointment as a radio tutor was a bet in a pub over a Guardian job advertisement for that role.

He emceed TEDx Imperial. He has attended the World Economic Forum and has hosted workshops, discussion panels and conferences on science and technology.

At Imperial he has cofounded, and now runs, the "Science Media Diversity Scholarship". The award covers tuition fees and London living costs for a year, for a student from a minority ethnic group. The Science Media Diversity Scholar also completes an internship at one of the sponsoring television production companies.[citation needed]

Facilitator

As well as broadcasting and lecturing Mitchell is a host and facilitator at big events with clients such as the European Commission, OECD, World Economic Forum, Wellcome Trust, and Nesta.[citation needed]

Personal life

Apart from the bells and the organ, other instruments Mitchell can play are the piano and keyboard.[citation needed] He rides motorcycles, has taken flying lessons, and has been a licensed amateur radio operator since August 2019. with his call sign M7GJM. He continues to use his engineering skills by for example has developing a way to provide the required signal needed for the studio clocks he'd bought at an auction for items from Bush House, the BBC World Service's former headquarters, he did this by making a Master clock from a microcontroller called an Arduino.

References

  1. ↑ "40th birthday tweet by @GarethM". 15 August 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  2. 1 2 "BBC World Service - Click". BBC. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  3. 1 2 "M7GJM". Facebook. 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  4. ↑ Gareth Mitchell, Bill Thompson (14 January 2014). "BBC Click Radio". bbc.co.uk (Podcast). BBC. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "Local Man and the Radio 4 toilet drama!". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  6. ↑ "how funny I was brought up in Montgomeryshire". Facebook. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  7. ↑ "[Grew up in] Powys; BBC Science Focus podcast, December 2013". Archived from the original on 13 February 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  8. ↑ "BBC World Service - Over to You, How the Podcast is Changing Listening Habits". 21 April 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  9. ↑ "BBC World Service - Digital Planet, Drones for Good". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  10. ↑ "I learned the church organ for a while". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  11. ↑ "BBC Digital Planet (Gareth's bio)". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  12. ↑ Amer, Pakinam (2020). "How to transition from the lab to full-time science communicator". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-01676-z. PMID 34083804. S2CID 226196072. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  13. ↑ "Short Science Podcast 010 : Elizabeth Hauke and Georgie Gould : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  14. ↑ "Bye Bye Bush House Boo". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  15. ↑ "Host Bios & Pictures: BBC World Service". apmstations.org. Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  16. ↑ "The Lab - BBC World Service Archive". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  17. ↑ "BBC News - Meet the Click Team". Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  18. ↑ "BBC - The Editors: Click and Digital Planet merge". Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  19. ↑ "Go Digital - BBC World Service Archive Project". Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  20. ↑ "Go Digital: Your digital world". 2 November 2005. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  21. ↑ "BBC NEWS - Technology - BBC launches Digital Planet". 27 March 2006. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  22. ↑ "BBC World Service - Digital Planet, Jimmy Wales on bots and blockages". BBC. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  23. ↑ "BBC World Service - Tech Life: 'I sacrificed my soul' - a Facebook moderator's story, Stephen Fry's Digital Life". BBC. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  24. ↑ "BBC World Service - Tech Life: 'I sacrificed my soul' - a Facebook moderator's story, 20/10/2009". BBC. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  25. ↑ "BBC World Service - Tech Life: 'I sacrificed my soul' - a Facebook moderator's story, A Holocaust Survivor's Digital Doppelgänger". BBC. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  26. ↑ "BBC World Service - Tech Life: 'I sacrificed my soul' - a Facebook moderator's story, 11/11/2008". BBC. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  27. ↑ "BBC World Service - Tech Life: 'I sacrificed my soul' - a Facebook moderator's story, Data Ethics Monitoring". BBC. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  28. ↑ "Digital planet - Open University Digital Archive". www.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  29. ↑ "Science Focus Podcast". Science Focus - BBC Focus Magazine. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  30. ↑ "The Gareth and BillCast". garethandbillcast.com. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  31. ↑ "Somewhere on Earth: The Global Tech Podcast - Reviews - Podcast Rex". podcastrex.com. 19 November 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  32. ↑ "People/Contact, Science Communication Unit, Imperial College London". Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  33. ↑ "Mr Gareth Mitchell". Imperial College London. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  34. ↑ "I joined the Science Communication Unit in 1998 part time and became full time in 2000". Archived from the original on 12 June 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  35. ↑ "I joined the Science Communication Group academic staff in 1998 part time and became full time in 2002". Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  36. ↑ "Gareth being interviewed by the 'Speaking of Science' podcast". 7 January 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  37. 1 2 "Part 2 of Gareth's interview at 'Scientists not the Science'". 7 March 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  38. ↑ Douglas Heaven. "Gareth Mitchell - mouthpiece". Mouthpiece.douglasheaven.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  39. ↑ "Gareth Mitchell - World Economic Forum". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  40. ↑ "After a few years working in broadcast and telecoms engineering, he gave it all up and returned to Imperial to pursue the MSc in Science Communication". Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  41. ↑ "Plenary Panel, Wealth of Networks 2008 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming: Internet Archive". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  42. ↑ "FutureFest". Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  43. ↑ "Funding". Imperial College London. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  44. ↑ Development, OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and (20 May 2019), OECD FORUM 2019, retrieved 5 May 2023
  45. ↑ Development, OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and (31 May 2016), OECD 2016 Forum: Lunch Debate: The Algorithmic Society, retrieved 5 May 2023
  46. ↑ "Gareth Mitchell". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  47. ↑ Newbill, Phyllis Leary (22 March 2005). Instructional Strategies to Improve Women's Attitudes toward Science (PhD thesis). Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. pp. 160–162. hdl:10919/27000. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  48. ↑ "Interview: Online Learning & Exam - Essex Ham". Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  49. ↑ "Bush House clock". YouTube. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2020.