Daniel Glaser

Dr Daniel Glaser is a neuroscientist who has worked for many years promoting public engagement with science. He is Director of Science Gallery London at King's College London. This is a new space where art and science collide to be constructed on the Guy's campus opposite the Shard in London Bridge. He was previously Head of Engaging Science at the Wellcome Trust responsible for all external funding for public engagement and the arts.

His scientific background involves the use of fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to examine how experience, prejudice and expectation alter the way we see the world. He comes from an unusual academic background having studied maths and then English literature at Cambridge, doing a masters in cognitive science at Sussex University, and graduate work in neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and postdoctoral work at UCL.

In 2002 he was appointed ‘Scientist in Residence’ at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. This was the first appointment of its kind at an arts institution. In 2005 he was in the first cohort to receive a Cultural Leadership Award from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).

As well as presenting a television series for the BBC on how science really works, he has appeared widely across the media. He was previously a judge on the Aventis Prize for science books and the Wingate Prize and was the first scientist to be a Man Booker judge in 2014.

Image: Elliott Franks