Dr Hannah Critchlow

College positions: Fellow Commoner, Outreach Fellow

Subject: Biological Sciences

Dr Hannah Critchlow is an internationally-acclaimed neuroscientist, broadcaster, author and Fellow at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge.

She has appeared on BBC, ABC and Korean TV and Radio, most recently in the Great Minds Series, as Science Presenter in Family Brain Games with Dara Ó Briain, Tomorrow’s World Live and BBC Radio 4 Destiny and the Brain.

Her book on Consciousness: A Ladybird Expert Guide, was published with Penguin in 2018, The Science of Fate was published with Hodder in May, 2019 and made The Sunday Times Bestseller list, receiving international press coverage and her latest book Joined up Thinking was published with Hodder in 2022 to critical acclaim.

In 2022 she received an Honorary Doctorate from Brunel University for her work in neuroscience and communication. In 2019 Hannah was named by Nature as a ‘Rising Stars in Life Sciences’. She was recognised as a ‘Top 100 UK scientist’ by the UK Science Council in 2014 and named as one of Cambridge University’s most ‘inspirational and successful women in science’ for her work in science communication. 

Qualifications

  • PhD, Department of Physiology, Development, and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge
  • BSc Hons, Cell and Molecular Biology, Brunel University 

Career/Research Highlights

  • 2022 Honorary Doctorate in Neuroscience and Communication from Brunel University
  • 2022 The critically acclaimed Joined up Thinking is published with Hodder
  • 2019 'Rising Star in Biological Sciences' by Nature
  • 2019 The Sunday Times Bestselling book The Science of Fate is published with Hodder.
  • 2017 Named as a judge for the 2018 Welcome Book Prize
  • 2015 Named as 'Star of the Hay Literary Festival 2015'
  • 2014 'Alumna of the Year', Brunel University
  • 2014 'Top 100 UK Practising Scientist', Science Council
  • 2013 'Inspirational and Successful Woman in Science', University of Cambridge
  • 2006 Awarded Kingsley Bye-Fellowship, Magdalene College, Cambridge
  • 2003-07 PhD funding awarded by the Medical Research Council and GlaxoSmithKline
  • 2003 Awarded three undergraduate University Prizes: Lecturers' Prize for Top Biologist; Institute of Biology Top Biological Sciences Student; University Prize (3 awarded per year), Brunel University

Public Engagement

Hay Festival 2016: Explore your Mind

BBC Tomorrow's World Live

The Wanderings of a Naked Brain (Naked Scientists podcast)

How to Have a Better Brain (BBC Radio 4)

How our brains shape our destiny
 

BBC Tomorrow's World Live

KEY PUBLICATIONS

Joined up Thinking: The Power of Collective Intelligence to Change Our Lives, 2022, Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN 9781529398397.

The Science of Fate: Why Your Future is More Predictable Than You Think, 2019, Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN 978-1473659285.

Consciousness, 2018, London, England: Penguin, Ladybird Books, ISBN 978-0-7181-8911-2.