Timandra Harkness
journalist, writer and broadcaster; author, Technology is Not the Problem and Big Data: does size matter?; presenter, Radio 4's FutureProofing and How to Disagree

Timandra Harkness is a writer, broadcaster and presenter. Her new book , Technology is Not the Problem, was published by Harper Collins in May 2024, and previous book Big Data: does size matter? by Bloomsbury Sigma in 2016.

Timandra has written and presented series for BBC Radio 4, including FutureProofing, How To Disagree, Steelmanning and Political School and documentaries such as Data, Data Everywhere, Divided Nation, What Has Sat-Nav Done To Our Brains, and Five Knots.

Since winning the Independent newspaper’s column-writing competition, she has written for many publications in print and online. Timandra chairs and speaks at public events for clients including Cheltenham Science Festival, the Royal Society, the British Library, the Alan Turing Institute, and many others.

After performing improvised and stand-up comedy, and touring with a tented circus, she formed the first comedy science double-act in the UK with neuroscientist Dr Helen Pilcher. Since then she has written and performed scientific and mathematical comedy including Your Days Are Numbered: The Maths of Death, with stand-up mathematician Matt Parker and solo live show Brainsex (with Socrates the rat).

Timandra is a research student in Philosophy at Birkbeck College. She is a trustee of the ALCS (Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society). She is also a trustee of the Royal Statistical Society, where she is chair of the editorial board of their journal, Significance.

Photo by Paul Clarke.

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