Simon is an experienced policy and communications professional, having spent the last 15 years working for some of the UK’s leading science and health organisations. His experience ranges from developing public exhibitions on DNA at Kew Gardens to briefing MPs on human embryo research. He’s led external communications at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and public affairs at the Medical Research Council (MRC). He was the NHS’s first research communications specialist, at Hammersmith Hospital in west London, after starting his career at the bioscience research council BBSRC. A seasoned Debating Matters judge, Simon is now looking to communicate his love of all things scientific in different ways, by developing his career in education. In his spare time he plays violin for the Fulham Symphony Orchestra, on whose organising committee he has served for almost 10 years.