Timandra Harkness
Presenter, Writer and Lapsed Comedian
- BBC Broadcaster and Presenter: Writer and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s FutureProofing and other series on science, technology, and society.
- Author and Thought Leader: Author of Big Data: Does Size Matter? and Technology Is Not the Problem.
- Speaker and Science Communicator: Regular host at major institutions like the Royal Society and Cheltenham Science Festival.
Full Profile
Timandra Harkness is a writer, broadcaster and presenter.
Timandra is a familiar voice on radio, writing and presenting BBC Radio 4’s FutureProofing and other series including How To Disagree, Steelmanning and Political School. BBC Radio documentaries include Data, Data Everywhere, Divided Nation, What Has Sat-Nav Done To Our Brains, and Five Knots. She was resident reporter on all 8 seasons of social psychology series The Human Zoo, and is regularly asked to comment on science, technology and statistics in the news.
Her book ‘Big Data: does size matter?’ was published by Bloomsbury Sigma in 2016, with an updated paperback edition in June 2017. Her second non-fiction book, ‘Technology is Not the Problem’, published in 2024 by Harper Collins, is now out in paperback.
Since winning the Independent newspaper’s column-writing competition, she has written for many publications including the Telegraph, Guardian, Sunday Times, Unherd, BBC Focus magazine, WIRED, Unherd, the New Statesman, Men’s Health and Significance (the journal of the Royal Statistical Society).
Timandra chairs and speaks at public events for clients including Cheltenham Science Festival, the Royal Society, the British Council, the Royal Geographical Society, the RSA, the Institute of Ideas, the British Library, Wellcome Collection, the Alan Turing Institute, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and many others. She is honoured to work with the Abel Prize for Mathematics.
After performing improvised & stand up comedy, & 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 from Adelaide (Australia) to Pittsburgh PA.
In 2010 she co-wrote & performed Your Days Are Numbered: The Maths of Death, with stand-up mathematician Matt Parker. They performed the show to average audiences of 100.3 and 4 star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe, then toured it in the UK and Australia. Timandra’s science comedy since then includes cabaret, gameshows, and solo live show Brainsex (with Socrates the rat).
Timandra has a BA in Film and Drama with Art & Art History, a BSc in Mathematics & Statistics, and an MA in Philosophy from Birkbeck College, where she is now researching for an MRes in Philosophy. She is a member of the Royal Statistical Society Council of Trustees, and chairs the editorial board of their journal, Significance.