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The University of Southampton
Biological Sciences

Guy Poppy takes to the (custom-built) soapbox

Published: 16 July 2010
Guy Poppy

Professor Guy Poppy joined several other leading scientists at Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park to debate important topical issues with members of the public.

Food, fuel and wildlife security - these competing demands were at the core of a short talk given to members of the public by Professor Guy Poppy, Head of the School of Biological Sciences.

Guy was in Hyde Park, along with other leading scientists, for Scientists at Speakers' Corner, organised by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

"What we wanted to do here is to remove the middle man in science, so that the public can have first hand information from the scientists themselves", explained Dr Seirian Sumner, one of the organisers on behalf of ZSL.

Guy was impressed by the reaction of his audience and the depth of questions that followed spontaneously. "It's interesting that people are more than willing to take on these big questions. They are also offering solutions... and could challenge authority," he said.

"Society will only solve some of these problems [of competing demands] if it allows science to move forward."

Click on the link on the right for the full story.

ZSL provided a custom-built soapbox for the occasion - and the t-shirt.

Professor Guy Poppy

Most people think of science as something that goes way above their heads.... The public needs to have more events like this where they can access information in a way that they can understand it.

One of the audience - at Speakers' Corner
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