FLORENCE SCHECHTER

After graduating in 2014 with a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham, Florence started her science communication career. She built up a science YouTube channel with over one million views, then interned at QI, the hit BBC show, for 8 months and was the main researcher for their app "Qiktionary". In 2016, she enrolled in the Wellcome Trust funded "Talent Factory", a mentorship programme for emerging science communication talent in the UK. She was invited to be part of the Trajectory, Ideas and Ambassadors Board of Cheltenham Science Festival in 2017 which advises on programming and strategy for the annual festival.

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In 2017, she started the project to build the world's first bricks and mortar museum about the gynaecological anatomy - the Vagina Museum. She has won a number of awards for her work and been featured in the media internationally. The Vagina Museum has been covered in international news from The New York Times to The Guardian to The Lancet to TIME magazine to even appearing in a joke in SNL's Weekend Update. 

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She has spoken around the world about her work in activist museums at science festivals, museums and conferences - including France, Ireland, USA and Canada. In the UK, she has spoken at the Southbank Centre, Sotheby's Institute of Art, British Library, Tate Modern, Royal Institution, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Royal Society and The Roundhouse, just to name a few.

 

Florence is an accomplished presenter on TV, radio and live on stage. She has been an expert contributor on TV documentaries Queer Planet (Sky Nature) and Engineering Catastrophes (Science Channel). She was also a writer and presenter on the podcast Chemistry In It's Element (Royal Society of Chemistry), written for and presented on The Boring Talks (BBC) and voiced an explainer for the cancer charity Eve Appeal.

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Her debut book "V: An empowering celebration of the vulva and vagina" was published by Penguin Random House in March 2023. She has written for the Metro and Huffington Post.

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Image: Turkina Faso / Liberation