LAMDA & DBS Approved
Our Team
Science Made Simple has a team of highly skilled science communication specialists.
Drawn from a wide range of disciplines, they are all driven by a belief that learning can and should be fun.
LAMDA & DBS Approved
Our presenters are LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) trained and are DBS checked
Wendy Sadler
Wendy is the Founding Director of Science Made Simple and a lecturer at Cardiff University.
Wendy Sadler
Wendy is the Founding Director of Science Made Simple and a lecturer in Science Communication and Engagement at Cardiff University.
Wendy is passionate about inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers and communicators, and making STEM subjects accessible to more diverse audiences.
Wendy is a fellow of the RSA, University of Wales Trinity St. David, and the ERA Foundation and was formerly a member of the Science Advisory Council for Wales. She was the Chair and co-author of the Task and Finish report on STEM engagement in Wales and was part of the group behind the ‘Talented Women for a Successful Wales’ report for the Welsh Government.
Her first degree was in Physics and Music and she has always had an interest in combining science and the arts. She led the idea of an innovative non-verbal theatre show called The Experimentrics which has toured to over 15 countries and been a sell-out show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has an MSc in Science from the Open University with a dissertation on the long-term impact of science demonstration shows. Wendy is one of just a handful of people who is an EU Descartes Laureate in Science Communication – along with two of her own heroes David Attenborough and Bill Bryson. She has won a number of awards including the Leading Wales Award (Social Enterprise), Welsh Woman of the Year (Science and Technology), WISE Excellence Award and UKRC Woman of Outstanding Achievement.
Wendy loves to share her passion for the importance of diversity in science with audiences of all kinds, from pre-school nurseries to politicians after-dinner. She is a LAMDA accredited public speaker at the highest level, and she experiments with her own vocal chords with the wonderful Sing and Inspire choir.
Videos and Gallery
Wendy regularly appears on TV and Radio discussing the importance of science and engineering in education and for the wider public. You can see her editorial on ‘Why we need science in schools’ for BBC Wales here:
Rachel Mason
Rachel is Science Made Simple’s Associate Director – Business Development.
Rachel Mason
She has a BSc in Biology and Psychology from Keele University and an MSc in Science Communication from the University of Glamorgan/Techniquest and has worked in a wide range of UK organisations dedicated to public engagement with the sciences. She started out in the press office of the British Science Association, and went from there to Theatre in Education performance, international exhibition project management at Science Projects Ltd and management of Techniquest Glyndŵr, North Wales’ leading science centre.
Following a period working as a consultant for BIG STEM Communicators Network, STEMNET, Graphic Science, See-Science and others, she joined Science Made Simple to support the company with its innovative training work with universities and industry, and through grant and corporate funded activity.
When not in the office, Rachel likes to go wild swimming in North Wales and she competes – when the mood takes her – in sprint triathlons.
Elen Evans
Elen is Science Made Simple’s Education Officer
Elen Evans
Elen has a BSc in Natural Sciences from The Open University, and is a DELTA qualified English language teacher, having worked for the British Council in Egypt, Italy and Spain. She is passionate about making education a fun, effective experience for all involved, and believes that learning only really happens when it is motivational and inspiring.
Elen uses project- and task-based learning in the classroom, and has witnessed first-hand the positive effects of using these in educational settings. She founded STEM Ginger Education to bridge the gap between STEM and English language learning, conducting fun workshops at festivals, conferences, and in the classroom.
Elen is delighted to bring her experience, passion and experience, to Science Made Simple, and to collaborate in ensuring young learners have the opportunity to explore STEM concepts, while putting into practice 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity – skills that she considers to be essential far beyond the STEM classroom.
Outside of work, Elen loves visiting different places, especially when she can swim in unusual places (she has swum in the sea, rivers and lakes in Wales, Italy, Spain and Slovenia), or zooming around cities on her trike.
David Price
David is a Senior STEM Communicator and Business Manager, North.
David Price
He completed his undergraduate studies at Liverpool University in History and American Studies in 1988. After working in industry for 10 years he became a builder of interactive science exhibits and now loves to build science shows and highly interactive science experiences for audiences of all ages.
Always a keen informal science communicator, in 2009 David was the awarded BIG STEM Communicators’ Network professional study bursary, which took him to the World Street Performance Championships. This visit launched him into his chosen specialism of science busking which he pursues with vigour around the world.
David is a LAMDA trained public speaker to gold level with distinction. He regularly trains diverse groups in both science communication and science busking techniques and undertook a month-long tour of Norway on behalf of the Association of Norwegian Science Centres in order to foster science busking there.
Videos and Gallery
David performs yet more expert science busking to unsuspecting shoppers in Manchester. Armed with only a suitcase of miscellaneous objects, he entertains, delights, and even makes heads explode.
Ruth Perkins
Ruth is a Senior STEM Communicator.
Ruth Perkins
Ruth previously worked for the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. She also delivers interactive science workshops for ‘Chemistry with Cabbage’.
She started her science communication career whilst still at university, studying physics. She is LAMDA accredited to Gold standard.
Videos and Gallery
Here Ruth shows you an experiment that you can do at home, showing how we can get heat energy to do work for us.
Gaz Smith
Gaz is our Special Projects Manager
Gaz Smith
Apart from being one half of The Experimentrics show team, Gaz constructs props and demonstration equipment for Science Made Simple shows. Less excitingly, he also deals with Health and Safety issues.
Following his first degree in Biochemistry, he became a developer of interactive exhibits and has worked on science exhibitions in the UK, Australia, Germany, Switzerland and, unusually, Liechtenstein.
After gaining his Master’s degree in Science Communication in 2001, he co-developed and toured a circus science show, and followed that with running a Wales-wide Mathematics engagement project before joining Science Made Simple, where his involvement with the critically acclaimed theatre show Visualise began. Wherever he can he tries to blur the boundaries between art and science. He loves riding motorbikes and is happiest when working with wood.
Videos and Gallery
Gaz makes up half of ‘The Experimentrics’. A mischievous mix of physical theatre and live science demonstrations – all performed without words!
Dan Reed
Dan is our Finance and Contracts Manager.
Dan Reed
He’s also our solderer-in-chief and loves to take our Madlab electronics workshops to schools and festivals, where we talk about electrical components, putting circuit boards together and soldering.
When Dan isn’t talking money, law and resistors, he can often be found buried up to his neck in chillies. Not only does he enjoy growing chillies in the fine sub-tropical climate of Wales, he also makes a variety of sauces, jams, pickles and powders from them, selling them from his Chilli of the Valley company. During the summer and autumn months, when the fresh chillies are in season, Dan likes to go out chilli busking at festivals for Science Made Simple.
Videos and Gallery
Dan is Science Made Simple’s resident chilliologist. Here is he explaining why chillies are so hot.
Helen James
Helen is our Finance Administrator
Helen James
Helen deals with all our expenses, travel and hotel bookings. She enjoys nothing more than opening our little envelopes of receipts and seeing what weird and wonderful props the team have been buying for our shows and blogs. She also tasks herself with finding the nicest and most reasonably priced accommodation as near as possible to our show venues, ensuring that we arrive refreshed, prompt and raring-to-enthuse our audiences.
She is also very keen on protecting our environment being the proud owner of shiny solar panels, water butts and composters, while attempting to grow some vegetables and fruit too. We often come into a dark office in the mornings, where she is busy working in the dark to save electricity.
Hannah Lister
Hannah is our Bookings Administrator.
Hannah Lister
She has a Bachelor of Education degree in Education in Music from the University of Wales Trinity St David’s and has extensive experience in supporting education and science communication initiatives.
She joined the team in 2019, after a spell with Cardiff University School of Medicine’s Community Learning Team, making sure that medical students get their experience in hospitals and GP surgeries across Wales. She’s a wonderfully calming influence on our presenter team when the bookings are flying around.
Her previous experience working as a teacher in schools and as project support for Techniquest Science Centre makes her the perfect addition to our team.
In her time outside Science Made Simple, Hannah is training to be a counsellor.
