The Showoff Talent Factory - turboboost your performing and communicating, over a year, for free
The Talent Factory is a year-long communication and performance development programme. Now in its fifth iteration, the programme takes a diverse group of communicators of research and ideas and helps them develop their skills and become a mutually supportive community.
Participants get exciting opportunities to practise their skills and develop new ones as well as help and guidance from the creator of Bright Club, History Showoff and Science Showoff, Steve Cross.
The fifth Talent Factory
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Chloë Slevin
Chloe is a science communicator with a background in zoology. Loves: cephalopods, TikTok, optimism and lists. Hates: very little
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Max Hughes
Maths outreach professional and fan of all things geek culture. If it involves dice… I’m in!
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Eva Higginbotham
Science podcast presenter & producer.
Knower of neuroscience.
Cooker of food.
Murderer of house plants. -
Ally Grandison
Psychologist massively into language: language and thought; endangered languages; language acquisition; gendered language; colourful language. Mind your language.
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Katy Swainston
Writer, tech pro, museum bore
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Emma Soopramanien
Cognitive neuroscience student exploring baby laughter, and general ray of sunshine
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Ruth Vickerstaff
Healthcare Scientist.
Has worked in Molecular Haematology, Cancer Biology, Vision Science, Audiology and now supports education & training of all healthcare scientists in London. -
Erin Beeston
Museum and heritage type, sporadic show-off, proud mama, historian.
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Merry Martyn
Stand-up statistician armed with a ukulele, flashcards and a rubik’s cube to maximize likelihood of laughter
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Liam Collins-Jones
Researcher developing new ways to see what goes on in babies’ brains 🧠 and I’m Welsh 🏴
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Lucy Davies
Comedian, singer-songwriter, actor & presenter. Freelance financial writer.
Disruptive but in a useful way. -
Kate Slade
Psychology lecturer and researcher really into older ears, brains, and psychophysiology. Also, plant-eater and doodler.
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Caroline Shenton-Taylor
Atom chasing Nuclear Physicist. Living life on the academic-industry interface. Shares the useful and funny in serious science.
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Phoebe Reynolds
Neuroscientist currently looking at stripes who tries to make science fun.
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Yana Manyukhina
Professional education researcher 🎓
Amateur philosopher 💡
Relentless boxer 🥊
Trainee in sarcasm and mean jokes -
Philippa Warren
A neuroscientist exploring how to make reluctant nerves grow after severe injury, and purveyor of frivolous tales
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Hannah Ward-Glenton
Journalist with a love of ballroom dancing, comedy, and dark chocolate digestives 💃
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Alice Morrell
Scientist, adventurer, funny person. On a mission to decode animal behaviour using tech.
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Sammy Eden
Science communicator 🤓
Caffeine expert ☕
Lover of coffee ☕| nature 🏞️| plants 🌿| yoga 🧘♀| climbing 🧗♀️| adrenaline activies ️
Always looking for challenges & seeking discomfort -
Gaia Mortier
Parasitic postgraduate researcher passionate about anything that has 6 or more legs.
Here are some graduates of previous Talent Factory schemes to show you how our members develop
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HANNAH THOMPSON
Startup sector influencer and saviour of science careers
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ALEX LATHBRIDGE
E4 and Radio 4 presenter, Famelab champion and Hollywood science advisor
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LUCY ECKERSLEY
Wildlife presenter on Discovery, and outreach manager
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ANNA PLOSZAJSKI
Author, performer, LadBible presenter, storytelling trainer
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CERYS BRADLEY
Comedian and activist, as seen on Comedy Central
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JANE GREGORY
Keen-eared psychologist as seen on the BBC and in every newspaper
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SARAH JONES
Comedian and microbiologist as seen on BBC Wales
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SHALAKA KURUP
Comedian on Channel 4 and in your favourite theatre
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LEAH MORGAN
Engineer extraordinaire and the face of UK fusion power
WHAT YOU GET
To perform at lots of online and real-world gigs and other fun things Steve organises or takes part in
Mentoring from a group of previous Talent Factory participants who are now leaders of communication, education and engagement
Access to opportunities and development no-one else can get
Online masterclasses from some excellent communicators, thinkers and doers
To appear on new podcasts and videos
Promotion via the Science Showoff website, YouTube channel and social media feeds
Lots of photos, video and audio to share with potential bookers
Help writing and improving talks and comedy from Steve and his contacts
Recommendations to organisations as a performer and speaker
Introductions to Steve’s contacts
A community of like-minded people to support you and work with you
No reasonable favour will be refused
WHAT’S EXPECTED FROM YOU
To help the rest of the group and offer them opportunities you come across
To take part in more than 10 activities during the year
To give as much help as you get
To stay involved for the whole year
To be part of the group on Slack
An average of four hours a week, much of it made up of online chat
To be friendly, kind and to refrain from discrimination and harassment of any kind.
HOW DO YOU APPLY?
Applications for the 2023/4 Talent Factory open on June 5th and close on July 3rd at 5pm. To apply send an email to showofffactory@gmail.com with your CV (2 pages max) and answers to these two questions (2 pages max):
1. What would you like to get out of the Talent Factory?
2. What will you contribute to the experience of the other people taking part?
You can also include with your application a link to a performance, talk, video or podcast where we can see you in action. This isn’t mandatory, but is something some people might find useful in making their case. We will only watch one link per applicant so don’t send us more than that.
If you’re thinking about applying you can sign up to perform at a special Science Showoff gig on the evening of 28th June at the Harrison near King’s Cross. This will give you a chance to show us your skills and dip a toe in nerdy performing without committing to a whole year. Email steve@scienceshowoff.org for a 5 minute slot to perform.
A panel of experienced mentors will review the applications and choose 12-20 people to take part in the coming year.
WHAT DOES IT COST?
Taking part costs you nothing. Mentors and trainers give their time for free to help you develop. The Talent Factory has no funding so also can’t pay for your time or expenses. We will try to help you find paid gigs from other organisations as your skills develop.
ANY QUESTIONS?
Drop Steve a line on steve@drstevecross.com or on Twitter @steve_x
