Timandra Harkness is a British writer, presenter and comedian. She has contributed to several publications, including '' BBC Science Focus'' magazine and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', and authored the book ''Big Data: Does Size Matter?''. Harkness has co-written and performed comedy shows related to science and mathematics, including collaborations with her mother Linda Cotterill and comedian

Matt Parker Matthew Thomas Parker (born 22 December 1980) is an Australian recreational mathematics, recreational mathematician, author, comedian, YouTube personality and Science communication, science communicator based in the United Kingdom. His book ''H ...

. Since 2016, she has chaired the Data Debate series for the

Alan Turing Institute The Alan Turing Institute is the United Kingdom's national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, founded in 2015 and largely funded by the UK government. It is named after Alan Turing, the British mathematician and computing p ...

and

the British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

. She is a

Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

and a visiting fellow at the

University of Winchester The University of Winchester is a public research university based in the city of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The university has origins tracing back to 1840 as a teacher training college, but was established in 2005. Winchester University ...

's Centre for Information Rights.

Education

Harkness has a BA in Film and Drama with Art from Bulmershe College and a BSc in Mathematics & Statistics from the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

, awarded in 2017. In 2021, she began postgraduate study in Philosophy at

Birkbeck College, London Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

, completing an MA degree in 2023.

Career

Writer

Harkness has written about technology for '' BBC Science Focus'' magazine, about statistics for '' Significance'' (a popular science magazine published by the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

), and about motorcycles for ''

''. Harkness is the author of the book ''Big Data: Does Size Matter?'' Her second book ''Technology is not the Problem'' was published in May 2024.

Broadcaster

Harkness' work for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

includes an afternoon play, documentaries, being a roving reporter for ''The Human Zoo'' and presenting ''FutureProofing'', a series about the future potential of science.

Performer

In 1999, Harkness co-wrote a comedy with her mother Linda Cotterill, called ''No Future in Eternity'', about an astronomer who shares a flat with two angels. They received a grant from the

Astronomer Royal for Scotland Astronomer Royal for Scotland was the title of the director of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh until 1995. It has since been an honorary title. Astronomers Royal for Scotland See also * Edinburgh Astronomical Institution * City Observatory * R ...

, John Campbell Brown, to perform the show at the ''

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

'' in 2000. The show was subsequently broadcast as an afternoon play on BBC Radio 4. Since 2004, Harkness has collaborated with Dr Helen Pilcher, as a comedy duo named the ''Comedy Research Project'', writing and performing stand-up shows about science. In 2012, Harkness and fellow comedian

co-wrote a comedy show called ''Your Days are Numbered: The Maths of Death''. They performed the show in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, at the ''

Adelaide Fringe Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...

'' and ''

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starti ...

'', on tour around

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, at the ''

''. Harkness returned to the ''Edinburgh Festival Fringe'' in 2019 to perform a one-woman show, called ''Take a Risk''.

Data engagement

Since 2016, Harkness has chaired the ''Data Debate'' for the

and the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, a series of panel discussions about big data and its implications for society. She has spoken at the ''

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival (), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, the festival was d ...

'', the ''Battle of Ideas'', ''

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

'', ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

Data Conference'' and the ''

Cheltenham Science Festival Cheltenham Science Festival is one of the UK's leading science festivals, and is part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for the Jazz, Music and Literature Festivals that run every year. The 2018 Cheltenham Science Festival (6–11 June) ...

''. Harkness is a Fellow of the

(RSS), a founding member of their special interest group on Data Ethics. She was elected to serve on the Council of the RSS from 2024, and took over the chair of the editorial board of their magazine Significance at that time. Harkness is also a visiting fellow at the

's Centre for Information Rights.

Awards

In 1997, Harkness won a column-writing competition, organised by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' newspaper.

Publications

* ''Big Data: Does Size Matter'' (2016)

Radio

* ''No Future In Eternity'' (2001) * ''Data, Data, Everywhere'' (2014) * ''Personality Politics'' (2014) * ''FutureProofing'' (2014–present) * ''Hindsight Bias'' (2015) * ''Perfect People'' (2015) * ''Supersense Me'' (2017) * ''The Why Factor: Are You A Numbers Person?'' (2017) * ''How to Disagree: A Beginner's Guide to Having Better Arguments'' (2018) * ''The Infinite Monkey Cage: Big Data'' (2018) * ''Divided Nation'' (2019) * ''What Has Sat-Nav Done to Our Brains?'' (2019) * ''Five Knots'' (2020) * ''Steelmanning'' (2021)

Comedy

* ''The Comedy Research Project'' (2004) * ''Your Days Are Numbered - The Maths of Death'' (2012) * ''Brainsex'' (2013) * ''Take A Risk'' (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harkness, Timandra Living people 21st-century English comedians Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London Alumni of the Open University Data scientists English women comedians English comedy writers English radio presenters Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society People associated with the University of Winchester Women data scientists Year of birth missing (living people)