Katherine Bellingham, (born 1963)Royal Society of Chemistry
– see Curriculum Vitae image below article is a British engineer and television presenter known for her role presenting the

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

science show ''

Tomorrow's World ''Tomorrow's World'' is a British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First broadcast on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorrow's World' ...

'' from 1990 to 1994. Following a period pursuing other interests and raising children, she resumed her

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

career in 2010.

Early life

Bellingham was born in Buckrose,

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

, and educated at the independent Mount School in York. She subsequently studied at the

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

where she graduated with a BA in Physics in 1984. In 2003, she received an MSc degree in Electronic Communications Systems Engineering from the

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a Universities in the United Kingdom, university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield ...

Career

Broadcasting

Bellingham was a BBC radio engineer working in the BBC Broadcasting House in 1988 when she was selected to co-host the annual Faraday Lecture sponsored by the

Institution of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and information technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...

– a tour of live shows for school pupils around the UK. A

BBC Schools BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges or BBC Education, was the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From its launch until June 1983 ...

producer saw her perform and she was offered a presenting role on a new Design and Technology programme called ''Techno''. She returned to her engineering training, but then applied for ''

'' and joined the team of presenters working on the show in 1990 for four years. Programmes she has presented include: * Radio Five Live – '' The Acid Test'' from 1994 to 1997 and ''Splitting the Difference'' in 1996 * BBC School Radio * Radio 4 – ''Testing Times'' (four-part series in November 1999) *

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

– ''Working in Engineering'' in 1999 * 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 ...

* Children's ITV – '' The Big Bang'' from 1996 to 2004 After around five years of regular television work, hosting numerous live events and presenting corporate video programmes, Bellingham decided to focus first on her young family and then to follow her core professional interest by returning to university to secure an MSc in Electronics.

Promotion of engineering (especially for women)

She trained and then worked as a maths teacher until July 2007, but has returned to media work, and to promoting

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

(science, technology, engineering and maths) to general public audiences, particularly school pupils. She is the DCSF's STEM Careers Champion (NSCC), Education Ambassador for the

Bloodhound The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar, rabbits, and since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is ...

Engineering Adventure. Bellingham returned to TV screens in March 2010 as a regular co-presenter for '' Museum of Life'' a documentary series for BBC2 about the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

. She was one of the celebrity judges at the National Science + Engineering Competition at The Big Bang Fair in March 2012, which rewards students who have achieved excellence in a science, technology, engineering or maths project and awarded prizes for the Talent 2030 National Engineering Competition for Girls in 2015. She was also involved with the British Engineering Excellence Awards (BEEAs) in October 2010, an event, organised by British-based Eureka and

New Electronics ''New Electronics'' is a British bi-weekly magazine dedicated to UK electronic engineering design. It was established in 1968 and is published by Findlay Media The magazine is available both in print and electronic format and is free for electr ...

, which aims to promote the engineering achievements of British companies. During the awards Kate wore the "e-dress" (designed by Abigail Williams from Amman Valley School and created by Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz of CuteCircuit), discussed the role of Design Technology (DT) in schools and its significance to British Engineering in the future.

Awards

In 1997, Bellingham was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Technology (Hon DTech) from the University of Staffordshire. In 2004, she received the Public Promotion of Engineering Medal by the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

.Kate Bellingham
- website of the Primary Science Education Conference In 2011, she was awarded a Women of Outstanding Achievement Award, partly in recognition for her work as National STEM Co-Ordinator for

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield station, Sheffield railway station, whil ...

's Centre for Science Education. In 2012, she was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

degree (Hon DSc) by the University of West of England. Bellingham received an honorary Doctorate of Science (Hon DSc) from the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

in 2013, in recognition of her contribution to the public understanding of ccience and science education. She also was awarded in 2014 an honorary Doctorate of Technology (Hon DTech) from

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body ...

as well an honorary

degree (Hon DSc) from the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

. In 2015, she was elected a Fellow of the Women’s Engineering Society (FWES) and awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering (Hon DEng) by the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

. She is President of Young Engineers, the national network of engineering clubs in schools and colleges. She is also a Patron of WISE, a charitable organisation that encourages young women to pursue careers in Science, Engineering and Construction.WISE Patrons

Personal life

Bellingham is married to BBC maintenance engineer, Martin Young. They have two children and settled in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

References

External links

Kate Bellingham's Official Website

*
Science: So what?

Young Engineers

from the

in June 2004.

News items

Bloodhound SSC in November 2009

Audio clips

''Today'' programme in September 2008

''Shifting Load'' at Radio 4 in 2004

Video clips

''Tomorrow's World'' 15 April 1994
from the BBC Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellingham, Kate 1963 births Living people English women television presenters BBC Radio 5 Live presenters Mathematics popularizers People associated with the Open University British women engineers Engineers from Yorkshire British mathematics educators Schoolteachers from Yorkshire Alumni of the University of Hertfordshire People from York People educated at The Mount School, York 21st-century British women engineers English women radio presenters