John Maddox Prize Awards

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Nature of Science
Edward Hessler


The 2018 John Maddox Prize awards have been announced. 

This year, number seven, the Maddox prize is a joint award, shared by Britt Hermes, a PhD student in evolutionary biology at Kiel University, Germany, and Terry Hughes the director of the Arc Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia. Hermes who abandoned naturopathy after examining the evidence lost personal friends as a result of her decision and is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit. Hughes, a tireless reef advocate has drawn attention to the impacts of coral reef bleaching "in the face of," as one judge observed, " hostility and pushback from politicians, denialists and even the tourist industry in Australia."

The awards page includes brief comments from the winners as well as the judges. Photographs are included, too.


The John Maddox Prize is operated by Sense About Science, "an independent campaigning charity that challenges the misrepresentation of science and evidence in public life. We advocate openness and honesty about research findings, and work to ensure the public interest in sound science and evidence is recognised in public discussion and policymaking."

Britt Hermes writes about naturopathy on her blog, Naturopathic Diaries. 

John Maddox, about whom you may read more here, was a long time editor of the prestigious British science journal Nature.

What follows the colon in Sense About Science is "Because Evidence Matters."