Two young academics from Glasgow University have won prestigious awards for science communication from the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science).

The accolades mean that both Dr Karen Spencer and Dr Rob Jenkins will present the 2007 BA Award Lectures in York this September as part of the BA Festival of Science.

Karen Spencer, the Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences will deliver the Charles Darwin Award Lecture on 'The evolution of chick chat: how the study of bird song can help us understand the origins of human speech'.

"The ability to learn vocalisations through imitation, or vocal learning, is only found in very few groups of animals. Amongst these are the songbirds and humans," says Karen.

"When a baby bird emerges from its egg it is unable to start singing immediately, it starts out babbling, eventually refining this into an attractive song. Human babies follow a very similar pattern when learning to speak. There are also similarities in several brain structures between birds and humans and these can give us a clue as to how vocal learning might have evolved through Darwin's theory of Natural Selection."

Karen's lecture will show the relationships between birds and humans in their neural structure and vocal development and demonstrate the importance of understanding how birds learn their song in order to understand how humans develop language. There will also be an explanation of the factors affecting vocal learning in birds and the important roles of song in communication, especially in finding a mate.

Dr Rob Jenkins, Department of Psychology will deliver the Joseph Lister Award Lecture on the subject of 'Identity and mistaken identity: Face recognition in a surveillance society'

He says: "There are many cases of mistaken identity every year. We are so good at recognising familiar faces in everyday life that we take our own face recognition abilities for granted. We also tend to overgeneralise our confidence in these abilities, by assuming that we are also good at recognising unfamiliar faces. This is a mistake.

"Twenty years of research in the psychology of face perception has led to great progress in understanding the complexity of everyday face recognition. In doing so, it has also revealed fundamental limitations in the face recognition abilities of both humans and machines. These limitations have profound implications for today's surveillance society. With more than 4 million CCTV cameras operating in the UK, photo identity cards in the pipeline, and national security at the top of the political agenda, it has never been more important to understand these limitations."

Robin's lecture will illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of human face recognition using real life examples and live demonstrations. It will also provide an accessible overview of computer-based face recognition, and explain how machine performance can be improved by incorporating discoveries from psychological research.

Roland Jackson, Chief Executive of the BA and one of the judges said: "The BA Award Lectures seek to reward exceptional younger communicators who bring science to life with passion whilst also tackling its impact on society. The entertaining lectures are a very popular component of the Festival programme and attract an extremely broad audience.'

The BA Festival of Science will take place in York from 9-15 September, bringing over 350 of the UK's top scientists to discuss the latest developments in science with the public. In addition to talks and debates at the University of York, there will be a host of events throughout the city as part of the Festival in the City programme.

For more information, visit www.the-ba.net/festivalofscience.

Martin Shannon (m.shannon@admin.gla.ac.uk)

Established in 1831, the BA organises major initiatives across the UK, including National Science and Engineering Week, the annual BA Festival of Science, programmes of regional and local events, and an extensive programme for young people in schools and colleges. The BA also organises specific activities for the science communication community in the UK through its Science in Society programme.

For more information about the BA, please visit www.the-ba.net

First published: 30 April 2007