Over the moon for extreme lecture

This year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer,  Dr Kevin Fong, takes his responsibility to the next generation of scientists very seriously

Congratulations on being named this year’s RI Christmas Lecturer – what was your response when asked?I was ecstatic – over the moon you might say! It’s something I’ve always wanted to do; science communication and public engagement are amongst the most important things we can do to help inspire the next generation. There’s no better vehicle for that than the Christmas Lectures. It’s a huge, huge honour to be asked.

You’re going to be speaking to a room-full of the next generation of scientists – does this feel like a huge responsibility? Of course, it’s an enormous responsibility. That generation can only learn about what potential careers in science hold from our example. It’s an incredible opportunity and I want to get it right.

The series is titled ‘How to survive in space’ – can you tell us what we have to look forward to? I hope this year is going to be a genuine adventure and take us out into what truly is the final frontier. I think I want to celebrate the fragility and resilience of the human body in this uniquely hostile environment, while at the same time celebrating Tim Peake’s historic mission to the International Space Station as an ESA astronaut.

What do you hope people will take away from the lectures? I want people to feel the sense of adventure and excitement about science, and space exploration in particular. Also for the teenagers in the audience to understand that this is the edge of what could be an incredible lifetime of scientific discovery for them.

You founded the Centre for Altitude, Space and Extreme environment physiology at University College London. Tell us about their current projects. They continue to explore the physical extremes of this world, and are particularly strong in high altitude medicine and physiology, they’ve done some truly ground breaking work. They are planning a return to Everest and also continuing to look to apply the knowledge they are gaining through their research in extreme environments to benefit patients in intensive care.

How will you be spending Christmas, and do you have any science-related traditions? I’m lucky this Christmas – I won’t be doing my day job working as a doctor for the Kent & Sussex Air Ambulance (though I am working on New Year’s Eve), so I’ll be spending time with my family. We don’t have any science related traditions – just the usual ones of presents and turkey.

How to Survive in Space will be shown on BBC Four in three parts on 28, 29 and 30 December at 8pm. Find out more on the Royal Institution’s website and join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram by following @ri_science or searching for#xmaslectures.

Kevin Fong is a medical doctor, science broadcaster and author with a special interest in space medicine and extreme environments.