David Shukman

Biography

David Shukman is the former BBC Science Editor. He was the first person ever to be appointed to the role and led coverage of climate change and environmental issues.

Previously David served as the channel’s environment and science correspondent, and before that as world affairs correspondent involved providing regular studio analysis of the Iraq crisis and the United States-led war against terrorism. Throughout his career, David has focused on explaining complex questions to the widest possible audiences.

When he moved to the environment and science brief, David reported from locations as diverse as the Arctic, Antarctic, and the Amazon. He was the first journalist to broadcast live from Britain's Antarctic base, and has made the most northerly television broadcast, only six hundred miles from the North Pole.

David led reporting for the BBC on developments on everything from climate change to bioscience, environmental conferences to disasters, including the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Fukushima nuclear plant explosion. He has witnessed the key developments in the greatest challenge of our time.

He has authored books including An Iceberg as Big as Manhattan, The Sorcerer's Challenge: Fears and Hopes for the Weapons of the Next Millennium, Tomorrow's War: The Threat of High-Technology Weapons and Reporting Live from the End of the World.

After many years as a frontline BBC journalist, David has experienced the worst of what we’re doing to the world, and the best when imagination and optimism combine to create clever ways forward. His goal since leaving the BBC has been to use every opportunity to help explain what’s at stake and to highlight the solutions that are most likely to make a difference.