Alice Roberts
Anatomist, osteoarchaeologist and science broadcaster
Alice May Roberts was born on the 19th of May, 1973, in Bristol, England, and is not of Welsh descent. Her inclusion here rests on a genuine, formative connection to Wales rather than ancestry: she studied medicine at the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff, gaining an intercalated BSc in anatomy along the way, and qualified as a doctor there in 1997. She went on to work as a junior doctor in South Wales before moving into academic anatomy in Bristol. It was also in Cardiff, in 1995, that she met her future husband, archaeology student David Stevens, while she was a medical student.
After qualifying, Roberts became an anatomy demonstrator and later lecturer at the University of Bristol, combining teaching with research in osteoarchaeology and completing a PhD in palaeopathology. Since 2012 she has held the post of Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham, the university's first such role. In 2019, Cardiff University recognised her ongoing connection to the institution with an Honorary Fellowship.
Roberts is one of Britain's best-known science broadcasters, presenting BBC series including Coast, The Incredible Human Journey and Digging for Britain, alongside a substantial body of popular science writing. Her book Crypt: Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond won Current Archaeology's Book of the Year award in 2025, and she was named British Humanist of the Year in 2015 for her work promoting the teaching of evolution in schools.