BBC searches for new generation of big thinkers
The BBC has launched a nationwide hunt to find the next generation of public thinkers.
More than 1,000 applicants have entered Radio 3's "New Generation Thinkers" competition.
A shortlist of 60 will attend workshop-style auditions in March to pitch original programme ideas based on their academic research to win a slot on national radio.
Ten winners will be selected in April, who will develop their own programmes for Radio 3 and will appear on-air taking part in debates and delivering their own lectures.
Alain de Botton, the author and philosopher, said the competition was a bold move for the world of broadcast. He said: "Broadcasters are generally terrified of experts.
Above all else, they fear talking above the heads of their audiences, and hence end up – unwittingly – talking down at them.
"This is a great idea.
Whether it be in science, philosophy or literature, there's a real danger that the experts will stop talking to the rest of us and merely talk among their peers, while the rest of society is left to consume mediocre contentless fare.
But Radio 3 is the most niche of all the channels – if only it could be Radio 1 or Radio 4."
Aspiring public thinkers entering the competition must be over 18 and undertaking a postgraduate qualification or PhD, or be within eight years of receiving a PhD.
The judging panel for the competition includes Jonathan Bate, professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at Warwick University, Professor Rick Rylance, the chief executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Matthew Dodd, head of speech programming at Radio 3.
Mr Dodd said: "This is a talent scheme to find the bright new stars of modern scholarship.
The winners will need a lightness of touch in their delivery and how they execute their authority and will need to think about how difficult and abstract ideas can be communicated in a dynamic way."
Roger Wright, the controller of Radio 3, said: "There is a wealth of fascinating research being done by academics in universities and the New Generation Thinkers initiative is to help BBC Radio 3 bring new voices from within universities to a wider audience."
