Actor Voices Support for Leverhulme Centre

Alan Alda, acclaimed actor and a passionate advocate of communicating the benefits of science, has lent his support to the newly launched Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee.

Rising to international fame as Hawkeye Pierce in the classic television series M*A*S*H , Alan wrote and directed many of the episodes and continues to take prominent roles, earning great reviews this year for his performance  in Steven Spielberg’s `Bridge of Spies’ and in Louis CK’s groundbreaking web series `Horace and Pete’.

For well over 20 years he has also worked extensively to help broaden the public’s understanding of science and helped found the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University where he is a Visiting Professor. The Alan Alda Center is one of the international partners which will link with the £10 million Leverhulme Centre at Dundee, which was officially launched by Her Majesty The Queen on July 6^th.

He said, “We are very excited to be working with the Leverhulme Research Centre at the University of Dundee. The work you are planning in forensic science is so tremendously important to justice. We are going to have a great time working together!”

Professor Niamh Nic Daeid, Co-Director of the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, also led by Professor Dame Sue Black said, “If we are to be successful in our ambitions to raise the whole field of forensic science to a new level then it is essential we are able to communicate effectively with a wide range of partners and also, vitally, with the public.

“Working with the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science will help us greatly in that respect and we are all delighted to have received such a warm message of support from Alan.”