Chris Riley is one of the leading science communication specialists in the UK. He has been involved in science education, journalism, broadcasting and film-making for over twenty years, and is familiar to many for his regular appearances on radio and television.
After many years as a journalist in print and on radio, Chris moved to BBC TV in 1997 to work as series researcher for their landmark series The Planets. He co-presented the BBC's 1999 total eclipse coverage and their 30th anniversary celebrations of Apollo 11 the same year. He has produced and directed over 50 films for the corporation's flagship science and technology show Tomorrow's World, and produced and directed the last series of Rough Science.
He regularly presents astronomy and space programmes across the BBC's TV and radio channels and web sites. He is the author of more than thirty science articles and books on astronomy and planetary science and produced the BBC's blockbuster space drama-documentary series Space Odyssey, in 2004, winner of the UK's prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award.
Chris was a founding scientist of the UK 's National Science Line and has been a consultant to the Association for Science Education. He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Lancaster, and he lecturers annually on Imperial College's Science Communication M.Sc. course and at the UK's bi-annual Space School in Leicester.
In 2006, Chris presented the Radio 4 cosmology series The Cosmic Hunters. He has recently co-directed In the Shadow of the Moon, a film on the Apollo astronauts for Channel 4 which won the World Documentary Audience Award at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.