Science Book Prize gets new sponsor

Investment management company Insight Investment is the new sponsor of the £25,000 Royal Society Science Book Prize.

The company succeeds investment management firm Winton in sponsoring the prize; the deal is for three years.

The prize, which has been running for 29 years, will now be known as The Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize.

John Rushen, head of institutional, EMEA, at Insight Investment, said: “The importance of challenging preconceived wisdom to encourage new ways of thinking in all aspects of the sciences has significant parallels with how we look to maximise resilience in anticipation of change and uncertainty in the world’s financial markets . Our support for the Science Book Prize will enable us to give our clients a unique vista on this pre-eminent platform of research and education.”

This year’s judges have also been revealed. Author Bill Bryson, who won the prize in 2004 with A Short History of Nearly Everything (Black Swan), will chair fellow judges theoretical physicist Dr Clare Burrage, science fiction author Alastair Reynolds, ornithologist and science blogger GrrlScientist, and Roger Highfield, director of external affairs at The Science Museum.

Bryson said: “We are living in an age in which there is not only a super-abundance of science, but also a super-abundance of really good science writing, as this year’s crop of popular science books has once again demonstrated.”

The shortlist for the prize will be announced in July, and the winner crowned at an evening ceremony on 19th September.

The winner will receive a cheque for £25,000, with £2,500 awarded to each of the five shortlisted authors.

Last year’s winner was Gaia Vince for her close examination of pressing ecological issues facing the planet called Adventures in the Anthropocene (Chatto & Windus).