James Kennedy (chemistry spokesperson)

James Kennedy (born April 21, 1988) is a British-born author and chemistry spokesperson. Kennedy is a chemistry teacher in Australia who created the All-Natural Banana poster series and founded the Sincerely, Chemicals chemistry outreach initiative in 2017, which runs live workshops with journalists and healthcare practitioners that aim to improve chemistry communications between experts and the public. Kennedy contributes to magazines, television and radio interviews to talk about chemistry-related topics with the aim of improving public perceptions of chemistry. His YouTube channel, also called Sincerely, Chemicals, is scheduled to come online in October 2018.
Early life
Kennedy was born in Weymouth, Dorset. After attending The Royal Latin School in Buckinghamshire and Ysgol Gyfun Aberaeron in Ceredigion, where he achieved four A-grades at A-level. Kennedy entered the University of Cambridge in 2007 to study the Natural Sciences Tripos. During his time there, he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Cambridge chapter of the US-based peer-reviewed undergraduate journal, The Science in Society Review, published quarterly by The Triple Helix. His editorials included "Worker Bees of the World, Unite!". and the "Special Relativity without Length Contractions or Time Dilations" lecture in May 2010. He earned his Masters of Arts degree from the University of Cambridge in 2014.
Career
Teaching
Kennedy joined Peking University International High School as an instructor in the International Division in 2010. His role was to tutor reading and writing skills to grade 10 students in preparation for studying bachelor's degrees in the United States. In 2013, he completed his at Monash University and joined Haileybury in Melbourne, where he served as International Exchange Coordinator. In 2017, Kennedy assumed the role of Director of Teaching and Learning at Haileybury International School in Tianjin.
Communicating science
Outreach events
Kennedy contributed to science communication outreach events as an undergraduate student. He has worked at the Darwin Festival, Cambridge University's and the Cheltenham Science Festival as well as hosting outreach events for The Triple Helix.
The All-Natural Banana
In December 2013, Kennedy created the Ingredients of an All-Natural Banana poster as an introductory lecture slide for his organic chemistry students. He told Gizmodo's io9 in an interview: "I want to erode the fear that many people have of 'chemicals',' and demonstrate that nature evolves compounds, mechanisms and structures far more complicated and unpredictable than anything we can produce in the lab" The poster became the second-most popular post of all time on Reddit Chemistry. Media outlets such as The New York Times, The Daily Mail and El Pais ran stories about the banana poster and its eleven sequels. The ingredients posters have appeared in books and academic journal articles.
Sincerely, Chemicals
After teaching chemistry for seven years in China and Australia, Kennedy founded the Sincerely, Chemicals outreach initiative in 2017, which aims to "improve the public's perception of the chemistry and chemicals that improve our lives". Sincerely, Chemicals debunks myths about chemical ingredients on its YouTube channel. Kennedy's Sincerely, Chemicals workshops teach journalists and healthcare workers how to tackle chemophobia effectively to their readers and patients.
Politics
After co-founding the Cambridge Socialists political party in 2010, Kennedy subsequently left that party and ran for election as the Green Party candidate to Cambridge City Council instead. He came third in his area, winning 18.0% of the electoral vote. He has since been politically inactive.
Bibliography
* ' 2016.
* Common VCE Chemistry Mistakes... and How to Avoid Them, 2016.
* ' 2016.
* , 2018.
* ' 2018.

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