Dr Simon Clark is an award-winning science communicator and author from Bath, UK. He holds a master’s degree in Physics from St Peter’s College, University of Oxford, and a PhD in atmospheric physics from the University of Exeter. In 2023 he was made an Honorary Industrial Fellow of the University of Bristol.
Starting to create YouTube videos in 2010, his YouTube channel SimonOxfPhys initially focused on helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds apply to prestigious universities. Videos specifically focused on giving an insider's perspective on the admissions process and coaching applicants through the interview process at Oxford and Cambridge, giving advice that he wished he had received when applying to Oxford from a state school. After moving to Exeter for his PhD his video output changed to focus more on science - including two educational series about the physics of the atmosphere and the cryosphere - and vlogging about life as a graduate student. Since his PhD graduation and becoming a full-time science communicator his videos have focused on atmospheric science, with other topics such as the history of science, machine learning, and mental health also making appearances.
Over the years his YouTube channel has gone from strength to strength, accruing over half a million subscribers and over 50 million lifetime views.
To continue his work improving access to Oxford University he founded the Oxvlog project, a unique YouTube channel featuring vloggers across the whole university, and also created the comedy channel Spongy and Electric and podcast The Wikicast with Daniel Maw. Along with fellow science communicators Ali Jennings, Emily Bates, and Shamini Bundell, he co-founded the RPGeeks, a project using a sci-fi Dungeons and Dragons campaign, streamed live on Twitch, to start conversations about science.
His first book, Firmament, is an introduction to and history of atmospheric science. It aims to bridge the gap between the reader’s knowledge of weather and of climate change, highlighting the physical system that connects the two. It was released in January 2022 by Hodder and Stoughton and was named as a Waterstones science book of the year. It is available as a hardback, ebook, and audiobook.
In addition to videos on his own channels, Simon has collaborated on YouTube videos with Acapella Science, Tom Scott, Real Engineering, Hat Films, and the Yogscast, and also presented a series of videos for BBC Bitesize and BBC Earth. Collaborations with brands include Merck, Airbus, the European Central Bank, Roborace, and the UK Central Laser Facility. He has given invited talks at universities nationally and internationally, including conferences on science communication at CERN and the EGU.
Notable awards:
Royal Meteorological Society’s Emerging Communicator award, 2024
Named as a “Climate Creator to Watch” by Pique Action and The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2024
Firmament named as a Waterstones science book of the year, 2022
Scholarship from The Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck, 2017
XMedia awards for Best Radio Show and Most Innovative Project, University of Exeter, 2015
Gibbs prize for public speaking and the Scott prize for teaching and learning physics in schools, University of Oxford, 2011
In addition to his scientific and videographic interests he has been a musician for his entire adult life, playing the cornet and saxophone before becoming a bass choral scholar at the University of Exeter. He toured nationally and internationally with the choir, and has been recorded as a chorus member and a soloist. Additionally, he has taken part in fundraising activities for multiple charities, including running several sponsored half marathons and taking part in the annual Yogscast Jingle Jam.
He has a lifelong interest in books, writing, cinema, and all things geeky. Ask him about Warhammer 40K, I dare you.
