Halina Šimková

Forensic geneticist, science popularizer, winner of the Neuron Award for Best Popular Science Video, author of The Magical World of Bacteria: Adventures of the Tiniest Creatures on Earth (Kouzelný svět bakterií: Dobrodružství Prvíků, nejmenších tvorečků na Zemi) and of Expertise (Expertíza), presents a talk in the Science in Pop Culture section. She also sits on the jury of this year’s short film competition.

Story enthusiast, collector of life’s curiosities, world champion in navigating chaos, as well as a forensic geneticist. For sixteen years, she has analysed DNA from biological traces at the Institute of Criminalistics, and after the giant tsunami in 2005 she worked with the international Interpol units in Thailand to identify victims. Today she mainly trains experts and judges. Education and popularisation of her field are her passions: she is the winner of the Neuron Prima Zoom award for the best popular science video, had her own show Expertíza on Stream for several years, authored the popular educational publication Breviary of Forensic Genetics (Breviář forenzní genetiky) and last year published a children’s book The Magical World of Bacteria: Adventures of the Tiniest Creatures on Earth (Kouzelný svět bakterií: Dobrodružství Prvíků, nejmenších tvorečků na Zemi) which she wrote with evolutionary biologist Josef Lhotský.