Kate Bellingham (born Katherine Bellingham in 1963,[1] Buckrose - east/north Yorkshire) is a British engineer and television presenter most widely known for her role presenting popular BBC science show Tomorrow's World from 1990-1994.[1] Following a period pursuing other interests and raising children, she resumed her broadcasting career in 2010.
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Bellingham was educated at the independent Mount School[2] on Dalton Terrace (A59) in York, followed by the University of Oxford, where she studied Physics. She graduated in 1984.[1]
Bellingham was a BBC radio engineer working in the BBC Broadcasting House in 1988 when she was selected to co-host the annual Faraday Lecture sponsored by the Institution of Electrical Engineers - a tour of live shows for school pupils around the UK. A BBC Schools producer saw her perform and she was offered a presenting role on a new Design and Technology programme called Techno.
She returned to her engineering training, but soon applied for Tomorrow's World. Spotted as a talented communicator of science and a potential role model for young women in a traditionally male-dominated industry, she was offered the chance to join the team of presenters working on the BBC's flagship popular science show in 1990 for four years.
Programmes she has presented include:
After around five years of regular television work, hosting numerous live events and presenting countless corporate video programmes, Bellingham decided to focus first on her young family and then to follow her core professional interest by returning to university to secure an MSc in Electronics.
She went on to train and work as a maths teacher until July 2007, but has now returned to her media work, and to promoting STEM (science, engineering, technology and maths) to general public audiences, particularly school pupils. She is the DCSF's STEM Careers Champion (NSCC), and is Education Ambassador for the Bloodhound Engineering Adventure, which plans to break the world land speed record. Kate returned to TV screens in March 2010[3] as a regular co-presenter for Museum of Life a documentary series for BBC2 about the Natural History Museum. In October 2010 Kate was on the judging panel for the British Engineering Excellence Awards (BEEAs),[4] an event, organised by British based Eureka and New Electronics, which aims to promote the engineering achievements of British companies. During the awards Kate was wearing the e-dress[5] designed by Abigail Williams from Amman Valley School and created by Francesca Rosella and Ryan Genz of CuteCircuit. The dress provided Kate with the opportunity to discuss the role of Design Technology (DT) in schools and its significance to British Engineering in the future.
In 1997, she received an honorary doctorate in Technology from Staffordshire University. In 2003, she received an MSc in Electronics from the University of Hertfordshire. She is President of Young Engineers, the national network of engineering clubs in schools and colleges. She is also a Patron of WISE, a charitable organisation that encourages young women to pursue careers in Science, Engineering and Construction.[6] In 2011 she was awarded a Women of Outstanding Achievement Award, partly in recognition for her work as National STEM Co-Ordinator for Sheffield Hallam University's Centre for Science Education.</ref>
She married BBC maintenance engineer, Martin Young, in 1995. They met after she was working on a TV set as a trainee BBC engineer when it exploded and he fetched her a cup of tea. They have a son (born January 1998) and daughter (born May 2000). They live in Hertfordshire.