Elise Andrew

Elise Andrew (born 1989) is a British blogger and science communicator. She is CEO[1] and one of several founders of "I fucking love science" (IFLS), a website and Facebook page on popular science.[2]

Elise Andrew
Elise Andrew at an event for I fucking love science
Born1989 (age 30–31)
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Sheffield (B.Sc.)
OccupationBlog writer, science communicator and webmaster
Known forFounder of the website and Facebook page "I fucking love science"

Early life and education

Andrew was raised in Long Melford, Suffolk, United Kingdom (UK).[1] Andrew graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in biology.[3] Her undergraduate degree covered subjects such as ecology, animal sciences and evolution.[4]

Career

Her work maintaining the IFLS Facebook page, as well as three others—"Earth Story", "Evolution", and "The Universe"[3]—led to LabX Media Group hiring her as a Social Media Content Manager.[4]

In September 2012, several of Andrew's articles were included in that month's issue of The Scientist, a magazine that is owned by her employer, LabX Media Group.[5]

Her work with social media and popular science has been covered by Cosmopolitan,[1] Mashable,[6] ScienceWorld,[7] and Scope.[8]

"I fucking love science"

According to Andrew herself, she founded the Facebook page "I fucking love science" in March 2012,[7] saying of the creation that "I was always finding bizarre facts and cool pictures and one day I decided to create somewhere to put them – it was never supposed to be more than me posting to a few dozen of my friends."[4] After the first day of being on Facebook, the page had over 1,000 likes, and passed 1 million likes in September 2012.[4] By January 2015, this had risen to 19.5 million likes.[9]

In August 2013, Andrew collaborated with Discovery Communications to create an online video series based on IFLS. The series was canceled that same year. The first weekly segment appeared at Discovery's online TestTube network. Episodes were also made available at the IFLS page on YouTube.[10]

Andrew has been invited to speak at engagements around the world including a series in Australia in August 2013 dedicated to IFLS,[11] a science communication program at MIT Museum in September,[12] a science-culture conference in Chile in October,[13] and the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers in Montreal in December 2013.[14] Andrew was also a speaker at the Scientista Foundation for its 5 April 2014 symposium at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[15] She appeared at a science and skepticism conference in New York City later that month, hosted by the New England Skeptical Society.[9]

Television personality and comedian Craig Ferguson announced at the 2014 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, US that he would be collaborating with the Science Channel and Andrew on the IFLS television program. Ferguson was meant to serve as the show's executive producer; however, production plans fell through.[16]

In 2015, Andrew was listed as one of Forbes' "30 to watch under 30" in their "media" category.[17]

In June 2015, Andrew was presented with the Stamford Raffles Award for distinguished contributions to zoology by amateur zoologists or for activities outside normal professional undertakings, by the Zoological Society of London.[18]

Plagiarism and other criticism

Andrew has come under criticism[19][20] for plagiarism and unlicensed use of intellectual property.

On 23 April 2013, Scientific American blogger Alex Wild saw that Andrew had used one of his insect photographs without attribution or permission. He determined that 59 of the 100 most recent photographs used by Andrew were not credited to the original source. Wild noted that Andrew "is using [other artist's work] to drive traffic on the IFLS page where it helps sell her own t-shirts." Ultimately, he accused Andrew of infringing the copyright of his photographs and artwork for her Facebook page without requesting permission from the copyright holders.[21]

Astrophysicist and science communicator Brian Koberlein previously stated that, due to its misleading, sensationalist, and click-bait articles, it is clear that IFLS is "just interested in pageviews" and is guilty of "the willful promotion of ignorance."[22]

Similarly, after complaining to Facebook about the uncredited use of his infographics on the IFLS page, Yemeni scientist Hashem Al-Ghaili claims to have been told by Facebook that IFLS was the subject of over 6,000 copyright complaints in 2013.[23][24]

Personal life

Andrew lives and works in Midland, Ontario, Canada.[25] On 13 September 2013, she married her fiancé Jake Rivett; she has stated that she will wait "a long time" to have children.[26]

References
  1. "Millions log on to share Elise's passion for bizarre science". Suffolk Free Press. Johnston Publishing. 12 April 2013. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  2. "Pop Sci to Pop Sigh: I Fucking Love Science Ex-Admins Speak Out". Skepchick. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  3. Woolf, Nicky. "Elise Andrew: "There is a lot of pseudo-science and nonsense out there on the internet"". Nicky Woolf in America. New Statesman. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  4. Hudson, Richard (24 September 2012). "Interview with Elise Andrew". The Chemical Blog. Archived from the original on 23 March 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  5. Giaccone, Sande (14 October 2011). "Intent to Purchase The Scientist Announced". Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  6. Wills, Amanda. "Why Everyone F*cking Loves Science — and Elise Andrew". Mashable. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  7. Stoianovici, Alex. "Mad about science. Interview with Elise Andrew, creator of I Fucking Love Science". Features. Science World. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  8. Cheng, Hannah (18 December 2012). "She F***ing Loves Science". Scope. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Graduate Program in Science Writing. Archived from the original on 2 August 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  9. "Northeast Conference on Science & Skepticism 2014". Reasonable New York. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  10. Spangler, Todd (23 August 2013). "Discovery Bringing Facebook's 'I F***ing Love Science' to Online Video and Science Channel". Variety.
  11. "Elise Andrew: she f*cking loves science (video)". Radio National: Life Matters. ABC News. 12 August 2013.
  12. "SHASS hosts Science Engagement event: Science outreach programs expand in form and content". MIT School of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences. 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  13. "1st International Conference on Scientific Culture". Santiago, Chile: Center for Science Communication. October 2013. Archived from the original on 25 January 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  14. Anderson, Kelly (3 December 2013). "WCSFP '13: Alison Leigh on the evolution of science". RealScreen. Brunico Communications. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  15. "Symposium Speakers 2014". Scientista Foundation. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  16. Annie Colbert (9 March 2014). "Craig Ferguson to Produce 'I F*cking Love Science' for TV". Mashable. Mashable. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  17. Emily Inverso. "Elise Andrew, 25 – In Photos: 2015 30 Under 30: Media". Forbes. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  18. "ZSL Scientific award winners 2014". Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  19. "Guest Post: Elise Andrew, science popularizer with a spotty attribution record, gets a pass from CJR – KSJ Tracker – Knight Science Journalism at MIT". mit.edu. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  20. Alex Wild. "Facebook's "I F*cking Love Science" does not f*cking love artists". scientificamerican.com. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  21. Wild, Alex (23 April 2013). "Facebook's "I F*cking Love Science" does not f*cking love artists". Scientific American. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  22. "Why IFLScience is Anti-Science". One Universe at a Time. 27 July 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  23. Morris, Kevin (24 April 2013). "I F**king Love Science and Facebook's problem with content theft". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  24. Weisblott, Marc. "Science blogger accused of stealing images". o.canada.com. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  25. Lunau, Kate (28 March 2013). "Elise Andrew on why she loves science". Maclean's.
  26. Teeman, Tim (12 October 2013). "Why millions love Elise Andrew's science page". The Guardian.
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