About

The medium version (250 words)

Dr Anna Ploszajski is an award-winning materials scientist, writer, presenter, trainer and storyteller based in London. She has a doctorate in Materials Science and identifies as a materials generalist, equally fascinated by merino wool as stainless steel, through all the wonderful metals, plastics, ceramics, glasses and natural substances that make up our material world.

Anna channels this passion by storytelling with materials on the screen, radio, stage and page. She writes adult popular science books, like Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making, and science books for children, including First Flight and Our Human Story. Anna’s a sought-after public speaker, and fronts award-winning industry podcasts such as Things You Can’t Live Without.

Having worked for a decade across scientific research and public science communication, Anna founded Storyology Ltd to train professional scientists, engineers and techy people in the art of storytelling. She has won numerous prestigious industry awards for her work, including Young Engineer of the Year by the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Silver Medal from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3). In 2022 she was made a Fellow of the IOM3, one of the youngest in its history.

In her spare time, Anna plays the trumpet in a funk and soul covers band called Don’t Freak Out, climbs mountains with her border collie, Spud, and is an ultra-endurance open water swimmer; she swam the English Channel in July 2018. Oh, and it’s pronounced “Por-shy-ski”.

The long version - Anna’s Story

Hello, I’m Anna -  I’m a materials scientist, storyteller, author, podcaster, speaker, presenter, trainer, trumpeter, English Channel swimmer, feminist, knitter, walker and border collie dog mum, originally from Bedford, now settled in Walthamstow, East London.

I started out my career with a degree in Materials Science at Oxford University, then moved to London to pursue a doctorate at UCL in hydrogen storage materials, soon becoming immersed in the world of science communication and public engagement after one too many arguments about the Hindenburg disaster.  

This began with stand-up comedy, writing magazine articles and producing a podcast. But I quickly ran out of jokes about hydrogen, and so began my obsession with story. I devoured every book, blog and YouTube video I could find on the subject, and started honing my craft on the comedy stage, from Cheltenham Science Festival to the Edinburgh Fringe. 

When the time came to write up my doctoral thesis, I wrote that as a story too, and passed my viva with no corrections. This proved to me the potential of story in science. 

I continued to live a double-life as a researcher and storyteller, writing a memoir/popular science book, Handmade: A Scientist’s Search for Meaning Through Making, and leading large engagement projects like Bedtime Stories for Very Young Engineers, training engineers in storytelling skills to write and tell bedtime stories about inventing, fixing, making and doing for children aged 2-5.

After a brief stint as an in-house science writer at Imperial College London, I took the leap to full-time freelancing. I founded my company, Storyology Ltd, through which I deliver storytelling and communications workshops and consultancy services to universities and companies. My ethos is to bring together these years of hands-on storytelling practice, with a deep knowledge of research into a communication approach that is inclusive, creative and unconventional. 

And the rest of the time I continue my creative practice as a writer. I’ve written two books for children: First Flight and Our Human Story, and have more in the pipeline.

Representation

Books: Laura Macdougall at United Agents.

Presenting: Matt Nicholls at United Agents.

Testimonials