Vanessa Collingridge

Vanessa is an award-winning broadcaster, best-selling author, prize-winning academic and leadership coach. After graduating from Oxford University with First Class honours in Geography, she moved into television, specialising in science, environment, culture and history. For over 25 years, she’s worked on all seven Continents. After decade presenting network current affairs shows she took over the chair of Making History, Radio 4’s flagship weekly history series. Her 4x1hr documentary series, Captain Cook – Obsession & Discovery based on her best-selling book, has been screened around the world winning five major international awards including a Canadian “Oscar”. 

A qualified cosmonaut on Star City’s Space Tourism Programme, she is also director of Monster Media Productions making radio and television programmes for broadcast and corporate clients;

it also provides executive coaching across the world in media, communication and impact/presentation skills. After three years living in Hong Kong, China, she is now back home in Scotland with her partner, their four sons, a dog, two cats, an African pygmy hedgehog and an axolotl….