The Profile

"God gives us human curiosity" says the renowned American physician-geneticist Dr Francis Collins whose is best known for his leadership of the Human Genome Project and his contributions to finding a vaccine for Covid. It's curiosity which has helped Collins play a part in some of the most extraordinary scientific discoveries of the modern age.

Born in 1950, Collins trained as a physician and geneticist, eventually becoming t...

John Dickson didn't set food in a church before the age of 15 but says, looking back, he would probably have described himself as a 'thoughtful child'. After his father died in a plane crash he began thinking more about faith and was encouraged to explore Christianity by a secondary school teacher who was very open about her own faith.

Dickson went on to become a singer songwriter in 1990s for the rock band In the Silence befo...

The MP David Smith says that while he never wanted to be a 'pigeonholed' as a Christian neither would he ever deny how central his faith is to his work.

He's only newly been elected to the Labour seat in North Northumberland last year. His previous work included being Chief Executive with Oasis as well as senior roles in faith-based organisations such as Bible Society and Tearfund. It was work that deeply influenced his deep ...

Miel de Botton is a Swiss-born singer-songwriter, psychologist and philanthropist.

In this podcast she describes a loving but strict upbringing along with her brother, the author Alain de Botton. As her interests grew she went onto study law at Oxford before then switching to clinical psychology in Paris, where she worked with people overcoming addiction.

Miel began her professional musical career later in life. Her debut ...

Phil Knox is best known for his work with the Evangelical Alliance - an organisation which represents and connects evangelical churches and people across the UK and where he serves as evangelism and missiology senior specialist.

Knox grew up in a Christian household and attended church regularly. Home was a place where Scripture was regularly referenced. On car journeys he describes his parents teaching him to memorise Bible ...

Andy Flannagan has an irrepressible energy. The Northern Irishman, who is now based in Luton, began his adult life as a medical doctor before quickly deciding that singing and song writing was a passion he had to explore.

His albums include Advertising the Invisible, Son, Drowning in the Shallow, with his music often addressing social injustice, global poverty, environmental concerns, and human suffering

His love of music...

Australian high jumper Nicola Olyslagers has achieved a lot in her life already. Aged just 28 she is the newly crowned World Champion, winning the gold at the recent World Athletics Championships in Japan. She has won silver medals at the Paris 2024 & Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She is the Australian and Oceania high jump record holder (2.04m).

She is also the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion and will be looking to defend her title n...

Academic Beth Allison Barr grew up in a Christian home a never really questioning the reality of God and was formally baptised aged 11. Not that there weren't a few theological question marks along the way.

She became an academic historian specialising in medieval history while her husband became a Baptist minister. And it was only when they began to challenge their own church concerning the role of women in leadership that her...

24-year-old Harry Clark shot to fame on BBC One's hit reality show The Traitors. He won the second series last year bagging £95,000 which he says he used to pay off family debt and make a small investment - nothing too flash.

Despite the high profile treachery and deceit it took to win, what many people might not know is that Clark's Christian faith is the thing that keeps him grounded.

Clark was born in Nottinghamshire i...

Dr Selina Stone is a theologian who has written on topics as diverse as class, race within Pentecostal theology as well as racial inequality in the church and black spirituality.

Stone grew up in a working class family in Birmingham attending a Pentecostal church with her family. Her parents were teachers 'always reading' and from an early age she says she was steeped in church 'through and through.'

She says she was t...