The business of genetic ancestry

There is a programme going out next Tuesday 26th May on BBC Radio 4 on the "business of genetic ancestry". The programme is presented by Dr Adam Rutherford and includes interviews with Professor Mark Jobling from the University of Leicester, my colleague Professor Mark Thomas from University College London and yours truly! You can find further details about the programme here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05vy4kb

The programme will also be available on the iPlayer and it will be repeated on Monday 1st June at 9pm.

I paid a visit to New Broadcasting House at the end of last month to record my interview with Adam. I was interviewed for one hour and 20 minutes, and we had a wide-ranging conversation about the exciting discoveries that can be made from DNA testing but also about some of the problematic press coverage and the dubious claims made by certain companies. Obviously only a tiny fraction of what I said will make the final cut, so I shall be interested to see how it turns out.

In the recording studio with Adam Rutherford.

I have been very impressed with the way that the programme has been made. The BBC have done a lot of research behind the scenes and have gone to great pains to talk to a wide range of people and to present a balanced view showing both the benefits of genetic ancestry testing but also highlighting some of the problematic areas. They invited people from all sides of the debate to contribute to the programme though I understand that unfortunately not everyone who was invited to participate chose to do so.

If you listen to the programme do let me know what you think.

Related blog posts
- Driving in the wrong direction with a dodgy DNA satnav
- More on the S4C DNA Cymru controversy and my review of "Who are the Welsh?"

© 2015 Debbie Kennett

Radio interview - What's your name?

I did a radio interview on Monday 15th July for the WMNF station in Tampa, Florida. I appeared on the Life Elsewhere programme hosted by Norman B. I got the chance to talk a little bit about my Cruwys DNA Project and my surname research. There is a synopsis of the programme here:

http://lifeelsewhere.co/2013/07/13/whats-your-name

I appeared on the programme with my genealogy friends Dick Hill, the author of Finding Family, and Drew Smith, whose new book Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques, written with George Morgan, is due out in the US in September. The programme is now available online and can be heard here:

http://sound.wmnf.org/sound/wmnf_130715_090618_life1_391.MP3

My segment with Norman and Drew starts at around 27 minutes.

Award from My Heritage

I'm delighted to report that the kind people at My Heritage.com have chosen this blog as one of their top 100 genealogy sites of 2010. My Heritage "wanted to identify and give recognition to websites which offered high-quality content, were innovative in topic or design, and which were frequently updated with new content". They were also putting some emphasis on "finding hidden gems in the community".

The full list of award-winning websites can be seen here.

Cruwys/Cruse ONS in Ancestry magazine

The Cruwys/Cruse one-name study was recently featured in an article on social networking by Howard Wolinsky entitled "Electric Connections" in the January/February 2010 issue of the American magazine Ancestry. The article is now available online and can be found here. I was rather hoping that the article might lead to a few enquiries from American researchers but to date I have not had any new contacts.

Sadly Ancestry magazine ceased publication with the March/April 2010 issue. Some of the articles can however still be found online on the Ancestry website. In addition a complete archive of all the issues from the last sixteen years is now available online free of charge courtesy of Google Books. The archive can be found here.

DNA article in Family History Monthly

The October issue of Family History Monthly is now on sale in the UK. It is a DNA special with a four-page article by yours truly on DNA testing. There is also an interesting article by Chris Pomery on the use of DNA in the Dr Crippen case, and a competition to win a free DNA test from Family Tree DNA. I am currently the project administrator of three DNA projects at Family Tree DNA. I have two surname projects for the surnames Cruwys/Cruse and Kennett. I also run a geographical project for the county of Devon. I would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in joining these projects.

Cruwys ONS in Family History Monthly

The June issue of Family History Monthly has just been published and it includes an article by Chris Paton on the Guild of One-Name Studies. I am very pleased to report that the article includes a special feature on the Cruwys/Cruse one-name study and the associated DNA project. There are screenshots of this blog and the DNA project website, and also a mugshot of yours truly. I'm hoping that the article will give the study some welcome publicity and perhaps result in a few more enquiries. For those of you reading this blog who don't live in the UK I am happy to provide scans of the article.