Dr Zara Gladman has a PhD in crayfish from the University of Glasgow and a First Class BSc in Zoology (Zoo-LOL-ogy). She lives and works in Glasgow.

By day, Zara is the Public & Community Engagement Advisor for the University of Glasgow, supporting researchers to work with the local community. Prior to that, she worked as Public Engagement Co-ordinator for Glasgow Science Festival, developing innovative, award-winning projects that connected the public with science.

By night, Zara works on a range of independent and personal projects, including a regular slot writing, filming and editing science and musical comedy videos for BBC The Social. In 2016, Zara was among 20 'ones to watch' on The List Magazine's Digital Hot List. She has written and co-written screenplays and theatre, including 'Culture Club', co-written with Laura McNamara, which was long-listed for the Funny Women Comedy Writing Award and selected for performance at the inaugural Persistent and Nasty project.

Zara founded the 'weegie branch of Bright Club, a comedy night in which academics perform stand-up comedy about their research. She has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, The Stand Comedy Clubs in Glasgow and Edinburgh and even Edinburgh Zoo!

'Lady Alba', Zara's satirical 'alter ego' rose to fame during the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, with appearances on the BBC, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, STV, Al Jazeera, Sky News, Irish Times and The Independent.