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ABC appoints Head of Specialist

Catalyst exec producer Aidan Laverty to oversee factual, arts, and religious content for ABC.

ABC has appointed producer Aidan Laverty as Head of Specialist.

As Head of Specialist, he is responsible for arts, science, health and technology, religion and ethics, education and society and culture across ABC TV, ABC RN and ABC podcasts.

Laverty joined the ABC in May 2017 as Executive Producer of Catalyst, with credits including Gut Revolution, Feeding Australia, The Great Australian Bee Keeping Challenge, Staying Younger for Longer and Stargazing: Moon and Beyond.

Prior to joining the ABC, he was Specialist Factual Commissioner at the BBC, where he launched series such as Make It Digital, The Truth About, Natural Wonders, The Secrets of Quantum Physics and Girls Can Code. He was also Editor of the BBC’s Science program Horizon and launched The Secret Life of the Cat, Science Under Attack and Eat Fast and Live Longer, which helped spark the 5:2 diet phenomena. He also developed the long-running BBC series Trust Me I’m a Doctor.

In 2018, he was appointed manager of the ABC’s newly-created specialist Science genre, working with our leading journalists, producers and digital creators.

Michael Carrington, ABC Director of Entertainment & Specialist, said: “The ABC’s Specialist content is at the heart of our duty to inform, educate and entertain all Australians. Aidan’s wealth of experience in public broadcasting, particularly in driving digital innovation and creativity, will ensure we continue to tell important stories to audiences that impact their daily lives and the world around them.”

“I’m really thrilled to be taking on this new role. Specialist is home to so many talented people across radio, television and digital and what we do has never been more important to the ABC. I’m looking forward to working together to find new ways to inform, delight and surprise our audiences,” said Laverty.

He will start in his new role on 10 October.

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