The Charles Darwin Trust has acquired from English Heritage a site next to Charles Darwin's home in Kent. The Trust plans to create there a new centre for scientific thought and education, to be known as The Charles Darwin Forum.

"Supporters of this project will be investing in a better future for mankind"
Sir Paul Nurse, Nobel Prize winner for Medicine, former Director General of Cancer Research UK, and now President of Rockefeller University in New York.

The Charles Darwin Forum will look out over the unspoilt countryside where Darwin developed many of his greatest insights. Its purpose will be to stimulate debate about the life sciences and promote excellence in science education. Active supporters of the project include three Nobel Prize winners: Dr James Watson, Sir Paul Nurse, and Dr Tim Hunt.

The Forum will develop exciting ways for teaching science in schools and colleges, provide professional development courses for science teachers, and seek to encourage a love of science. The programmes will be inspired by Darwin's example, and the science will be contemporary and forward-looking.

"This is a tremendous fillip for teachers of science and their pupils. It has never been more important for science education to be stimulating and challenging. The Forum will help to put back the 'wow' into school science"
Mike Tomlinson, formerly HM Chief Inspector of Schools and Chair of the 14-19 Working Group and The Learning Trust, Hackney.

Initially, the Forum will be based in the renovated 'farmhouse', which will provide teaching space and accommodation for education courses. Pilot educational projects, which are being developed in partnership with Science Learning Centre, London and Bromley Education, will focus on courses for secondary school teachers.

"English Heritage is delighted to have The Charles Darwin Forum as its new neighbour at Downe. We hope that a new generation of scientists will take inspiration from Darwin's legacy, and the place he so loved"
Sir Neil Cossons, Chairman of English Heritage.

The long-term goal is to establish The Charles Darwin Forum as an independent international institution where scientists and others will meet to debate key scientific and public policy issues, such as genetic manipulation, the evolution of disease, and biodiversity.