Elise Andrew

Elise Andrew (born 1989) is a British blogger. She was the CEO and founder of IFLScience, a website and Facebook page on popular science. With regard to the site, Andrew has come under criticism for plagiarism, unlicensed use of intellectual property, reporting false and misleading information, and rarely issuing corrections.

Early life and education Andrew was raised in Long Melford, Suffolk, United Kingdom (UK). Andrew graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in biology. Her undergraduate degree covered subjects such as ecology, animal sciences and evolution.

Career IFL Science Andrew started the Facebook page I Fucking Love Science in March 2012, Wild noted that Andrew "is using [other artists' work] to drive traffic on the IFLS page where it helps sell her own t-shirts." Ultimately, he accused Andrew of infringing the copyright of his photographs and artwork for her Facebook page without requesting permission from the copyright holders.

In 2014, an article by MIT's Knight Science Journalism, a program which seeks to "advance science journalism in the public interest", found that content appearing on IFLS was "error-prone" and that false and misleading statements remained even after editorial staff were alerted of the issues. The article ultimately asserted that when mistakes are pointed out "they are rarely corrected".

Comedian Craig Ferguson announced at the 2014 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas that he would be collaborating with the Science Channel and Andrew on an IFLS television program. Ferguson was meant to serve as the show's executive producer; however, plans never came to fruition, and the series was canceled.

By January 2015, the page's Facebook had risen to 19.5 million likes. Later that year, in July 2015, astrophysicist and science communicator Brian Koberlein stated that, due to its misleading articles and refusal to issue corrections, IFLS was guilty of "the willful promotion of ignorance".

In 2016 Time magazine noted that Andrew was frequently accused of "oversimplifying complex issues and promoting stories...that wind up getting debunked." In response, Andrew stated that she was "not trying to teach people about science".

In May 2020, Andrew renamed the company from "I Fucking Love Science" to "IFLScience", citing the swear word's incompatibility with Facebook's monetization systems, and saying that "much as I love the name, I love my staff more". The IFLS website was purchased by LabX Media Group in September 2020.

Other work

In August 2013, Andrew collaborated with Discovery Communications to create an online video series. The first segment appeared at Discovery's TestTube network. Episodes were also made available at the IFLS page on YouTube. The series was canceled that same year.

During her time at IFLS, Andrew spoke at a number of conferences, including a conference series in Australia dedicated to IFLS, a science communication program at MIT Museum, a science-culture conference in Chile, and the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers in Montreal. Andrew was also a speaker at the Scientista Foundation and appeared at a science and skepticism conference hosted by the New England Skeptical Society. In June 2015, Andrew was presented with the Stamford Raffles Award for distinguished contributions to zoology by amateur zoologists or for activities outside normal professional undertakings, by the Zoological Society of London. Andrew was listed in Time's "30 most influential people on the internet" in 2016. On 13 September 2013, she married her fiancé Jake Rivett; she has stated that she will wait "a long time" to have children.