What does it mean to be a twin? To what extent do our genes determine our personality? How much effect does parental rearing have on the personalities of children? We explore the experience of twinship and the importance of twins in research.

The fascination with twins is as old as time, and with an increase in the twinning rate this talk provides a timely look at the world of twins, relationships and human behaviour. As behavioural genetics enters its second century, we look at how twin studies allow us to measure the influence of genes, experience, diet and environment on our lives.

Together with award-winning novelist Michele Roberts and behavioural geneticist Lynn Cherkas, both twins themselves, we will explore the joys, traumas and challenges of being a half.

The evening will begin with the first film in Jordan Baseman’s trilogy: ’Nature’s Great Experiment’, incorporating interviews with world-renowned behavioural geneticist Professor Terrie Moffitt and her Twin Research Team from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London.

This event is part of a series exploring identity and change. Further events on 11 September, 9 October, 11 December and 29 January.

_Speakers _

Michele Roberts is a poet, novelist, Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing at UEA, and author of ‘The Visitation’, a meditation on twins, loss and memory. Michele Roberts has a special interest in twins, doubles, halves, and ones, being a non-identical twin herself. She is particularly fascinated by the psychological mind games played with one’s identity when life is lived with a twin..

Lynn Cherkas is a genetic analyst at the Twin Research Unit, KCL. She has conducted research on the influence of genetic and environmental factors on a wide range of behaviours and common complex diseases using twins. The TwinsUK database comprises nearly 10 000 twins aged 16+, including identical and non-identical and male and female same sex pairs. Each week, 20 twin pairs visit the TRU to participate in research and all twins are sent a newsletter and self-completion questionnaire each year. Lynn is a non-identical twin herself and she and her twin sister also participate in this research.

_Facilitator _

Anne Karpf is a writer, journalist and sociologist who contributes columns, features and reviews on social, cultural and political issues to a wide range of national newspapers and magazines. She wrote a regular column on the family for the ‘Guardian’ and is the author of ‘Doctoring the Media’, which examined the reporting of health and medicine on radio and television; ‘The War After: Living with the Holocaust’, a family memoir about the psycho-social effects of the wartime experiences of her parents, Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivors; and, most recently, ‘The Human Voice: The story of a remarkable talent’, which explores the role of the human voice in forming and communicating our sense of self and intimate bonds.