When Science Meets Story: Lessons from a PhD Defense with Becky McCall episode artwork

EPISODE · Apr 8, 2026 · 35 MIN

When Science Meets Story: Lessons from a PhD Defense with Becky McCall

from Co-Created

Catch up with Dr. Becky McCall after she defends her PhD and unpack what it takes to research digital storytelling inside a biomedical topic like antimicrobial resistance. We also get real about what stories can and cannot do on their own, then zoom out to targeting, dissemination, and new projects that translate stories into health system change.Episode Key Messagesfinishing a seven-year PhD and surviving the defenseusing digital storytelling to engage antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic resistancedefending an arts-based method through a behavioural science lensbuilding projects beyond Storybug, including care home storytelling“digital fragmentation” and why incomplete records affect antibiotic decisionstargeting stories through narrative framing and audience investmentplanning with partners, storytellers, organizations, and funderswhat Becky wishes she had known at the start of her PhDrecruiting storytellers through trust and patient organizationsthe Common Language Story Slam as a model for shared viewing and discussionOther Links MentionedRead this episode's blog postCheck out the Storybug websiteListen to Becky's original Co-Created episodeOther Episodes MentionedEp 6 with Melody WilliamsonEp 32 with Mike Wilson of Loughborough UniversityEp 48 with Dr. Will Bynum of the Shame LabAbout Our GuestDr. Becky McCall is based in London, UK, and has recently completed her first set of five digital stories that focus on people with experiences of antibiotic resistant infection. The work forms part of Becky’s PhD research (University College London) and aims to help address a gap in public engagement with one of the world’s top 10 humanitarian health crises (antimicrobial resistance-AMR). Becky is also a medical journalist writing for both medical and consumer press, recently including Foresight Global Health, Medscape.com, The Lancet, The Times and the Mail on Sunday. She has also worked in radio and TV. She'll make any excuse to travel; seeking inspiration in places and most importantly, people - firmly believing everyone has a story to tell. Connect with Becky McCall here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Apr 8, 2026

Embed this episode

Ready to play

When Science Meets Story: Lessons from a PhD Defense with Becky McCall

0:00 35:57

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Co-Created?

This episode is 35 minutes long.

When was this Co-Created episode published?

This episode was published on April 8, 2026.

Can I download this Co-Created episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!