PODCAST · education
Changing Academic Life
by Geraldine Fitzpatrick
What can we do, individually and collectively, to change academic life to be more sustainable, collaborative and effective? This podcast series offers long-form conversations with academics and thought leaders who share stories and insights, as well as bite-size musings on specific topics drawing on literature and personal experience. For more information go to https://changingacademiclife.comAlso see https://geraldinefitzpatrick.com to leave a comment.NOTE: this is an interim site and missing transcripts for the older podcasts. Please contact me to request specific transcripts in the meanwhile.
Episodes
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Celebrating 10 Years & Season End (CAL147, S8E12)
Celebrating 10 Years & Season Reflections on Meaning, Identity, Care, and Leadership This is a special episode because it’s not only marks the end of the current season, it also celebrates 10 years of the Changing Academic Life podcast, The first podcast episode went out on 3 July 2016 and it has...
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Cultivating Deep Listening: Showing Up, Staying Curious, and Resisting Advice (CAL146, S8E11)
Deep listening is a foundational yet undervalued skill across all our supervision, leadership, and collaboration relationships. My motivation for this episode came from some recent workshops experiences, conversations with colleagues, and posts from others that have all highlighted the importance...
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Mike Levin on navigating academia as a disruptive interdisciplinary researcher (CAL145, S8,E10)
Mike Levin is a Professor of Biology at Tufts University in the US and leads the Levin Lab and pursues research across cancer, birth defects, regenerative medicine, AI, synthetic morphology, and philosophy, unified by a central aim: understanding how minds become embodied and scale across...
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Raffael Himmelsbach on Courage, Discomfort, and Leadership in Ambiguous Academic Roles (CAL144, S8E9)
Dr Raffael Himmelsbach and I discuss his unorthodox path from a political science PhD at the University of Lausanne into science policy and research-adjacent leadership roles across multiple countries, including work with the Center for Digital Life Norway and co-directing a Vienna Ludwig…
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On Identity, Meaning, and Joyful Effort (CAL143, S8E8)
Connecting to Christian van Nieuwerburgh’s idea of “joyful effort” and discussions at the University of Graz Research Culture Campus Fest about supportive, inclusive research cultures and prioritizing meaningful work over productivity, this episode revisits an episode from January 2025 on…
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Christian van Nieuwerburgh on Bringing Back the Joy (CAL142, S8E7)
Christian van Nieuwerburgh is Professor of Coaching and Positive Psychology at the Centre for Positive Health Sciences at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and a practitioner providing coach training and consultancy for the education sector, among...
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Bethany Wilinski (Part 2) on Designing Your Intentional Sabbatical (CAL141, S8E6)
Designing Your Intentional Sabbatical: Purpose, boundaries and career sustainability. This is Part 2 of my conversation with Bethany Wilinski, an associate professor of teacher education at Michigan State University. Building from Part 1, where Bethany described her own sabbatical experience…
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Bethany Wilinski (Part 1) on sabbatical, burnout and choosing rest (CAL140, S8E5)
Bethany Wilinski is an associate professor of teacher education at Michigan State University and a sabbatical coach. In Part 1 of our conversation, she describes her own sabbatical experience. She talks about how earning tenure in 2022 after the pandemic, young children, and family losses left…
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Academic Rebels: From Bureaucracy to Trust, Teams, and New Leadership (CAL139, S8E4)
What if a corporatisation approach could actually make academic life better? Looking across the episodes so far this year I see three themes: shifting from “I” to “we” by treating research as a team sport; developing a new kind of leadership focused on enabling others through self-awareness,...
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Jen Heemstra on Accidental Leadership (CAL 138, S8E3)
Prof. Jen Heemstra from Washington University in St. Louis in the US shares her journey from a research-focused bimolecular engineer to accidental leader and now author of the insightful book 'Lab Work to Leadership.' Jen speaks about the challenges faced by academics moving into leadership,...
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Jayne Price on making work work better (CAL137, S8E2)
Jayne Price is all about making work work better. She is the Transformation Director and Head of Continuous Improvement at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Jayne discusses her journey to her current role in UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the strategies she employs to...
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Sarah McLusky on diverse careers, purposeful events and effective communication (CAL136, S8E1)
Dr. Sarah McLusky, is an advocate and role model for research-adjacent careers. As an advocate Sarah hosts the 'Research Adjacent' podcast, which showcases career opportunities beyond traditional academic and industry roles. She talks about why started the podcast and also talks about her four…
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LP Replay - Reflect, Celebrate, Dream (CAL135, S7E8)
For this last episode of the year I revisit the Long Play (LP) template, inspired by vinyl records, as a way to intentionally reflect on and celebrate this past year and to be more intentional about how we move into our new year. The Ps of the template are personal, people, play, and projects and...
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Infertility, Career Choices, and Compassion (CAL 134, S7E7)
In this very personal solo episode, I share my journey through infertility and the impact it had on my academic and personal life. Inspired by Susan Dray's story, I decided to share our challenges of trying to start a family while managing a career in academia. I discusses the physical and...
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Susan Dray (Part 2) on listening, mentoring, and adversity (CAL133, S7E6)
In Part 2 of our conversation, Susan Dray continues to share deep insights about the importance of self-awareness and authenticity, empathy and listening with heart, and dealing with professional discomfort and personal adversity. She discusses her mentoring style, centred around being empathetic...
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Susan Dray (Part 1) on navigating interstices: academia, industry and global consulting (CAL132, S7E5)
The wonderful Dr Susan Dray shares her journey from obtaining a PhD in experimental and physiological psychology at UCLA to becoming a pivotal figure in the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Susan recounts her transition from academia to industry, including roles at Honeywell and…
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On the art, heart and science of 1-1 meetings (CAL131, S7E4)
Building on the last episode’s topic of meetings, the focus here is on our one-on-one meetings. In his book, 'Glad We Met: The Art and Science of One-to-One Meetings,' Steven Rogelberg discusses how these meetings can be practical, personal, and developmental. We can also think of these as the…
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Steven Rogelberg on Transforming Academic Meetings (CAL130, S7E3)
Dr. Steven Rogelberg, an organisational psychologist from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, draws on his extensive research on workplace meetings to share how we might make acadmic meetings better. We discuss the inefficiencies of academic meetings, with Steven suggesting academics...
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Deborah Boehm-Davis on career paths, leadership, and change (CAL129, S7E2)
Professor Emeritus Deborah Boehm Davis, George Mason University in the US, is one of the pioneers of the CHI conference. Deborah discusses her varied career building from her psychology background and spanning roles in human factors at Bell Labs, NASA, and General Electric. She then talks about…
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Season 7 Kickoff: Fresh Starts and Being Intentional (CAL128 S7E1)
In the first episode of season seven, the 10th year the Changing Academic Life podcast, I invite us to reflect on the theme of being intentional about what we want for ourselves at the beginning of this new academic year for many of us in the northern hemisphere, or for any temporal landmark that...
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Season Reflections: Cultivating a Good Academic Life (CAL127, S6, E21)
In this final episode of the 2024-2025 season, I reflect on key themes emerging from the past 20 episodes of 'Changing Academic Life.' These are around creating supportive and inclusive cultures in academia, the role of leadership, career transitions, wellbeing and self-care, and the importance…
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Creating Peer Support Groups (CAL126, S6, E20)
If you are curious about how to set up your own peer support group, inspired by what Johanna Stadlbauer shared about what Uni Graz are doing, then this episode might get you started. I walk through some of the ‘things to think about’ when setting up peer groups such as the group’s purpose, the...
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Johanna Stadlbauer on boundaries, agency, and community building (CAL125, S6 E19)
Johanna Stadlbauer is an anthropologist working in researcher development at the University of Graz, recently made Head of Research Careers Campus Graz. Her mission is a more fun and kind academia. Johanna shares the experiences and challenges of her journey from a PhD to quitting a postdoc in...
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Tina Persson on career pivots, recruitment and coaching for career security (CAL124, S6 E18)
Tina Persson shares her journey from chemistry and nearly 20 years in academia, to recruiting and then career coaching. Tina discusses the challenges she faced in academia, including struggles with energy-draining tasks and political landscapes, and how she pivoted to a career in recruitment and...
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Strengths as Superpowers - Replay (CAL123, S6 E17)
This is a replay of an episode about our strengths as our superpowers and it is a useful precursor to the next podcast discussion where my guest will talk about them as natural talents. This replay episode was triggered by two interactions that made me think more about the importance of knowing…
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Graham McAllister (Part 3) on the art and craft of writing (CAL122, S6E16)
”Writing is thinking, I love thinking, I love working on problems, I love thinking through the problems…. So the whole writing thing is a thinking thing.” says Graham McAllister in this final part of our conversation. His foray into writing a book on Games Usability after he sold his company was...
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Graham McAllister (Part 2) on aligning team vision (CAL121, S6E15)
In this second part of my conversation with Graham McAllister, we explore Graham's next pivot to studying organizational psychology at the London School of Economics. After selling his startup, Graham decided to do an MSc to help him answer what he now saw as the core problem in game development...
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Graham McAllister (Part 1) on career pivots: academia to industry to startup (CAL120, S6E14)
Graham McAllister reflects on his various career pivots, starting with a PhD in computer graphics in Belfast, transitioning through roles in academia and industry and then forming and later selling his games usability start-up. In the process Graham provides a masterclass on how to navigate and...
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Oana and Matt (Part 2) on mental health, teaching path and reflective practice (CAL119 S6E13)
This is Part 2 of my discussion with Matthew Barr and Oana Andrei who work together in the Education and Practice Section in the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow. Oana and Matt each share their personal experiences with mental health challenges. Oana shares her journey…
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Oana and Matt (Part 1) on leadership, belonging, and micro-actions making a difference (CAL118 S6E12)
This is part 1 of my discussion with Matthew Barr and Oana Andrei who work together in the Education and Practice Section in the School of computing science at the University of Glasgow. It was the experiences of Matt as head of Section that led Oana to suggest he would be good to talk to.…
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Sharing my story with Nutan Limaye (CAL117, S6E11)
In this episode the tables are turned and I'm being interviewed by Nutan Limaye who hosts the ‘Life of a Researcher’ podcast. Nutan is an Assoc. Professor at the IT University Copenhagen. We met when she was a participant in one of our residential academic leadership development courses in 2024.…
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Vikki Wright on career transitions, ADHD, and learning to manage yourself (CAL116, S6E10)
Vikki Wright is the director of PhD Life Coach and offers professional coaching and training for PhD students and academics. She also hosts the PhD Life Coach podcast. Up until 2022 though Vikki was a full professor of Higher Education at the University of Birmingham in the UK, with a research...
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Your LP Reflections - Looking back, Looking forward (CAL115 S6E9)
As we leave 2024 and embark on the new year, I want to share the reflective template I used for myself, playing with the LP (long play) record concept. I introduce the table structure of the personal, people, play, and projects (Ps) categories, paired with reflective components like land, love,...
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Evan Peck on considered choices and career moves: from liberals arts to a research uni (CAL114, S6E8)
Evan Peck returns to discuss his career evolution since our last conversation in 2017. The focus is on his initial choice to join a liberal arts college post-PhD, emphasizing the balance between teaching and research, how his research evolved, and on his career goals then. Evan then talks through...
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Özge Subașı on values, choices and care (CAL113, S6E7)
Özge Subaşı is the Director of Futurewell: CoCreation and Wellbeing Group in the Media and Visual Arts Department at Koç University in Turkey. In this episode, Özge shares a journey from industrial design to interaction design, with a focus on diversity, inclusion, and justice. The work with...
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Creating Positive Cultures: Stories from the archive
Continuing our culture theme, I revisit past podcast conversations that explore how to foster positive research environments and cultures. We hear from people such as Elizabeth Adams, Tanita Casci, Jolanta Burke, Janet Reed, Alex Taylor, Kia Hook, and Lindsay Oades, who share their experiences…
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Fostering psychological safety in research environments [solo]
Continuing the theme of great research environments, I explore how to contribute to creating great research cultures with a focus on the concept of psychological safety. I contrast the prize winning example we heard about in the last episode with examples of experiences with poor research...
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Creating better research cultures together
What are the ingredients for creating a supportive, inclusive research culture? Nina Molin Høyland-Kroghsbo from the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences , Microbial Ecology and Biotechnology at the University of Copenhagen discusses the Research Environment Prize established three…
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On reframing networking: connections and impact
In this solo episode (S6 E3) I invite us to rethink the concept of networking within academia, inspired by what the late Liam Bannon shared with us in our recent conversation and the evident relational impact he had on people. I encourage us, myself included, to view networking as being about the...
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Liam Bannon (Part 2) on values & what matters
Update 22 Sept 2024: It is with deep sadness that I share Liam passed away this morning. May we honour his memory and his generosity in sharing his reflections by always reminding ourselves about what and who is really important. Liam Bannon is a Professor Emeritus and founder and director of the...
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S6E1 Welcome to the new season
Introducing the new season of Changing Academic Life. Reflecting on my recent transitions. And thanks to the HCI group for support.
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CAL106 On STOP - the purposeful pause (solo)
In this short solo episode a share a simple yet powerful technique, S.T.O.P., for taking a purposeful pause throughout your every day. Stop, Take a breath, Observe, Proceed. 00:29 Motivating STOP 01:50 What is STOP 04:37 Using STOP 11:19 Towards making STOP a habit 13:58 End
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Remembering Volkmar Pipek - on being curious, being you
Volkmar Pipek was a highly influential researcher from Uni of Siegen who sadly passed away in Jan 2024 after a long illness. This short episode draws from a written interview he gave to Mateusz Dolata on the occasion of his 2023 EUSSET-ISSI Lifetime Achievement Award. I read an extract where he...
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Liam Bannon (Part 1) on a career outside the box
Liam Bannon is a Professor Emeritus and founder and director of the Interaction Design Centre at the University of Limerick in Ireland. Liam has been a hugely influential thinker writer and researcher since the 1980s, along with various collaborators, in shaping work around technology and design....
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Jean Paul (Part 2) on leading virtual transdisciplinary teams and stakeholder engagement
Jean Paul is a senior scientist at the Medical University of Innsbruck. In part 2 of our conversation, Jean discusses her experience leading an impact-led transcdisciplinary research project focused on supporting families with mental health issues. She highlights the challenges of stakeholder...
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Jean Paul (Part 1) on Sandpit funding & impact-focussed research
Jean Paul is a Senior Scientist at the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria. Jean discusses her involvement in a unique research funding process called a sandpit or an ideas factory. Having then taken on the leadership of the project, she provides insights into the challenges and benefits…
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Funding & Research Culture (podcast extract)
This episode is an edited extract from a ‘Beyond Phrenology’ podcast episode where Dr Madhur Mangalam chatted with me about the impacts of research funding challenges on academic culture and individual well-being. The conversation addresses the need for a shift towards more supportive and diverse...
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Celebrating 100!
Taking this time to celebrate CAL100 – the 100th episode for the Changing Academic Life podcast series (actually 109th episode if we count the nine related work episodes) and thanks to all the people who have been part of making it happen. To update and correct the information about Dr Paddy...
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On research identity, meaningful work and funding (solo)
Triggered by a comment from Katta Spiel in an earlier podcast, in this solo episode I explore the tensions between the autonomy and freedom we have to shape our research identities and do meaningful work, and the systemic constraints from funding and promotion opportunities. The tensions...
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Katta Spiel (Part 2) on neurodivergence & different ways of being and knowing
Dr Katta Spiel is an Assistant Professor at TU Wien, a recent ERC Starting Grant recipient, and a good colleague of mine. In part two of our conversation, Katta discusses being neurodivergent, and experiences with ADHD, and being an activist for change with an example of how gender is dealt with…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
What can we do, individually and collectively, to change academic life to be more sustainable, collaborative and effective? This podcast series offers long-form conversations with academics and thought leaders who share stories and insights, as well as bite-size musings on specific topics drawing on literature and personal experience. For more information go to https://changingacademiclife.comAlso see https://geraldinefitzpatrick.com to leave a comment.NOTE: this is an interim site and missing transcripts for the older podcasts. Please contact me to request specific transcripts in the meanwhile.
HOSTED BY
Geraldine Fitzpatrick
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Changing Academic Life have?
Changing Academic Life currently has 156 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Changing Academic Life about?
What can we do, individually and collectively, to change academic life to be more sustainable, collaborative and effective? This podcast series offers long-form conversations with academics and thought leaders who share stories and insights, as well as bite-size musings on specific topics drawing...
How often does Changing Academic Life release new episodes?
Changing Academic Life publishes regularly with 156 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Changing Academic Life?
You can listen to Changing Academic Life on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Changing Academic Life?
Changing Academic Life is created and hosted by Geraldine Fitzpatrick.
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