Pod Academy

Pod Academy's Chair, Chris Creegan, reflects on Covid-19 and HIV.

Take a look at The Tribuna of the Uffizi by Johan Zoffany. What do you see? A group of Georgian Grand Tourist poseurs.  But one figure, towers above the rest, stands apart, on the far right of the painting. It is James Bruce of Kinneard, the real Indiana Jones. James Bruce is introduced in this blog, and in the accompanying short podcast  by our producer, Antonia Dalivalle.  Antonia explores the story of Bruce's travels in Abyssinia/Ethiopia in her  longer podcast The Real Indiana Jones - coming soon.  In the left-hand corner of the painting, a jumble of valuable artefacts - including a distressed looking lion sculpture – are strewn across the floor. The connoisseurs are crowded into a chapel-like space, the Tribuna in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery. This was a ‘Holy of Holies’ – a ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame’ – of treasured European antiquities and artworks. They were on an eighteenth-century equivalent of the ‘Gap Year’. They weren’t finding themselves – but rather, the roots of European culture, through art, literature and archaeology. Between coffee breaks at Rome’s Caffè degli Inglesi, the go-to-place for Brits abroad, members of the landed gentry would draw classical antiquities and attempt to elevate their minds.Zoffany’s painting was designed to be a ‘conversation piece’. And it achieved its aim. In November 1779, Horace Walpole sent a letter to Sir Horace Mann, sneering that the piece is ‘crowded with a flock of travelling boys, and one does not know or care whom’. Bit awkward, considering Horace Mann himself is in the painting. The son of Robert Walpole (the first Prime Minister of Britain) Horace himself had sashayed through Europe on a Grand – or rather, Grandiloquent - Tour. Instead of following the pack of milordi around the to-do list of Florentine sights, Horace enjoyed balmy evenings on the Ponte Vecchio bridge in his wide-brimmed straw hat and linen nightie, recounting a list of all the sights he couldn’t be bothered to go and see. Back to the Tribuna. On the right, a small gathering of Grand Tourists admire the voluptuous posterior of the Venus de’ Medici. One of them goes in for a closer look with his magnifying glass. One figure, towering above the rest, stands apart. In the midst of the swaggering, sniggering gaggle of Grand Tourists, he almost escapes our notice. He’s at the margin of the painting, and seemingly an outsider, but he’s an essential compositional device. He’s one of only three participants in this painting who meet our gaze directly. The ruddy face of Zoffany peeps at us from behind the Niccolini Madonna and Titian’s sassy Venus of Urbino gives us the eye. Is Zoffany trying to tell us something, trying to mark this person out from the others? Who was he? Zoffany thought he was a ‘great man – the wonder of his age’.2 He had presence. A six-foot four, red-headed Scottish laird, with a loud, booming voice. Despite his raging tempers, he was empathetic and charismatic. His name was James Bruce of Kinnaird.   In 1774, he was in Florence, having just been on a diversion in his Grand Tour. It was a very long and unusual diversion. He went to ‘Abyssiniah’ on his Gap Year. James Bruce of Kinnaird was the real Indiana Jones. On his black horse Mizra, Persian for ‘scholar’, he visited the ancient city believed to be the Queen of Sheba’s hometown and dwelling-place of the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies. But Bruce was no interloper. He stayed in Abyssinia, today known as Ethiopia, for three years, from 1769 to 1772.  He would become a familiar of the Abyssinian royal court. Appointed Lord of the Bedchamber to the Emperor, he would gain unique insights into the country’s royal and political history. He became friends with the Machiavellian Governor of Tigray and fell in love with his wife,Ozoro Esther, a beautiful and brutal princess. When he left Abyssinia, she threw a lavish party for him. They dined on honey and hunted buffalo.

What is the scorecard for President Donald Trump after the first 100 Days?  "C minus overall," says Peter Trubowitz, Professor of International Relations and Director of the US Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Associate Fellow at Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs. Trump said he was going to shake up Washington, and he has, but on the legislative front he has done little of what he promised in his first 100 days. Alex Burd talked to Professor Trubowitz last year during the presidential race, now he returns to get the Professor's view on the new President's first 100 days. Listen to Alex Burd's earlier podcasts with Professor Trubowitz:  The Rise and Rise of Donald Trump (July 2016) and Clinton and Trump (August 2016) Photo by Gage Skidmore (Transcript to follow)

Class is not only one of the oldest and most controversial of all concepts in social science, but a topic which has fascinated, amused, incensed and galvanized the general public, too. But what exactly is a ‘class’? How do sociologists study and measure it, and how does it correspond to everyday understandings of social difference? Is it now dead or dying in today’s globalized and media-saturated world, or is it entering a new phase of significance on the world stage? In this podcast, first published on Ideasbooks.org, Craig Barfoot talks to Dr Will Atkinson, author of the book Class  to explore these questions.  They take us through theoretical traditions in class research, the major controversies that have shaken the field and the continuing effects of class difference, class struggle and class inequality. Class:    Class is published by Polity Press and is part of their Concepts in Social Sciences series. You may also be interested in our BookPod on Tony Atkinson's book Inequality- what can be done? in which Prof Tony Atkinson talks to Fran Bennett.

Craig Barfoot talks to Julian Assange. Wikileaks came to prominence in 2010 with the release of 251,287 top-secret State Department cables, which revealed to the world what the US government really thinks about national leaders, friendly dictators, and supposed allies. It brought to the surface the dark truths of crimes committed in our name: human rights violations, covert operations, and cover-ups. This bookpod is an interview with WikiLeaks cofounder Julian Assange, who has written the introduction for the book, The Wikileaks Files, The World According to US Empire (Verso, 2015).  The podcast, produced and presented by Craig Barfoot, first appeared on the Ideas Books website. The WikiLeaks Files presents expert analysis on the most important cables and outlines their historical importance. In a series of chapters dedicated to the various regions of the world, the book explores the machinations of the United States as it imposes its agenda on other nations: a new form of imperialism founded on varied tactics from torture to military action, to trade deals and “soft power,” in the perpetual pursuit of expanding influence. It illustrates the close relationship between government and big business in promoting US trade.

Most of the study of economics deals with commodity markets, where the price of a good connects sellers and buyers. But what about other kinds of “goods,” like a kidney or a surrogacy arrangement.  This is the territory of matching markets, where “sellers” and “buyers” must choose each other, and where in most parts of the world, no money changes hands.  So what is a matching market?  And how does it work? In this bookpod, Craig Barfoot talks to Nobel Laureate Alvin Roth, Professor of Economics at Stanford University, and 2016 president elect for  of the American Economics Association about his book on matching markets,  Who Gets What and Why.  Professor Roth has made significant contributions to the fields of game theory, market design and experimental economics, and is known for his emphasis on applying economic theory to solutions for "real-world" problems. This bookpod was first aired on Ideas Books where you will find a feast of fascinating podcast interviews by Craig Barfoot.

Did you know that jellyfish can sink boats, compromise fisheries by destroying captive breeding pens, and enter industrial sites that use seawater intake for cooling – including desalination plants, nuclear plants and nuclear aircraft carriers. Yes, they have all fallen victim to jellyfish. A poorly understood member of “the other 99%” as the invertebrates are known, jellyfish are simple creatures, floating, stinging, eating, and breeding en masse, in immense 'blooms', that can be 1,000km in length. Blooms occur worldwide and to some it seems they are becoming more prevalent, or perhaps they are now being monitored more closely. A 'Bloom' So....how big, how bad and why? Take a listen to this podcast to find out. Michael Schubert talks with Lisa Gershwin. This is our first podcast from Sound Minds a brand new podcast platform set up by three academic broadcasters from Australia, who met during a digital content diploma programme and were teamed up serendipitously for a project, which has now turned into a podcast series.  We will certainly be featuring more of their great podcasts - watch this space! FEATURED Current Oriented Swimming by Jellyfish Dr Lisa Gershwin MUSIC Koop – Jellyfishes Deya Dova – Jellyfish PICTURES Main picture of jellyfish: Mark Morgan Jellyfish bloom by JR

We have a lifetime's association with our bodies, but for many of us they remain uncharted territory. In Adventures in Human Being, Gavin Francis leads the reader on a journey through health and illness, offering insights on everything from the ribbed surface of the brain to the secret workings of the heart and the womb; from the pulse of life at the wrist to the unique engineering of the foot. This podcast is produced and presented by Craig Barfoot, and first appeared on Ideas Books. Drawing on his own experiences as a doctor and GP, Gavin Francis blends first-hand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over the millennia. If the body is a foreign country, then to practise medicine is to explore new territory: Francis leads the reader on an adventure through what it means to be human. Both a user's guide to the body and a celebration of its elegance, this book will transform the way you think about being alive, whether in sickness or in health. Published in association with Wellcome Collection.

Podcast produced and presented by Craig Barfoot Cloning extinct species - such as woolly mammoths - presents massive ethical as well as practical challenges.  And at the moment there is no legal oversight of the issues. Beth Shapiro, author of How to Clone a Mammoth explores the complexities - both ethical and scientific - in this interview with Craig Barfoot. We may get excited by the idea of cloning dinosaurs (not possible as dinosaur DNA has long since turned to stone) or woolly mammoths (so far only 9 of the hundreds of genes needed have been identified), but why would we do it?  The ethics of creating a creature, only to put it on display in a zoo, are surely questionable. And genes are only half the story. Environment is also a key part of species development - and we cannot re-create the environment (herd, terraine etc) of a mammoth. This is a fascinating and eye-opening podcast.  Listen and share it.

These days many of us check out TripAdvisor if we are booking a hotel.  We want to see what people like us think of the service, the staff, the food, the pool....... It's a great idea for bed and breakfast, but is the TripAdvisor approach, where consumers are encouraged to give their unvarnished views, the right approach for Fertility Clinics, where life changing decisions are being made? The UK's Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has decided to give more prominence to patient views and an event, A Trip Advisor for Fertility Clinics - Would You Recommend It? was held at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London's Regent's Park last month (April 2015) organised by Progress Educational Trust and sponsored by the British Fertility Society, to look at how best to do so. The HFEA's plans are consistent with an emphasis on patient choice and patient empowerment in recent health policy. Since 2007, for example, the NHS Choices website has published patient feedback on NHS hospitals and services, in the form of both star ratings and free text. Last year the National Information Board, of which the HFEA is a member, issued proposals which take this approach further. But such an approach is contentious. TripAdvisor has attracted controversy, with critics questioning its ability to vouch for the honesty and reliability of customer reviews. And since more than half of all fertility treatment in the UK is carried out in the private sector, people writing and reading feedback may be customers as well as patients. So clinicians, patients, companies and representatives of patients' organisations gathered at the event to explore the issues. All agreed. that the patient view is very important, and must be reflected, along with metrics such as success rates and inspection reports. Patients want to see what other patients are saying. But there was also concern expressed that a small numbers of responses could give a misleading impression, that clinics with active public relations staff could ensure good feedback, and that untried and unproven treatments, such as homeopathy, might get the thumbs up from patients despite having no rigorous evidence base. Speakers were: Juliet Tizzard, Director of Strategy and Corporate Affairs at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Dr Yacoub Khalaf, Member of the the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and Director and Person Responsible of Guy's Hospital's Assisted Conception Unit Susan Seenan, Chief Executive of Infertility Network UK, and Co-Chair of Fertility Fairness Antonia Foster, Senior Associate at solicitors, Carter-Ruck The event was chaired by Professor Adam Balen, Chair of the British Fertility Society, and Consultant in Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at the Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine This is a recording of the event. Photo by Mehmet Pinarci

Is it possible to describe the origins of the universe, dark matter, planets, alien worlds, particle physics, galaxies and telescopes in just 1000 words? Yes, says astrophysicist, Dr Roberto Trotta in this interview with Craig Barfoot. Roberto Trotta, Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics at Imperial College, University of London has written The Edge of the Sky, a tale of the great discoveries and outstanding mysteries in modern cosmology, all in the 1000 most common words in the English language, and in the process has created an entrancing and lyrical account of the wonders of the universe.       Through the eyes of a female scientist (student-woman) looking for dark matter in far-away galaxies (Star-Crowds) with one of the biggest telescopes (Big-Seers) on Earth (Home-World), Dr Trotta explains what we have learnt about the universe (All-There-Is) and our place in it. Photo of Night Sky in Grand Canyon National Park, by Grand Canyon National Park

First published in 1983, Lise Vogel's seminal work, Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Towards a Unitary Theory, was seized on by a generation of feminists who called themselves Marxist feminists, but were finding the fragmentation of socialism and feminism difficult to navigate.  Now republished, it was launched (or, rather, re-launched) at the Historical Materialism Conference in London in late 2014.  Pod Academy was at the launch, and recorded the platform speakers:     Lise Vogel,   Professor (retired) of Sociology at Rider University and the author of numerous books and articles. Before becoming a sociologist, she had an earlier career in art history. Dr. Tithi Battacharya. associate professor at Purdue Liberal Arts University in the US, Kate Davison, of Melbourne University Dr  Sue Ferguson, Associate Professor of Digital Media and Journalism at the Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, who co-wrote, with David McNally, the introduction to the new edition of the book.   This bookpod has been made possible by a grant from the Amiel Melburn Trust You may also be interested in our recording of the Beyond the Fragments event held in London in 2013.

Jo Barratt talks to architect, designer and inventor, Alistair Parvin in this latest podcast from Civic Radio. Alistair Parvin says it is easier to capture what a citizen is not, than what a citizen is, and notes the language of ‘customers’ and ‘consumers’ that has been increasingly employed as public services have been privatised. But he points to the growing movement of those who are reframing ‘democracy’ (so that it isn't just about registering a vote every few years) and challenging how public services are provided. He suggests that new technology enables a true revolution – in which we move away from centralised civic structures, towards a world in which community planning and construction is done by citizens rather than to citizens. Where architects are not just working for the rich and for huge construction companies, but supporting more people have more power over their environment. This is not just a theoretical position.  Alistair is part of Zero Zero, a company that encourages and coordinates the development of Open Source architecture blueprints of houses, (the WikiHouse) that can be downloaded free of charge, and made, in kit form, with 3D printing.  The kit can then be constructed by those with no traditional construction skills, in a matter of days. Scale model of Wikihouse in New Zealand             pic by Martin Luff               You can also see Alistair Parvin's Ted Talk here.

Child and family therapist Dr Marilyn Wedge talks to Craig Barfoot about her latest book, A Disease Called Childhood: Why ADHD Became an American Epidemic.    Over the course of her career as a child and family therapist, Marilyn Wedge has witnessed an 'astronomical rise' in the number of children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).  Until 1995 she had hardly heard of ADHD, but over the following decades the number of children on medication for ADHD grew and grew until now 13% of boys and 5% of girls in the US - 6 million children -  are on prescription drugs (mainly Ritalin and Adderall) with that diagnosis.   But this approach is not shared by other countries,  A child in the US is 8 times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than in France, and 80 times more likely than in Finland!  Dr Wedge says this is because in those countries, when a child is exhibiting difficult behaviour they look at the context - perhaps the child is unhappy at school, or seeing their parents fight at home - and they address the problem rather than medicate the child.  She points out that in the US a child can be taken to the doctor, and receive a diagnosis of ADHD and a prescription for drugs in 15 minutes, while in France the observation and consultations are likely to take 8 hours.   Why? because 'biological psychiatry has taken over the field of psychiatry in the US'  says Dr Wedge.  The view that the problem is in the child's brain or nervous system, rather than in his or her environment was set out for the first time in DSM 3 in 1980, and Dr Wedge points the finger at the pharmaceutical companies for this approach.   Dr Wedge argues that psychiatry needs to completely change it approach, and look at the child's environment, offering help to parents through parenting classes etc.   Website mentioned in podcast: http://www.propublica.org/article/dollars-for-docs-the-top-earners   Marylin's blog on Psychology today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suffer-the-children   Photo:  Family Portrait by Jörg Schubert

The New Citizenship project wants to challenge the idea of an individual as a consumer - and replace it with the individual as a citizen, using the techniques of marketing and public relations(usually associated with consumerism) to do so. in this latest podcast from Civic Radio, Jo Barratt talks to  Jon Alexander and Irenie Wilson, the Directors of the New Citizenship Project. Has the world of commerce encroached irrevocably on our civic spaces, and how much do we care? How much is civic exclusion growing because of what participation demands or expects of us? Civic Radio is on the road, seeking out the people and organisations that are exploring these topics in different ways. The New Citizenship Project is interested in how you create a shift in the dominant story of the individual in society from the Consumer to the Citizen. Subscribe on iTunes to Citizen Radio.. Produced by Jo Barratt. This is the latest podcast in the Civic Radio series. Other podcasts in this series can be found here: Launch of Civic Radio with writer and urbanist Adam Greenfield Social inequality and civic participation featuring Simon Willis, CEO of the Young Foundation At the service of the citizen:redefining civic tech conversation with tech activist Laurenellen McCann Re-imagining local government  with Anna Randle of Lambeth Borough Council, London Aral Balkan on being a citizen Can public servants change the face of local government? with Dave Seliger, a New York civil servant. Civic Innovation and the Interconnected City with Bryan Boyer

"Citizenship is about participating in a thing that is bigger than yourself and in which everyone has an equal stake.”  says architect Bryan Boyer.   In this latest podcast from Civic Radio, Bryan Boyer a US architect who spent some time in the Finnish Innovation Fund in Helsinki, talks to Jo Barratt about re-imagining the libraries in New York and the importance of reconceptualising the civic.   With a bill for repairs that would top $1bn dollars (more than a universal childcare pledge), a grand library building programme was unlikely to be championed by New York politicians, so Boyer and his team had to find another approach, one that would leverage alternative forms of capital – time, expertise and also the institutional weight of individuals, communities, museums,  and non-profit organisations  - which could effectively  de-risk investment in civic assets.  It is, he says, crucial to demonstrate that innovation can bring good results, and at the same time de-risk the innovation (innovation can be scary for politicians), so that local politicians can buy in. So what role does he see for public institutions?  For Boyer they provide ‘continuity and scale’.  Pubic institutions are important because, he says, they deal with large numbers of people in equal, fair and consistent ways.  However, because of their sheer scale they have often abstracted the detail – it is statiscitcal analysis rather than the experiences and needs of individuals, that drives policy. The big issue is making public instituions more responsive. A lot of people in the UK are talking about a ‘digital public space’,could this be the answer?  According to Boyer it is important (and he commends gov.uk for its friendly interface), but ‘we still need to coexist on the street.’  We have to rethink how the core of an institution works. So,  do civil servants really understand the potential of open data portals?  Boyer is clear that top civil servants know that a different approach is needed(but feel constrained by the system), and certainly front line staff at the bottom of the food chain know what is at stake and have the best ideas of what is needed.  But there are two problems.  Firstly, the tech community is not coming up with the killer apps that will seize the initiative, and secondly the huge number of civil servants in what he calls the ‘Fat Middle’ (a term he used in Helsinki) is so disconnected from the everyday concerns of citizens that they cannot see the need for a new way of working. How can  ‘civic spaces’ (such as schools, parks, post offices and libraries) retain their importance at the heart of the community when they are increasingly facing competition from private providers?  The so-called ‘white flight’ from US cities in the 1980s meant a lower tax base for public services, which led to a vicious cycle of decline – the services deteriorated, so few people were then prepared to fight for them, they became sink services. In part, says Boyes, this is a failure of the conceptualisation of the civic.  We need to develop services that people really want to use, and persuade them to participate in those services as citizens but, importantly, it is also about initiating a healthy conversation about funding the civic parts of our lives. A key recognition is that civic institutions are linked – the swimming pool and the library and the park together give us an understanding of the connectedness of the city as a whole – and of utmost importance is affordable, efficient public transport that enables us to move around the city, and the safety and cleanliness of our streets.  Here there is also a role for civic tech – to connect us to what is going on (though as Boyes points out, he doesn’t know of one single place where information on  all the events and activities being run by the public authorities can be viewed.) ====================== Photo of Tampa, Florida by John T Howard

This interview takes us to the heart of a new age of scientific discovery. The ability to read DNA has changed how we view ourselves. Genomics is literally changing our understanding of humanity's place in nature.   Professor Dawn Field of the University of Oxford, and Dr Neil Davies, Senior Fellow, Berkeley Institute for Data Science are the authors of Biocode -The New Age of Genomics.   In conversation with Craig Barfoot, they take us on a dazzling ride through new fields of scientific discovery.   We visit Moorea where Neil Davies and his colleagues have taken on the massive task of mapping the genome of an entire ecosystem, creating a library of genetic markers and physical identifiers for every species of plant, animal and fungi on the island, the database of which will be publicly available as a resource for ecologists and evolutionary biologists around the world. They help us view the fast developing science of genomics. The structure of DNA was identified in 1953, and the whole human genome was mapped by 2003. Since then the new field of genomics has mushroomed and is now operating on an industrial scale. Genomes can now be sequenced rapidly and increasingly cheaply.  Currently used in crime detection, in paternity suits and to identify susceptibility to medical conditions - the potential for misuse is alarming, but it also opens up unprecedented possibilities. One of the most fascinating parts of the interview is a discussion about human beings as ecosystems.  Sequencing technology has made the invisible world of microbes visible - biodiversity genomics is revealing whole new worlds within us and without. The findings are transformational.  Our bodies are home to millions of bacteria - in fact we have more bacteria in us than human cells - these species help us to function as human beings.  We have seen microbes as the enemy, and have been fighting them with penicillin since the middle of the last century - but what we now find is that only 200 species of microbes are pathogens out of millions of bacterial species.  When we understand this ecosystem better it will revolutionise healthcare.  "The genome is the foundation of our bodies, like trees in a forest, but there are lots of other flora and fauna that make up the whole ecosystem of the forest."    Photo:  Libertas Academica

"Government is made up of people",  says Dave Seliger, a civil servant in New York City.  So, what might public servants do to change the face of local government? This is the 6th podcast from Civic Radio. In it Dave Seliger talks to Jo Barratt about the role of civil servants and local government officers in developing a new local government.  Dave is the co-founder of Civic Service at Parsons DESIS Lab and a public servant in the NYC Mayor's Office. There are 300,000 civil servants in New York, and Dave says it is important to involve all of them, not just the Mayor and City Hall, in rethinking local government.  So he trains and connects civil servants, bringing together Heads of Local Government Innovation, getting them to meet activists and community advocates,  and helping them understand the role and potential of civic tech. He also asks how we might get people involved in public service, and particularly looks at why tech savvy people rarely join government - why do they opt for working with Google instead, when the problems they'd have to grapple with in government are so much more challenging.......

"Being a citizen is crafting the society you live," in says Aral Balkan, Founder of Ind.ie and a champion of democracy and design. In this podcast, the 5th from Civic Radio, Aral Balkan talks about how we communicate with each other, the tools and programmes we use to do this (and the perhaps hidden costs we give in exchange) and how we might build systems that better support the interests of the people who use them. Likening Twitter to a shopping mall, rather than a public park, he questions the way we confuse private spheres, run by Silicon Valley corporations, with public spheres  and calls for more social organisations, independent of venture capital that build things that add to the commons.

The deep past extends its tentacles into the present and, in Work, Sex and Power  Willie Thompson, until his retirement Professor of Contemporary History at Glasgow Caledonian University, demonstrates how this affects our species. He talks to Pod Academy's Craig Barfooot about how, in recent years such approaches, covering lengthy stretches of time and continents, have taken on greater prominence, with terms like ‘Deep History’ and ‘Big History’ entering the vocabulary.  This approach has been stimulated by a deepening awareness of the apocalyptic threat to humanity caused by runaway global warming and species destruction. The inability of the small-scope historiography favoured in previous decades to generate much illumination regarding this crisis has proven its limits. Willie Thompson's book is part of this new tendency but with a differing emphasis in important respects. It begins with argument on humans’ place in the universe and where they stand in the evolutionary process. It is concerned to emphasise both the continuity of humans with the animal kingdom and the wider biosphere, but also the categorical difference of their existence as social creatures equipped with language and, in their forelimbs, manipulative abilities possessed by no other creature. One early chapter discusses the evolution of conscious thought and the unique attribute of humans, in that through a developed form of consciousness they envisage their future selves, and their future projects, unlike any other species. WORK In this interview, Willie Thompson and Craig Barfoot explore the Palaeolithic era in which the original Homo sapiens lived their hunter-gatherer foraging lives in  isolated family groupings and clan communities. This was a prehistoric period of human history, distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools and covers roughly 95%[1] of human technological prehistory. The discussion then turns to the next ten thousand years following what is sometimes referred to as the ‘Neolithic Revolution’ which rapidly emerged over all the continents with the exception of Australia. Crucially, it is notorious for ushering in the shift to production (via agriculture and herding) of animal and vegetable foodstuffs which replaced the earlier process of food acquisition ‘in the wild’. These techniques originated in what we now call the Middle East and also developed quite independently in different areas of the globe such as the Americas and China. The driving force was almost certainly climate change – as the glaciation of the latest ice age melted, humans experienced both environmental catastrophe, but also beneficial effects. The consequences of this transformation for the societies involved were truly enormous and are still noticeable today. In the words of Jared Diamond,author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years ‘The hand of history’s course at 8000 B.C. lies heavily on us’. Working the Fields by DaiLuo The history since the Neolithic Revolution has been the history of forced labour, which has four structural forms varying in their details and frequently intermixed: exaction of tribute from producers; serfdom or bonded agricultural labour; outright slavery and wage labour.  Debt emerged as a powerful mechanism used to force individuals into one or other of these forms of forced labour. Work, Sex and Power explains how wage labour in the context of market economies became the prevalent form of economic compulsion thanks to the second great historical transformation: the creation of technologies that succeeded in unlocking the immense energies imprisoned in fossil fuels, a process that commenced around 300 years ago and proceeded to give us the world we now experience. SEX the history of civilisation has been the history of forced labour it has also been the history of misogyny.  One gender has cruelly exploited the other,

Anna Randle, Head of Strategy at London Borough of Lambeth in south London talks to Jo Barratt about redefining local government in the fourth Civic Radio podcast If citizenship is a reciprocal relationship between the individual citizen and everyone else in the communities of which we are part, what is the role of local government? This is something that Lambeth councll is grappling with, as they develop the notion of  a 'cooperative council' seeking to establish a more equal relationship with their citizens. But what does it mean in practice?  What is involved in re-imagining local government? What does it mean to shift from being 'a paternalistic provider of services' to a 'facilitative enabler'.  Is it just about doing local government on the cheap? In this thoughtful  interview, Anna Randle talks persuasively about how a council can empower its citizens, without washing its hands of its responsibilities. Open spaces, parks etc,  in the borough provide a good example of the approach as Anna explains, "There was a point at which we realised we needed to say, 'these are your spaces, they aren't the council's spaces, they are the community's spaces, you own them. You don't have to ask for permission to do stuff, we want you to do stuff, so if you want to go and plant some bulbs, just do it'." Civic Radio is part of Civic Workshop.         Picture of Barnsley Council offices by James Sheriff

This is the third of our podcasts from Civic Radio, exploring the role of the 'civic' in today's world - a world in which commerce often squeezes out our collective experience as citizens, and in which the term 'citizenship' is usually used to mean the individual's relationship with government, rather than citizens' interdependence with each other.   This is the theme explored by tech activist Laurenellen McCann, in conversation with Jo Barratt, In particular they consider the emergence of the 'Civic Tech' movement, in which Laurenellen played a major role, but of which she is now increasingly critical. The roots of civic tech are in gov2.0, E.gov, and OpenGov in the early 2000s and are for the tech initiated.  Civic technology is vital, but, says LaurenEllen, what does a white tech dude have in common with a single mother on welfare? How can he really understand what she needs?  Open Gov techies continue to work within a definition of citizenship which focuses on the citizen's relationship to governrnent, how their preoccupations and their 'solutions' work for people with different and specific needs? Civic tech should be about people, rather than technology, so, Instead, she suggests, a new definition for civic tech,  "Any tool, approach, process or solution which is created with public good in mind" and she argues that we should move from a civic tech which is based on 'hardware, software and APIs' to put technology at the service of deliberative processes, in which everyone can become involved. Our podcast is an extract from the Civic Radio podcast - for the full version click here. You can also subscribe to Civic Radio on Itunes. Laurenellen McCann @elle_mccann. Laurenellen is a key player in the world of technology and democracy in the US, here she is on a panel at the Code for America Summit 2014  with Catherine Bracy, Diana Nucera and Denise Taylor)....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah_xi31pyoA

In this second podcast from Civic Radio, Jo Barratt talks to Simon Willis, Chief Executive of the Young Foundation about social inequality ad civic participation.     Willis says that many people in the UK feel forgotten and disenfranchised, he is concerned to find ways to hand voice and power to people who feel excluded, to enable them to establish their own ways of doing things, on their terms, when political parties fail to address their needs.

Has the world of commerce encroached irrevocably on our civic spaces, and how much do we care? Civic Workshop is asking that question and looking at ways to reframe our everyday local experiences with an awareness of our collective social and political future. A key part of Civic Workshop is the new Civic Radio. We are hoping to cover a lot of their output here on Pod Academy - take a listen to this first podcast in which Jo Barratt talks to writer and urbanist Adam Greenfield @agpublic about a new vision for the civic.  How much is civic exclusion growing because of what participation demands or expects of us? Civic Radio will be on the road, seeking out the people and organisations that are exploring these topics in different ways. http://www.civicworkshop.city/blog/2015/2/10/civic-radio-episode-01

Here at Pod Academy we are convinced that podcasting is a great way to get research out to a wide audience, to make an impact. If you'd like to try your hand at making a podcast, here are some tips to help you, they came out of a course we ran for our volunteer producers.  And take a listen to the podcast above  - it demonstrates a number of different approaches you might take. Preparation Preparation 1: Preparing around the CONTENT What are you trying to achieve? First of all decide, what are your objectives for the podcast.  Of course two of your principal objectives will be: To make people care about the subject To entertain But you may have other objectives, such as: – To get the audience to see the relevance for themselves of this research To help your audience understand something complex To inform them about something new in the field To introduce them to something quirky they may not know about It may be that your objectives span all or none of these, but whatever you are aiming to achieve, be clear about it from the outset as this will help in your preparation and will inevitably influence the questions you ask, the tone, the writing and the editing. What is the story? Why should we care? This American Life’s Alex Blumberg says you should be able to pitch a story in this way: I want to make a podcast about….. It’s important because….. According to Alex this simple formula will give you the story.  Other people talk about this as ‘the angle’ of your podcast.   It is certainly an essential stage to go through in the preparation for your podcast. To decide what is the angle, have a preparatory conversation with the academic whose research you are covering and really pin him/her down on the following questions: Why is your research/your work/your book important? What is the significance of your research/this area of study/your work? We hear a lot about……….these days – how does your research relate to that? What is your big idea? What is the take-home message of your research/your work/your book? What is the story? What is ground breaking about it? Why should the audience care about your research? If it were a newspaper article, what would the headline be? Remember, one way of finding the angle is to see if there is an ‘est’ word associated with the research – the first, the best, the worst, the biggest, the smallest, the most, the last etc. Ask the academic. After that conversation, think about it yourself.  Decide:  What is this podcast about? The audience Part of your preparation should be to think about your audience and what would interest them.  Pod Academy has a broad audience, but it is helpful to imagine just one listener, because then you are more likely to make an appealing podcast, that works as a communication from one person to another.  Try this listener: A bright, engaged 28year old who is prepared to listen to and maybe even sign up with Charity street fundraisers, who probably plays or watches a bit of sport, has good friends who he/she values, has a favourite soap opera, and listens to an eclectic range of music. Importantly, has a 40 minute commute to work, during which time they listen to podcasts. How can you engage/entertain/inform this listener?   Chunking the content Think of your content in 4 chunks (note: they might not divide up as neatly as this suggests – for example, in the interview you might ask some of the more detailed questions in Chunk 4 when you are on chunk 3 about the significance of the research.) Chunk 1:  Why did they undertake this research? You are looking for 2 main things here – personal motivation, any important background/context about this field. The sorts of questions to ask…… Why did you undertake this research; what attracted you to this area of research? Is there any significant history to this area of research? What’s been happening in this field?

'Water wars' used to seem like the stuff of science fiction.  But water poverty is creating major geopolitical upheaval right now in the real world.  It contributed to the Arab Spring in Egypt, and to the growth of ISIS in Syria argues Dr Karen Piper, who teaches post colonial studies and English and is adjunct professor of geography at the University of Missouri. In this conversation with Pod Academy's Craig Barfoot, about her extensively researched book, The Price of Thirst: Global Water Inequality and the Coming Chaos   Dr Piper paints a disturbing picture of the world's journey towards the 'coming chaos' -  including dams that dessicate neighbouring countries and an International Monetary Fund that insists on developing countries handing over their water to multinational corporations who make a profit from drought. The UN has declared access to clean drinking water to be a human right, but can do little to enforce that right. Karen Piper says that is was scary in conducting her research, to talk to climate scientists, and to see the droughts and coastal erosion and species moving.  But, she says, she met dedicated activists, and her hope is that people can make the change. Picture of water droplets by Matt Newman

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Revelation. But what about Josephus or the Book of Enoch?  Did you know that the Bible with which we are familiar is not the complete story? Or that there are mistakes in the accepted version? And did you know that Jesus had a brother, James? Pod Academy's Craig Barfoot talks to Dr. Joel M. Hoffman, author of The Bible's Cutting Room Floor about how some theological writings were left out for political or theological reasons, others simply because of the physical restrictions of ancient bookmaking technology. At times, the compilers of the Bible skipped information that they assumed everyone knew. Some passages were even omitted by accident! The writings not included are more numerous than those that actually made it into the bible - The Bible's Cutting Room Floor explains how the 150 Psalms are just a 'best of' collection

What would it mean to develop medical treatment for the core features of autism? Recent research has enriched our understanding of the biology of autism, as well as the social experiences of being autistic, but the core biological features of autism are still not well understood. Any medication for the core symptoms of autism is thus still some way off in the future. Nonetheless, much research is now looking for biological markers for which treatments might be developed. ‘EU-AIMS’ is a collaboration seeking new methods for the development of biological markers and drug treatments for autism. There is considerable support for such an endeavour, including from groups representing autistic people, and their families and allies. However, other autistic people, some autism self-advocacy groups, and some ethical and legal scholars, are concerned about autism coming to be defined only as a biological disorder in need of treatment – and have called for wide debate on the relationships between biology, treatment, and difference in autism. This public dialogue, organised by the Ethics Advisory Board of EU-AIMS, brings together autism advocates and self-advocates, psychiatrists, and ethicists, to discuss these issues.  Treating Autism: full recording of EU AIMS dialogue October 2014 An edited version of the even can be found here.

"Nature has been defined as a woman, and both nature and women were then defined into objectification and therefore into objects of violence. Ecofeminism is a celebration of the creativity of nature and the creativity of women," says Dr Vandana Shiva, world renowned Indian environmentalist, activist and scientist, in this conversation with Pod Academy's Lucy Bradley about her book, Ecofeminism (co-authored with Maria Mies, Zed Books). This podcast, which also includes the presentation by Vandana Shiva at SOAS, in October 2014, is produced and presented by Lucy Bradley. Vandana Shiva has written many books, (including Staying Alive-Women, Ecology and Development;  Monocultures of the Mind;  and Soil not Oil) and Lucy started by asking her how this book, EcoFeminism, came about: Vandana Shiva:   Well the book has a very interesting genesis. Maria Mies had written Patriarchy and Capital Accumulation on a World Scale, I had written Staying Alive and that had done very well and it was the first time a title was connecting, the issues of the paradigm of development happening to women in the third world and what was happening to ecosystems in the third world. Zed [publishers] asked if both of us could do a book combining North and South perspectives. Of course we didn’t have the time to actually sit together so we just decided to write our chapters and share them every month. And it shows there are common patterns [being experienced in these different places] because we’d write chapters and they’d be about the similar phenomena. And one was in rich, rich, rich Germany and the other was in India - which at the time we wrote it was not part of this ‘shining’ India campaign – and the book chapters then just fell into place, not because we’d planned and said we’ll write chapters on this, but because both Maria and I do thinking engaged in activism. There’s an illusion that you have to be either an intellectual or an activist and the two don’t meet. In my view, real reflection of the world we’re in can only come from engagement in that world, not by sitting in an ivory tower and imagining you know all. When you don’t write with a vested interest, when don’t write because you are serving some master, when you write in the freedom of your mind and your spirit, with a deep connection of compassion and involvement and inclusion with every being and every person whose being trampled on you don’t get dictated [to]. Lucy Bradley: And what’s the main thesis of the book? VS: Eco feminism is really looking at the dominant world view and structures it has created which have been driven by the convergence of capitalism and patriarchy, and looking at it from the point of view of nature and women. This is for a number of reasons, first because the oppression of nature and women served the building of this paradigm; nature was defined as a woman and both were then defined into objectification and therefore into objects of violence. Ecofeminism is a celebration of the creativity of nature and the creativity of women and it is basically in a way waking us up to see the illusion that capital creates. The new edition of Ecofeminism of course is an update. [But] everything we said –whether it was the violence had just gotten worse and whatever we said about alternatives have just flourished better, and I’m sure if we were to reissue twenty years from now, I don’t’ know if we will be around, but the two trends will just have deepened. LB: You have anticipated my next question, is ecofeminism gathering momentum? VS: when we wrote ecofeminism there was a whole new generation of young women who were fed up with academic feminism which had in a way totally turned it’s back on the women’s movement. We mustn’t forget that women’s studies grew out of the womens’ movement and in the early days theorising and activism was one, and then you got into this academic strand. And what happened was at that time when young women who were ...

What is the universe made of?  What is 'dark matter'? Why is the universe still expanding? These are just some of the questions astrophysicist Professor Katherine Freese tackles in this wonderfully accessible interview with Pod Academy's Craig Barfoot. Katherine Freese, is the George Eugene Uhlenbeck Collegiate Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan  and author of The Cosmic Cocktail: Three parts dark matter, the inside story of the epic quest to solve one of the most compelling enigmas of modern science—what is the universe made of?     The ordinary atoms that make up the known universe—from our bodies and the air we breathe to the planets and stars—constitute only 5 percent of all matter and energy in the cosmos. The rest is known as dark matter and dark energy, because their precise identities are unknown.  Prof Freese explains that new galaxies come about when dark matter clumps together, indeed it is dark  matter that dominates structure formation rather than atoms. However, we are not sure what dark matter actually is (though the favourite candidate is WIMPS (weakly interactive massive particles)) Prof Freese is one of the world's leading astrophycists, but this is an interview that the layperson can enjoy.  For example, she talks of telescopes as 'time machines' - light takes 10 minutes to reach us from the sun, but the further out into space we look, towards distant galaxies, the further back in time was the light emitted, maybe even a million years ago. 'My secret mission is to encourage young people, especially young women, to become scientists', says Katherine Freese,   'When people talk about creativity, they think about the arts - but it is scientists who are in the sweet spot here'. The New Scientist magazine said of The Cosmic Cocktail: Physicist Katherine Freese drinks deep of her life's adventures and cosmic mysteries alike in her captivatingly frank book The Cosmic Cocktail

In October 2013, the British government gave a green light to the UK's first nuclear power station in a generation.  It will be built at Hinckley Point in Somerset by a consortium which is led by France's EDF Energy and includes Chinese investors. The government is backing nuclear energy and is guaranteeing to pay £92.50 per megawatt hour for the electricity generated, twice the current wholesale price. Professor Keith Barnham of Imperial College, author of The Burning Answer, says there are many reasons to think this is far from a sound proposition - not only do we not know the carbon footprint of nuclear power, but the price guarantee for the consortium may end up being way above the costs of energy in 10 years time, with the taxpayer having to foot the extra bill. This short podcast is an extended extract from Prof Barnham's interview with Dr Radu Sporea of the Surrey University Advanced Technology Institute, in which they discuss the potential for renewables to meet all our energy needs. You can find the full interview between Keith Barnham and Radu Sporea, Solar power, the burning answer?  It looks at the potential of renewables, in particular solar power. Photo: Reactor by Paul Stevens .  Photo taken at the decommissioned nuclear reactor in Dounraey, Scotland

This podcast is produced and presented by Craig Barfoot In the 20th Century, humans killed hundreds of thousands of wild animals as we sought to build new homes and develop agriculture.  Now the 21st century is characterised by conservation and re-wilding - but can ranchers and environmentalists, wildlife managers and animal-welfare activists, humans and animals ever really co-exist? Yes, says John Shivik of Utah State University's National Wildlife Research Center /Predator Research in this fascinating conversation with Craig Barfoot. In parts of the United States, stories of 'backyard bears' and 'cat-eating coyotes' are becoming increasingly common—even for people living in non-rural areas. Farmers anxious to protect their sheep from wolves aren’t the only ones concerned: suburbanites and city dwellers are also having more unwanted run-ins with predators from the wild. And as carnivore populations increase their proximity to people, pets, and livestock leads to more conflict, and we are once again left to negotiate the uneasy terrain between elimination and conservation. In his book The Predator Paradox, John Shivik argues that we can end the conflict while still preserving and protecting these key species as fundamental components of healthy ecosystems.  As the boundary between human and animal habitat blurs, preventing the war between humans and wildlife depends both on changing animal behaviour and shifting our own perceptions, attitudes, and actions.   You might also be interested in this blog about re-wilding in Chile

This podcast is part of our Geoff Dyer series – a series of recordings from a conference dedicated to Dyer’s work held at Birkbeck, University of London. It features Dr Bianca Leggett, Teaching Fellow in British Studies at Harlaxton College and is presented by Jo Barratt. This year marks 25 years since the publication of Geoff Dyer’s first novel, The Colour of Memory. Geoff is a multi-award winning writer who has written 4 novels and is also known for his essays. He’s been described by the New York Times as ‘one of our greatest living critics’ The colour of memory series was recorded for Pod Academy at Birkbeck, University London at a conference dedicated to Dyer's work. This podcast is a talk given by Bianca Leggett from Harlaxton College, University of Evansville on Dyer's latest book Another Great Day at Sea: Life Aboard the USS George H.W. Bush.   Photo by Chris Boland:  www.chrisboland.com     Click here for the other podcasts in the series What colour was the 1990s? Counting Backwards: a quarter-century of The Colour of Memory

This podcast is part of our Geoff Dyer series – a series of recordings from a conference dedicated to Dyer’s work held at Birkbeck, University of London. It features Dr Morgan Daniels of Queen Mary College, University of London and is presented byJo Barratt This year marks 25 years since the publication of Geoff Dyer’s first novel, The Colour of Memory. Geoff is a multi-award winning writer who has written 4 novels and is also known for his essays. He’s been described by the New York Times as ‘one of our greatest living critics’ The colour of memory series was recorded for Pod Academy at Birkbeck, University London at a conference dedicated to Dyer's work. In this podcast, Morgan Daniels steps slightly away from  directly discussing the authors work to consider the fascinating proposition: “What colour was the 1990s?’   Photo by Chris Boland:  www.chrisboland.com     Click below for the other podcasts in the series: What colour was the 1990s? All at Sea: Soldiers and Slackers in the Writing of Geoff Dyer Counting Backwards: a quarter-century of The Colour of Memory

This podcast is part of our Geoff Dyer series - a series of recordings from a conference dedicated to Dyer's work held at Birkbeck, University of London. It features Dr Joe Brooker, Reader in Modern Literature at Birbeck and is presented by Jo Barratt. This year marks 25 years since the publication of Geoff Dyer’s first novel, The Colour of Memory. Geoff is a multi-award winning writer who has written 4 novels and is also known for his essays. He’s been described by the New York Times as ‘one of our greatest living critics’ The colour of memory series was recorded for Pod Academy at Birkbeck, University London at a conference dedicated to Dyer's work. In this podcast, Joe Brooker from Birkbeck University of London, looks back at the colour of memory.   Photo by Chris Boland:  www.chrisboland.com       Click below for the other podcasts in the series, produced and presented by Jo Barratt. What colour was the 1990s? All at Sea: Soldiers and Slackers in the Writing of Geoff Dyer Photo: @AlexJohnWill

In 1958 Charles Keeling began measuring the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere - the graph of his year-on-year measurements is called 'The Keeling Curve'. Fast forward 50 years, and we are all familiar with debates on global warming, but it is a complex, interrelated problem, with no clear end point.  Humankind seems unable to get to grips with it. Craig Barfoot talks to Dr Joshua Howe,of Reed University about his book, Behind the Curve: Science and the Politics of Global Warming. We can't afford to fail on curbing emissions, and yet failure is inevitable, we are already failing.  Joshua Howe argues that any contribution is valuable and points to local and regional Climate Action Plans [in the UK that might be the Transition Towns movement as well as local authority enviornmental plans] that address our moral responsibility, and enable us to take action.

How much of our social status is tied to that of our parents and grandparents? How much does this influence our children? More than we wish to believe. While it has been argued that rigid class structures have eroded in favour of greater social equality, Gregory Clark's The Son Also Rises, proves that movement on the social ladder has changed little over eight centuries. In this bookpod, Gregory Clark, a Professor of economics at the University of California, Davis, talks to Craig Barfoot about his novel technique of tracking family names over generations to measure social mobility across countries and periods.  It led him to conclude that even in countries apparently committed to equality - like Sweden and the USA - it can take hundreds of years for high status families to revert to the mean of ordinariness.

A third of workers, internationally, earn less than $2 a day. The World Bank sets the poverty line at $1.25 a day, and on that basis asserts that poverty is declining.  But is that right? Where did that figure come from?  The New Economics Foundation estimates that it should be set at $5 a day, and others suggest $10. Craig Barfoot talks to Dr Ben Selwyn Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Sussex University about his book the Global Development Crisis. Rejecting the idea that 'the poor' need to rely on benign assistance, and that the market provides the answer, Dr Selwyn puts forward the view that the capital/labour relationship is the reason most of the world's workers are poor, and advocates labour-centred development - where 'the poor' (the global labouring classes), and their own collective actions and struggles constitute the basis of an alternative form of non-elitist, bottom-up human development. You can catch up with Ben Selwyn lecturing at Sussex in this YouTube video: here This book pod is produced and presented by Craig Barfoot.

Between 1975 and 2010 the style of gourmet dining, in America and beyond, was transformed. Increasingly, restaurants of ‘fine’ dining incorporated food, décor, and other elements previously limited to the ‘casual’ dining experience.  The celebrity chef, working in an open kitchen, took over from the Maitre D as the most important player, and in many places starched white tablecloths gave way to scrubbed wooden tables.  Innovation, experiment and diversity (rather than the long established rules of French cuisine) have become the order of the day. In this podcast Eric Lemay talks to Alison Pearlman, author of Smart Casual: The Transformation of Gourmet Restaurant Style in America (University of Chicago, 2013). It first aired on the New Books in Food channel of the New Books Network . The gourmet experience, of our imagination - an elegant restaurant with a single candle flickering at the center of a luminous white tablecloth,  a quartet playing somewhere in the background, a waiter slipping a perfectly plated appetizer of escargot before you, which you proceed to nuzzle out of their shells with silver tongs and that dainty fork  -  has changed. It was, perhaps, when Food & Wine magazine declared Roy Choi one of its “Best New Chefs” of 2010 for the food he was serving up in his Kogi BBQ truck, that this sea change in our idea of gourmet eating was confirmed. And that’s the very change that Alison Pearlman explores in her book, Alison describes a gourmet experience “replete with eroded hierarchies and pointed style contrasts, convergences of haute and ordinary.” And, of course, food trucks - they may have started in Los Angeles, but as she points out, they have spread much further.  For example, London street food  is cause for foodie celebration and serious London foodies can be found standing on the windy embankment of the Thames eating a pulled pork roll at the The Real Food Market on the SouthBank.  And do listen to Kieron Yates brilliant podcast, The Best Burger in the World? about a food truck in Paris. In a keen investigation of every element of the dining experience, from menus to molecular gastronomy, Pearlman’s book reveals the surprising nature of what fine dining means for us today.

In 2015, the UN's eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - broad targets for eradicating poverty and disease and improving worldwide rates of primary education, maternal health and gender equality- will be replaced with newly agreed goals. The MDG approach was a new one for development policy, seeking to focus the attention and efforts of the international community on a clear set of shared targets - but inevitably there were criticisms that some crucial areas had been overlooked. One overlooked area was Higher Education. Now, as the world discusses what should replace the MDGs, the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) is campaigning for recognition of the fundamental importance of Higher Education for development. A vibrant Higher Education sector is crucial for many reasons, as Jay Kuber of the ACU explains in this podcast.  Firstly, universities undertake research that can inform government policy making; secondly, through their teaching, they also produce the educated men and women needed to run businesses, public services, engineering and agriculture; and thirdly, by building partnerships with local communities, they also make a major contribution to sustainable development on a local and regional level. The ACU campaign - The world beyond 2015: Is Higher Education ready? - poses the following questions: Why does the Post-2015 agenda matter for higher education? How are universities already addressing local, national and international issues? How can universities prepare to respond ot the Post-2015 agenda? What partnerships should universities establish to achieve their objectives? How can universities champion thier contributions to wider society? How relevant and realistic are the Post-2015 goals likely to be? If you want to know more, or you want to join the ACU's campaign to raise awareness of how higher education can and should respond to global challenges beyond 2015, go to their website:  www.acu.ac.uk/beyond-2015 and follow them on Twitter @HEbeyond2015.

Involving citizens in the governance of public services - education, housing, transport - holds out the promise of more responsive, better run and more democratically accountable services. But it is a big ask.  Many people won't have the experience, the time or the confidence to get involved. In this podcast, which was first broadcast on the New Books Network, Heath Brown talks to Daniel Altschuler about the factors that can help ensure successful participatory governance. This question has long drawn the interest of scholars in political science. The promise of increasing civic engagement through institutions that allow citizens to participate has been studied extensively, but often in urban environments. Daniel Altschuler and Javier Corrales  build on this literature in their book, The Promise of Participation: Experiments in Participatory Governance in Honduras and Guatemala, but shift to rural parts of Honduras and Guatemala. The book focuses on Community Managed Schools and the participation of parents in school administration. Their extensive study demonstrated positive impacts on organisational learning and civic engagement for participating parents, but they conclude that it is crucial to offer training and support. If you enjoyed this podcast, why not check out others on the New Books Network, like  PAUL-BRIAN MCINERNEY's From Social Movement to Moral Market: How the Circuit Riders Sparked an IT Revolution and Created a Technology Market

Hello! My name's Dave Pickering and I make the weekly podcast Getting Better Acquainted where I record conversations with people I know, Part interview show, part oral history project, the show was nominated for a 2012 Radio Production Award, goes out regular on Resonance 104.4 FM and was featured on the Radio 5 Live podcast special, Helen and Olly's Required Listening. In GBA 41 I got better acquainted with Chris. He was my one of my lecturers at university but I hadn't seen him since I'd graduated. We talked about academia, journalism, media, the Iraq War and government cuts. It was recorded on a university campus so it was a trip down memory lane where I faced my past lessons and past prejudices. It's a conversation about ideas but also about people. Chris charts his journey from plumber to van driver to academic and critic. And he makes the argument for how, in a world so influenced and controlled by the media, media studies is far from being an irrelevant subject. If you liked this conversation with Chris you might want to check out some of my other conversations, the other conversations with academics are collected here, and there are conversations with all kinds of people available in the main feed fom iTunes, Stitcher and Soundcloud.

If newspapers' online production is taking over from print - how should they be regulated?  They carry video and audio, yet are not subject to the same constraints as broadcast media.  This is the issue addressed by Hugh Linehan (twitter: @hlinehan), Digital Development Director of the Irish Times in this, the second half of his lecture at the Huston School of Film and Digital Media. The first half of the lecture, Hugh says, 'I work in a dying industry' and considers how newspapers can construct a business model that will fund good quality journalism. That podcast can be found here.

Some of us love fashion.  But all that alluring glamour comes at a price. Sally Feldman talks to journalist and campaigner, Tansy Hoskins, about her book Stitched Up: The anti-captalist book of fashion. They explore what is behind the clothes we wear - the money, the advertising that distorts women's bodies and the production in poor countries around the globe. But would fashion be any more sustainable under a different political system? Is green fashion a realistic alternative?  And do Soviet designers like Popova and Stefanova really offer an alternative? Designs by Lyubov Popova   Tansy E. Hoskins is a writer, journalist and activist. She has worked for Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Islam Channel. She writes for theGuardian and Business of Fashion, and has appeared on the BBC, Al Jazeera and Channel 4's Ten O'Clock Live.

When we think of the stuff that dreams are made on, we might think of the spirits that Shakespeare’s Prospero conjures up in “The Tempest”; we might think of stars, rainbows, maybe even wishing wells, but what probably doesn’t leap to mind is a loaf of Wonder Bread. And yet, ever since the invention of the mass-manufactured loaf of white bread in the 1920s, that spongy tasteless loaf has been a way in which Americans have defined themselves and one another. This podcast was made for the New Books Network, on their New Books on Food strand.  In it Eric LeMay talks to Aaron Bobrow-Strain, from Whitman College. In his new book, White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf (Beacon Press, 2012),  Aaron Bobrow-Strain shows us how that familiar slice of white bread is much more than a food. It’s a symbol, one that in its nearly hundred-year-old existence has come to represent “the apex of modern progress and the specter of physical decay, the promise of a better future to come and America’s fall from small-town agrarian virtue.” The history Bobrow-Strain tells us ranges from the immigrant bakeries of turn-of-the-century America to the Cold War to the rise of yuppie and “locavore” eating habits. It’s a history, as he writes, “of the countless social reformers, food experts, industry executives, government officials, diet gurus, and ordinary eaters who have thought that getting Americans to eat the right bread (or avoid the wrong bread) could save the world—or at least restore the country’s moral, physical, and social fabric.

"Freedom of expression is the ultimate freedom.  It means the freedom to live, to think, to love and be loved, to be secure, to be happy...." So said Pakistani campaigner Shahzad Ahmad accepting the Advocacy Award at this year's Freedom of Expression Awards in London last week. Shahzad Ahmad (photo: Alex Brenner) Index on Censorship annual awards ceremony, honours the bravery, and dogged determination of campaigners, journalists and digital activists around the world who put their passion and commitment to free speech before their own personal safety, who challenge governments, gangs, and corporate interests who threaten freedom of expression. Our podcast gives you a brief insight into the courage of the nominees, and finishes with a great song from Egyptian hip hop artist Mayam Mahmoud (pictured) who addresses issues such as sexual harassment and women's rights in Egypt through her music.  Mayam won the Arts Award.  You'll find more information on the Awards on the Index website. Advocacy Award nominees Colectivo Chuhcan, a mental health pressure group from Mexico Rommy Mom, Nigeria's leading human rights lawyer Generation Wave Institute from Burma who promote democratic engagment in Burma Shahzad Ahmad, cyber freedom activist from Pakistan (winner) Journalism Award nominees Abdulelah Haider Shaye imprisoned for reporting on drone strikes in Yemen Callum Macrae and C4 News who documented the truth about Sri Lankan Human Rights abuses Azadliq - one of the few remaining independent newspapers in Azerbaijan (winner) Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras  for their work on the NSA surveillance Dina Meza and investigative journalist from Honduras Digital Activism nominees Edward Snowden who leaked the documents uncovering the mass surveillance by NSA and GCHQ Free Weibo, the uncensored version of China's social network, SinaWeibo Shubhranshu Choudhary who set up a mobile phone news service in rural India (winner) Tails, a free open source encryption tool that protects journalists and sources in any country Arts  Award nominees (this section was introduced by playwright Howard Brenton, who you can hear on the podcast) David Cecil, imprisoned in Uganda for producing a 'pro-gay' play Meltem Arikan, playwright, whose play 'Mi Minor' enraged the Turkish Government Lucien Bourjeily, Lebanese playwright who confronted the Lebanese Censorship Bureau Mayam Mahmoud, Egyptian hip artist and women's right campaigner (winner)  Photo of Mayam Mahmoud by Alex Brenner Mayam's song Girls in our society are divided Into those who wear the niqab, those who wear the veil And those who are in between There are a lot of cases that depend on the girl How she dresses And how she looks But this is not the rule How can you judge me By my hair or by my veil? If one day you look at me I am not going to be the one Hiding her/my embarrassment You cat call and you harass Thinking this is right not wrong Even if these are words This is not the kind of treatment These are stones It is not her clothing that is inappropriate or wrong It’s this way of thinking which is Sometimes the clothing is too much But you are the one to blame One look can be could hurt And it is not right of you to be staring You deserve to be slapped twice on the face Femininity in Egypt is divided into two parts There is a difference between what men and women consider And both are wrong Who said that femininity is about dresses Femininity is about intelligence and intellect It is also about the way she was raised And her religiosity Girls have lost confidence in themselves Now she puts in makeup And dresses in different colours on top of each other The problem is not with the girl The problem is with the society that influences the girl every second If you ask girls if they have good taste in dressing They will say yes we have But our lives can not be described

"Our minds are made up of all the same atoms and molecules as everything else in nature - the architecture of our brains was born from the same energy principles, the same pure mathematics that happens in flowers, and jellyfish and Higgs particles..." says astrophysicist Alan Lightman, Professor of the Practice of the Humanities. Creative Writing, Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in his new book The Accidental Universe: The World You Thought You Knew.  In this podcast he talks to Pod Academy's Craig Barfoot about the Big Bang (apparently it wasn't like an explosion), and how the universe created time and space when it started to expand.  He also takes us on a trip around multiverses, the many universes that science predicts exist, but which may be very different indeed from our own universe. But while it is possible that science may soon explain everything in the physical world, will it ever, he muses, be able to explain the feeling of being in love? Professor Lightman is an astrophysicist and also a poet and novelist. His best selling novel,  Einstein's Dreams, about the young Albert Einstein working on his theory of relativity but troubled by dreams explores human beings' relationship to time. It has been translated into thirty languages. It is this combination of science and humanities which is at the heart of this podcast. The night sky, UK 2013, Michael J Bennett

How good are we at understanding each other? Other people are complicated,  so when we try to guess what they’re thinking we often get it wrong.  Even with our partners!  Research suggests that partners are hardly any better (and sometimes worse) at guessing what each other believe or feel than a stranger. In this wide ranging conversation with Professor Nicholas Epley from Booth School of Business at Chicago University, and author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want,  Pod Academy's Craig Barfoot finds out about empathy, anthropomorphism, hubris and egocentricity. One thing they discuss is how our egocentricity makes us feel far more noticeable than we are.  As David Foster Wallace said, in Infinite Jest, “You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.” This was confirmed in what Professor Epley describes as 'the most liberating experiment in the entire field of psychology'. Research by Kenneth Savitsky; Thomas Gilovich; Gail Berger and Victoria Medvec found that no one in a room remembered the person wearing a Barry Manilow teeshirt, whereas the wearer of the teeshirt, embarrassed to be seen in this way, thought 50% of the room would remember! Other issues covered are: do we know what it is like to be tortured? or what it is like to be poor? and how modern warfare has distanced us from death (because if we are too close it is difficult to kill someone). This is a fascinating exploration of what scientists have learned about our ability to understand the most complicated puzzle on the planet—other people—and the surprising mistakes we so routinely make.

In a globalised market economy, even nations have been branding themselves. 'Cool Britannia', Brazil a vibrant world class player, Italy the nation of high fashion and great food are just some examples.  Can rebranding really maintain, extend, or even reconstitute the nation? Jeff Pooley of Muhlenberg College, interviews Rutgers' Melissa Aronczyk, author of Branding the Nation: The Global Business of National Identity. This podcast first appeared on New Books in Communications, a channel of the New Books Network. Melissa Aronczyk In Branding the Nation, Melissa locates the rise of nation branding as a response to the perceived need to sculpt national identity in the face of a fiercely competitive global economy. Tracking the history of the nation-branding phenomenon, Aronczyk recounts the rise and spread of the very idea of national “competitiveness,” a discourse that, in effect, created a market that branding specialists then tapped. The book engages with the large scholarly literature on nations and nationalism, arguing that nation branding should not be dismissed as merely the invasion of business practices into the national imaginary—though it has this character, undeniably—but that the practice should also be read as a discourse that maintains, extends, and reconstitutes the nation. Based on dozens of interviews with nation-branding specialists over a five-year period, Aronczyk develops major case studies of Poland and Canada in particular, and substantial treatments of a number of other cases spanning the globe, including Botswana, Chile, Estonia, Georgia, Jamaica, and Libya. In Branding the Nation, Aronczyk tells the story of how national identity came to be seen, and sold, as a form of added value in a competitive global market, and how these campaigns fed back into the ongoing process of thinking, and imagining, the nation. You might also be interested to see that just last month, The Atlantic carried an article about the 'rebranding of America'

The role of large corporations in lobbying for policy change was the subject of a workshop at Medact's recent conference. A number of Government appointed expert committees have recently made recommendations on pressing health issues, including minimum pricing of alcohol and food labelling. But their proposals have been kicked into the long grass by government after intensive lobbying by the food and drinks industry. David Miller, Professor of Sociology at the University of Bath explained how companies have a number of different ways of exerting influence on policy at a national and European level, including the presence and popularity of their brands, think tanks, lobbying groups, 'partnership bodies' where EU civil servants and industry representatives together advise the EU on policy, charities (funded by the industry) which purport to represent 'consumer interests', sophisticated PR, and 'the revolving door' through which civil servants move from Government departments straight into related jobs in industry. Here are links to, or about, some of the organisations mentioned by Professor Miller: Business Europe Food Industry Lobby Group European Snacks Association Elite Policy Planning Groups European Policy Centre Scotch Whisky Association Spirits Europe Europe Transport Safety Council World Federation of Advertisers European Sponsorship Association European Forum for Responsible Drinking (note their former web address www.efrd.org now defaults to Spirits Europe EU Alcohol and Health Forum International Center for Alcohol Policies Cancer United TOAST (The Obesity Awareness and Solutions Trust) Scientific Alliance Social Issues Research Council Professor Millier is a co-founder of Spinwatch, a public interest investigations organisation. Medact is an organisation of health professionals working for a 'safer, fairer and better world'.