Selina and Caswell chat with Professor Adrian Isaacs from the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL to talk Frontotemporal Dementia — from how fruit flies are helping, to the role of DNA repeat expansions in disease, and why lipids might protect the brain.

Presenters:  Caswell Barry and Selina Wray
Guests: Professor Adrian Isaacs
Producer: Patrick Robinson

Date of episode recording:  2025-07-28
Duration:  00:38:48
Language of episode: English 


Brain Stories - Episode 21:  Professor Adrian Isaacs on Frontotemporal Dementia

In this episode of Global Health Insights, host Dr. Sharon Chekijian sits down with Dr. Teresa Chahine, Senior Lecturer at the Yale School of Management and Faculty Director of the Social Innovation Initiative at the Jackson School of Global Affairs. Dr. Chahine reflects on her journey from Lebanon to Yale, where she pioneered social entrepreneurship in global health through teaching, mentorship, and innovation.
 
Dr. Chahine explores how entrepreneurship can disrupt the status quo in public health, addressing root causes of inequity through bold, systems-oriented approaches. She highlights the importance of teaching the next generation to move beyond problem analysis to solution-building, and discusses her vision of “framework change” in health, education, and beyond. Through personal stories of mentorship, global impact, and the balance between her home country of Lebanon and the diaspora, she highlights how every individual can become a changemaker.

Across Silos: Using Social Entrepreneurship for Change

Beyond the 9 to 5: Rethinking the modern work week.

What if the key to better mental health, stronger families, and a more sustainable society was working less? In this episode, Xand van Tulleken and Rochelle Burgess explore how reducing the working week could transform not just our work-life balance but public health more broadly. They’re joined by: - Joe Ryle – Director of the Four Day Week Campaign, advocating for a shorter working week with no loss of pay - Professor Anna Cox – Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at UCL and Head of the eWork Research Group, whose work explores how technology impacts productivity and wellbeing.

In this episode: - How overworking is driving burnout, stress, and poor health outcomes - What flexible and remote working has taught us post-COVID - The role of digital technology in balancing work and life - Why a shorter week could be good for the environment and the economy - Whether AI might finally deliver on the long-promised work-life revolution.  

This episode also asks a deeper question: what would it take to truly shift our culture away from valuing busyness and burnout, and toward health, connection, and rest?

Date of episode recording: 2025-07-02

Duration: 00:37:45

Language of episode: English

Presenter:Xand van Tulleken; Rochelle Burgess

Guests: Joe Ryle; Anna Cox

Producer: Produced by: UCL Health of the Public; Editor: Annabelle Buckland, Decibelle Creative

Link to transcript:  https://www.ucl.ac.uk/health-of-public/news-and-events/public-health-disrupted/season-5-ep-4-beyond-9-5-notes-and-transcript

Season 5 - The Future of Work: Rethinking the 9 to 5

As the importance of climate justice grows, UCL Generation One asks the question: can we address the past for a fairer future and are historic injustices to blame for today’s climate inequalities? 

In this episode, Mark and Simon discuss the landmark ruling from the International Court of Justice, which declares nations are legally obligated to protect the environment from greenhouse gas emissions. This gives the countries most affected by climate change – many of which are former colonies – the legal right to hold major polluters accountable.

Lawyer and climate activist Farhana Yamin provides context on the ICJ’s decision, explaining the link between climate change and colonialism, and how activism combined with legal action can tackle systematic inequalities.

We then hear from Raffaella Fryer-Moreira (UCL Department of Anthropology), who works with indigenous communities in Brazil. Raffaella reveals how traditional academic practices often enforce historic dynamics, and explores how research projects might include rather than marginalise indigenous knowledge.

Transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/climate-change/podcasts-videos/ucl-generation-one-climate-podcast

Date of episode recording: 23 July 2025
Duration: 00:38:38
Language of episode: English 

Presenters: Professor Mark Maslin and Dr Simon Chin-Yee 

Guests:
Raffaella Fryer-Moreira (UCL Department of Anthropology)
Farhana Yamin (Climate Justice – Just Transition Donor Collaborative)

Producers: 
Adam Batstone
Caitlin Mullin

Season 5, Episode 8 - Decolonising climate action: addressing the past for a fairer future

Dr Mehiyar Kathem speaks with Dr Mohammed Jassim on rebuilding Mosul University’s Central Library after ISIS.

Date of episode recording: 2025-08-01
Duration: 24:08
Language of episode: English

Presenter:Mehiyar Kathem
Guests: Dr Mohammed Jassim
Producer: Mehiyar Kathem

Transcript link:  
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/nahrein/media/podcasts/transcript-conversation-dr-mohammed-jassim



MOSUL LIBRARY; REBUILDING KNOWLEDGE - A conversation with Dr Mohammad Jassim

Across the world, far right ideas, once confined to the political fringe, have entered the mainstream. They spread through social media feeds and dominate tabloid headlines. Many fear they’re transforming politics, threatening democracy and tearing at the fabric of society. 
Joanna Bale meets Imam Adam Kelwick, whose Liverpool mosque was surrounded by an angry mob after the murders of three young girls in nearby Southport. He tells an extraordinary story of bravery and reconciliation. She also talks to Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London, about the booming popularity of Nigel Farage. Marta Lorimer, Visiting Fellow at LSE’s European Institute and Lecturer in Politics at Cardiff University, discusses how millions are voting for far right parties across Europe. And Michael Vaughan, Research Fellow at LSE’s International Inequalities Institute, dissects Elon Musk’s far right political agenda. 
Contributors: Professor Tim Bale, Imam Adam Kelwick, Dr Marta Lorimer, Dr Michael Vaughan.
Research links: 
Tim Bale: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0263395718754718
https://theloop.ecpr.eu/why-we-need-to-halt-hard-right-in-its-tracks/
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/reform-members
Marta Lorimer: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/europe-as-ideological-resource-9780198892366?cc=gb&lang=en&
 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00323217251346639
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nana.13001
Michael Vaughan: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/22639
LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.


How is the far right shaping our future?

Recorded live at Latitude Festival, Irvine Welsh sits down with host Rhianna Dhillon to delve into his new novel Men in Love, the eagerly awaited sequel to Trainspotting, which explores the vibrant landscape of youth culture through the decades and the nuances of defining a generation through the arts. Plus, award-winning author and Penguin colleague Derek Owusu joins the panel, providing personalised book recommendations to audience members. We also speak to readers at the festival and ask them: what is the book that defined your youth? 

The Penguin Podcast Live at Latitude: Irvine Welsh and Derek Owusu

Outrageous, iconic and unforgettable - these are some of the books Penguin have been publishing over its 90-year history. As part of a special content series called 'The books that shaped us' on Penguin.co.uk, we invited readers from the world of publishing, comedy, and music to explore must-read titles across the decades. The Internet's resident librarian Jack Edwards and Penguin editor Simon Prosser discuss their curated reading lists, and explore the impact of the books that shocked society and became pop culture phenomena in this special episode, recorded live at Waterstones Picadilly



Find all the books mentioned in this episode and more by clicking this link: The Penguin Podcast Waterstones Special

Follow our dedicated Broadcast channel on Instagram for exclusive content and giveaways: @PenguinUKBooks 



Send us a question: penguinpodcast@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk

Website: www.penguin.co.uk/podcast

Which Penguin books shocked society and became cultural icons? With Jack Edwards and Penguin Editor, Simon Prosser

This special episode of the Heartwood Podcast explores the brotherhood created among members of The Easley Branch record label and their artistic expression. RaShad Eas, B God Body, and JS2000 discuss their use of music to overcome challenges and enhance their experience in university and professional settings. The members also speak to the equanimity they exude and the importance of their desire for more knowledge. Tune in and don’t miss out on this wisdom. 

They are joined by DJ Green as he films. 


The Branch Interview

With the growth of the capability of artificial intelligence (AI), there is growing concern that this technology could make millions of jobs – and their workers – obsolete. 

In the third episode of The Ballpark’s miniseries on AI and the US, the Phelan US Centre explored the impacts AI is already having on the workforce with Baobao Zhang, Maxwell Dean Associate Professor of the Politics of AI in the Political Science Department at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Professor Zhang’s research and work focuses on trust in digital technology and the governance of artificial intelligence  

The discussion covers how recent advances in AI have shifted the landscape when it comes to labor automation, the anxiety that many people are feeling about the potential for AI to affect jobs and industries through automation, and what students should be doing to best prepare for a career in workplaces that will be affected by AI in the coming decades. 

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.   

Further reading and resources 

Lee, Y.S, Soroushian, J., Bullock, J., Carroll, M., Dokko, J., Dominski, J., Hinds, R., Holzer, H., Horrigan, M., Munyikwa, Z., Oschinski, M., Radsch, C., Rock, D., Rossi, M., Seamans, R., Zhang, B. (2025). “Proactively Developing and Assisting the Workforce in the Age of AI.” Americans for Responsible Innovation and the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. 

Zhang, Baobao and Dafoe, Allan, Artificial Intelligence: American Attitudes and Trends (January 9, 2019).  

Zhang, B., Anderljung, M., Kahn, L., Dreksler, N., Horowitz, M.C. and Dafoe, A. (2021). Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence: Evidence from a Survey of Machine Learning Researchers. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research,  

Baobao Zhang. 2022. No Rage Against the Machines: Threat of Automation Does Not Change Policy Preferences. In Proceedings of the 2022 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES '22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 856–866. https://doi.org/10.1145/3514094.3534179 

LSE: The Ballpark | AI automation and the workforce with Dr Baobao Zhang

For SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied.
This powerful motet sets a reflective text by Augustine of Hippo. Connoisseurs of Jackson's music will recognise the hallmarks of his highly accessible style: inventive harmony that is largely diatonic but never plain, and textures that encompass the blazingly sonorous and the expressively intimate.
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/all-shall-be-amen-9780193415690

Unknown album (23/03/2017 14:50:19)

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All Shall Be Amen — Gabriel Jackson

Oxford University Press’s academic insights for the thinking world combine authority, innovation, and excellence.  We share audio resources for students, scholars, and researchers.

All Shall Be Amen — Gabriel Jackson

Oxford Academic (OUP)

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