In this episode, we use the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) community as a case study to explore how professional groups situate research within their identities. While the EAP group might not be directly relevant to every listener, it offers a valuable example of how professional communities navigate questions of status, group norms, and the evolving role of research. 

We’ll delve into the social identity approach, examining how the relative status of professional groups in UK higher education influences their priorities and identities. Specifically, we explore how EAP practitioners balance their teaching-focused identity with the research-driven norms of the higher education landscape.  

This episode invites listeners to reflect on their own professional groups, using the EAP example as a springboard to analyse and interpret how their communities view and integrate research. Whether you’re part of higher education or another educational field, this discussion offers tools to better understand the social and professional dynamics shaping your work. 

Episode 3: Research and Collective Professional Identities

Hosted by Olivia Moir, this episode of It All Starts Here explores the topic of giving birth and birth interventions, with a focus on assisted vaginal birth and the use of forceps. Olivia speaks with Dr. Dawn Parris, an Obstetrics and Gynaecology doctor and a PhD researcher at UCL/UCLH , about the different methods of giving birth, how decisions are made both beforehand and in the delivery room, and innovations in training obstetricians. This episode provides valuable insight into the complexities and nuances of birth choices, the role of education and technology in maternal healthcare, and why listening to and informing women is crucial in obstetric practice. 

About the Guest: Dr. Dawn Parris is an Obstetrics and Gynaecology doctor and a PhD researcher at UCL/UCLH. Her research focuses on improving training and outcomes in assisted vaginal birth, particularly using forceps. She is collaborating with engineers to develop cutting-edge robotic and virtual reality tools that simulate complex birth scenarios, enhancing clinical safety and practitioner confidence.

Date of episode recording: 2025-04-07T00:00:00Z
Duration: 00:33:24
Language of episode: English
Presenter:Olivia Moir
Guests: Dr. Dawn Parris
Producer: Olivia Moir


Giving Birth & Birth Interventions

For their third annual Bulldog Days Live episode, Hannah and Mark interview three recently admitted students about how they chose to spend their time in high school. The students share their insights on balancing schoolwork, extracurricular activities,  social life, work, family, and everything else on their path to applying to college.  Admissions officers Skylar and John discuss how the admissions office produces an action-packed three-day campus preview program, including two world-class performance showcases. Hannah and Mark also share dozens of pearls of wisdom submitted by audience members about prioritizing commitments and finding balance.

Bulldog Days Live 2025

in February 2025 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Michael Latner, Professor of Political Science at California Polytechnic State University and Director of Research on Democratic Reform at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School.   

They discussed the recent history of voting rights and the state of democracy in America in 2025.  

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.   

Further reading and resources 

Keena, A., Latner, M., McGann, A.J.M. and Smith, C.A. (2021). Gerrymandering the States. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108995849  

The Guinier Project at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute - https://charleshamiltonhouston.org/events/a-convening-race-reform-and-multiracial-democracy/  

LSE: The Ballpark | The state of American Democracy with Professor Michael Latner

Artificial intelligence is transforming the world around us, offering increased productivity and promising to help tackle difficult problems like global warming.  
But behind the scenes, its environmental costs are mounting. From massive energy use to vast quantities of water required to cool data centres, AI’s footprint is growing fast. So, in an age of water scarcity and climate crisis, can we justify this technological boom?
In this episode of LSE iQ, Anna Bevan asks: Is AI destroying the planet?
She travels to a data centre in Slough to find out exactly how data centres work, and speaks to Nick Couldry, Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory at LSE; Eugenie Dugoua, Assistant Professor in Environmental Economics at LSE; and Ceara Carney, an actor and climate activist. 

This episode explores the AI sustainability paradox: can AI be both a climate solution and a climate problem? And discusses surprising ways AI is being used for good, such as catching poachers in the Serengeti. 

Research
Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight it, Nick Couldry and Ulises Mejias https://lnk.to/DataGrabBook

The Space of the World: can Human Solidarity Survive Social Media and What if it Can't? Nick Couldry https://linktr.ee/SpaceOfTheWorldBook

Induced innovation, inventors and the energy transition, Eugenie Dugoua and Todd D. Gerarden
https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/121309/1/dp1951.pdf

Directed technological change and general purpose technologies: can AI accelerate clean energy innovation? Pia Andres, Eugenie Dugoua and Marion Dumas
https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/directed-technological-change-and-general-purpose-technologies-can-ai-accelerate-clean-energy-innovation/

Could artificial intelligence deliver a green transition? Marion Dumas
https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/could-artificial-intelligence-deliver-a-green-transition/

LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science. We’re keen to find out more about our audience so we can better tailor our content to suit your interests. With this in mind, we would be grateful if you could please take the time to fill out this short survey and share your feedback.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=_epnVXfnpUKRu5RA_UO4k9i3ygPzxbNDuStfrFFNRBNUMzYxS1BITDlHTkdYMVhaVE9LRDhNQkxaVC4u

Is AI destroying the planet?

In Episode 09 of Campus Conversations the podcasters dive into the world of sports, hobbies, and personal interests, sharing their own experiences and opinions. They discuss the importance of sports in student life, how hobbies help manage stress, and the ways personal interests shape identity and social connections at university. The conversation also touches on balancing leisure with academic responsibilities, making it a relatable and insightful episode for students navigating campus life. Please note that the views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of our students and do not necessarily reflect the views of UCL.

Transcription link:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/ucl-student-success/students/campus-conversations/episode-09-sports-hobbies-and-interests

Date of episode recording: 2025-02-12T00:00:00Z
Duration: 00:39:50
Language of episode: English
Presenter:Inara Vanessa André, Keira Gazzingan and Sophia Mencatelli
Guests: N/A
Producer: Luther Mayers, Adella Forder-Gore, Devon Kuziw

Episode 09 - Sports, hobbies and interests

Reference to the self is ubiquitous in contemporary culture. But what is the self? Is it discovered or created? What kinds of self does literature depict? And what do philosophers have to say about it? In this trailer episode we introduce the podcast’s key questions and the literary authors on whose works we will be focusing throughout the series. 

Speaker names:  

Dr. Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor in the English Department at UCL. 
Alice Harberd, PhD Student in the Philosophy Department at UCL. 

https://sites.google.com/view/uclphilandlitgroup/podcast

Trailer: The Self Today

In this special episode for Mental Health Awareness Week, host Jade Hunter is joined by Professor John Tomaney, Dr. Dimitrios Panayotopoulos-Tsiros, and James Fildes, founder of Space North East. Together, they explore a growing public health crisis: rising rates of male suicide in the UK, particularly in post-industrial regions like the North East.

This conversation examines how non-clinical, community-led interventions are filling critical gaps in mental health support for working-class men in the North East of England. Drawing on lived experience, academic research, and grassroots activism, this episode highlights the importance of belonging, place-based identity, and social infrastructure in men’s mental wellbeing.
 
Featured in this episode:
Host: Jade Hunter – Coordinator, UCL’s Grand Challenge of Mental Health & Wellbeing
With special thanks to our guests: 
Professor John Tomaney – UCL Bartlett School of Planning, Pro-Provost for Regional Communities
Dr. Dimitrios Panayotopoulos-Tsiros – Research Associate and Honorary Research Fellow, UCL
James Fildes – Founder and Managing Director, Space North East
 
Resources:
Learn more about UCL Grand Challenges https://www.ucl.ac.uk/grand-challenges/
Visit Space North East https://spacenortheast.org/
Read about the project’s progress and future outputs via the Grand Challenges Mental Health and Wellbeing page https://www.ucl.ac.uk/grand-challenges/themes/mental-health-wellbeing

Local Solutions, National Crisis: New Insights on Men’s Mental Health from the North East

In this episode, we consider the first chapter of Cusk’s Outline alongside a paper by Daniela Dover entitled ‘The Conversational Self’. The paper examines the role of conversations in getting to know people, what an understanding of this entails for how we think about the self, and how open we should be to the influence of others. We analyse the conversations reported in Cusk’s novel in the light of Dover’s ideal.

Speaker names: 

•	Dr. Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor in the English Department at UCL.
•	Alice Harberd, PhD Student in the Philosophy Department at UCL.


1. The Conversational Self: Daniela Dover

In this episode, we talk about Chapters 2 and 3 of Rachel Cusk’s Outline alongside a chapter from Williams’s book Truth and Truthfulness. The chapter considers the differences between sincerity and authenticity as contending ideals of truthfulness about the self. These two ideals, on Williams’s argument, entail different ways of thinking about the self. We contrast Williams’s notion of authenticity with that invoked by various characters in Outline.

Speaker names: 

•	Dr. Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor in the English Department at UCL.
•	Alice Harberd, PhD Student in the Philosophy Department at UCL.


2. From Sincerity to Authenticity: Bernard Williams

Many institutions are now using artificial intelligence (AI) models as tools to think about solutions to a variety of challenges, from the everyday to the global. At the same time, many commentators have expressed concerns about AI and its effects on society, the economy and democracy.  

In the first episode of The Ballpark’s miniseries on AI and the US, we explore the implications of AI for intellectual property. The rise of AI tools has been fuelled by the scraping of online resources as training data for the large language models that power them. This has important implications for how we think about intellectual property and the rights of those who created this training data. 

To find out more, in May 2025, the Phelan US Centre spoke to Professor Bhamati Viswanathan of New England Law Boston. Dr Viswanathan is an expert in the areas of copyright law, intellectual property, innovation and creativity law, and on cultural property and appropriation.

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Luke Digweed.

LSE: The Ballpark | AI and intellectual property with Dr Bhamati Viswanathan

St Andrews is Scotland's first university and the third oldest in the English speaking world, founded in 1413.

Episode 3: Research and Collective Professional Identities

University of St Andrews

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