Creatrium

Thanks very much to the staff and volunteers at Caerphilly Miners Community Centre for giving me the chance to record a location podcast with their staff and volunteers. It was very enjoyable and I hope that I might have inspired more podcasts from the team! This is a very varied podcast with a wide range of interviews and an all -star, intergenerational cast...

Born and bred in Cwmtyleri in the valleys, David was a research molecular biologist for many years and Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University Medical School before deciding to change career to get involved in community regeneration. He is passionate about using  creative approaches in working with communities to help (re)connect people and place. His focus in recent years has been addressing health...

This was a really enjoyable conversation with Paul,  who helps communities and organisations turn local knowledge into practical solutions without the slow, top-down consultation process.  TEDx Speaker | 2025 Institute for Collaborative Working Winner. I love Paul's passion for helping communities.

This is a lovely one! When I first started lecturing, in 1994. One of my students was a young man called Gavin Porter. We caught up for a conversation, a mere 31 years later! Gavin is a film/documentary/theatre maker from Butetown in Cardiff. He's also a Clore Fellow and have won a BAFTA Cymru award. Most recently, I directed a theatre piece called Circle of Fifths which explores the connection be...

Euron Griffith (aka Ayres) has lived in Cardiff since the early 80s. Originally from North Wales via Canterbury he has played in various bands notably The Third Uncles and Six Sided Men (the latter still an ongoing concern). He is the author of 8 books in both English and Welsh and his poetry has appeared in various publications including Poetry Wales, Ambit, the New Welsh Review and The Spectator...

Dr Rachel Claire Morris is an editor, writer, creativity coach, and collage artist. She was formerly an international programme manager and educator, and before that ran a Human Rights Award-nominated research unit at Cardiff Law School offering activist expertise on law and policy affecting the GRT communities. Her writing appears in Byline Times, Red, Womankind, and the Honno anthology of Welsh...

Delighted to chat about creativity and the importance of sound with award winning sound designer, Vijay Rathinam. Vijay studied at the University of Glamorgan about 20 years ago and has never looked back.  He runs the Audioville studio in Chennai, India and works with his production team on a huge range of TV and film content for India, Hollywood and the rest of the world.  It was a real joy to si...

Having left my university position, I'm now in the joyous situation of talking to whoever I want to, not just  'academics' at my former place of work. This is one of my favourite ever interviews and i've done loads, over the years!  I'm not even a rugby fan but I loved chatting with Leigh about what he does and why he does it. He has an extraordinary tale to tell. It's been quite a journey, to say...

Here's a Creatrium Special, as we welcome back Thania Acaron, to talk about a forthcoming event. Dr Thania Acarón, is a lecturer and researcher in Arts Health & Wellbeing at the University of South Wales. She is also founder and director of The Body Hotel CIC, which specialises in providing bespoke movement for wellbeing for NHS staff and for marginalised communities. Her practice is informed...

Here's an interesting and enjoyable interview, as we head for Christmas, 2023 with Dr Aylwin Yafele Associate Dean, South Wales Business School,· Faculty of Business and Creative Industries. We discuss his career so far, his self-confessed competitive spirit and his new role, at the University of South Wales.

‘Beth Jenkins is a Lecturer in Digital Forensics and former Forensic Quality Specialist. She has worked in an operational, policing laboratory and has dedicated her career to ensuring accreditation is an achievable ‘task’ within policing. Beth has spoken at prestigious conferences such as Europol’s Forensic Experts Forum, CityForum’s Digital Forensics Summit, Forensic F3 Forum, The Chartered Socie...

This is a wonderful conversation with rapper, poet, songwriter, chess champion and current PhD student, Adriano. We talk a lot here about sound, music, songwriting, A.I and CREATIVITY. It was a delight to chat with Adriano for the podcast.

Here's a really insightful conversation with Dr Dean Whitcombe, Immersive Learning Lead/ Hydra Manager at USW. Dean is a Simulation Designer, Researcher, Collaborator and NTFS nominee. He has played a leading role in developing the Hydra simulation suite for the University of South Wales. It is a groundbreaking facility with enormous potential for creative, educational endeavour but what is it?

Here's a lovely interview about psychology, creativity, community engagement and collaboration with Dr Dan Bowers, Head of Psychology at the University of South Wales. It took quite a while to set this one up but was well worth the wait!

This special edition of Creatrium features an interview with Ben Calvert, Vice Chancellor of the University of South Wales.  In it, we discuss Ben's Punk roots, his love of collaborative creativity and the future, outward-facing, civic mission agenda for USW.

In October 2020 the 3rd Year Performing Arts Students at the University of South Wales undertook a journey into the unknown. We were going to produce a Space Disco musical extravaganza but, in the shadow of COVID lockdowns, would it be a live show, a streamed show, a film…? In the end it was a radio musical: 'Spacetouring'. Songs are by The Naked Citizens, script by Jenny Allan … and all performed...

This special edition features the return of Dr Thania Acarón, USW lecturer, performer, choreographer. dance movement therapist and founder of The Body Hotel, as we head for the 19th June Launch! After years of taking The Body Hotel workshops across the world, founder Dr Thania Acarón took the step last November to incorporate The Body Hotel as a Wales-based and international social enterprise whic...

This was a fascinating interview! Please see details of Palash's amazing work (below): Dr Palash Kamruzzaman is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the South Wales Business School. He combines degrees in Sociology and Social Policy (PhD), and Anthropology (MA, BA (Hon.)). Before joining the USW, he taught international development, sociology and social policy at the University of Bath, Universit...

I was joined for this one by Dr Mike Chick. Mike has worked in language teaching for over twenty-five years. At the University of South Wales, he is a language teacher, education lecturer and USW Refugee Champion. His research interests issues surround the organisation and provision of language education for people forced to seek safety in Wales. In this episode we discuss the plans for Refugee We...

The guest for this edition is Professor Howard Williamson. Howard works across the spectrum on youth issues, from the global to the local. His study of the Milltown Boys is the culmination of almost 50 years of knowing them - a unique study in the annals of social science! Here is the link to the latest book, available on pre-order, published on May 10th, 2021: https://www.routledge.com/The-Millto...

For this edition, I was delighted to be joined by Miguel Sousa, USW Media Team Manager and a man of varied passions, including Photography, Events Management, Audio-Visual: Video Editing, Sound, Music, AV Equipment and Music: Guitar, Bass Guitar, Music Production. Miguel came to Wales from Portugal, to study, liked it here and thankfully for us, has made it his home.

For this edition, I am joined by Matthew Evans, Course Leader: MA Songwriting and Production and the frontman with the band, 'Keys', twice nominated for the Welsh Music Prize 'Album of the year'.

I'm delighted to be joined by Dr Clare Kell, to continue our exploration into the notion of creativity. Clare has spent her career committed to enabling colleagues to think critically about our individual and collective impact on our students’ learning experiences. A former Physiotherapist, Clare now leads the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and teaching at USW. She has been a UKPSF accredi...

For this edition, I'm joined by Dr Rob Campbell and James Stewart, to discuss their recent book 'The Newspaper that Scooped the World'. It tells the story of how the Cologne Post exclusively revealed the contents of the Treaty of Versailles.

For this a special edition of Creatrium, I'm joined by Barrie Llewelyn, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at USW to discuss her fascinating 'Sound, Speak to Me', series of creative writing workshops with refugees. Her work will be showcased during Refugee Week,2020:https://refugeeweek.org.uk/events/speak-barrie-llewelyn-conversation-steve-johnson/