IOE Insights

For London-born Auschwitz survivor Leon Greenman it was after the Holocaust that he said his nightmare really began. Every day was an agonising struggle for survival. Leon passed away in 2008 at the grand age of 97. Ruth-Anne Lenga, was privileged to be with him at that moment. Ruth-Anne’s long friendship with Leon gave her – and in turn the Centre – a rare insight into how he lived with the traum...

In this episode we discuss imposter syndrome, overcoming challenges as early career academics, finding success and dealing with low points in your academic career. It's a rollercoaster! Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2022/jan/academia-actually-what-does-real-success-look-academia-et-al-s01e03

In this episode we talk about the messiness of academic career trajectories. IOE Director and Dean Professor Li Wei shares his own path into academia, and his vision for staff at IOE. Dr Emma Jones joins the episode to talk about how the Early Career Network was set up and how it has developed over time at IOE. Finally our guests discuss career precarity and progression, the recent wider conversat...

Welcome to the very first episode of Academia et al. We share some inside perspectives on ethnic diversity, representation, and belonging in academia, as well as hearing about Dr Gideon Sappor's journey into and love of teaching. Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2022/jan/diversity-and-inclusivity-academia-what-does-it-really-mean-academia-et-al-s01e01 Transcript: https://www.ucl.ac....

Lorna Collins speaks to Professor Charlotte Faircloth (UCL Social Research Institute) and Michelle Kindleysides (Beamish Museum) about generations, culture, and identity. This episode is reshared with permission from the Creative Lives: Tackling inequalities UCL podcast series. The series aims to investigate how creative health approaches and social prescribing can be used to connect and communica...

Lili Golmohammadi and Kerstin Leder Mackley (UCL Knowledge Lab) speak to former teacher Caroline Coster about relearning and reconfiguring touch after quadruple amputations. We explore Caroline’s modified touch experiences, including issues of touch sensitivity and the use of digital and analogue tools for navigating everyday life. This episode was first aired on the UCL IN-TOUCH podcast on 20 Jul...

We’ve reached the end of another challenging year that seems to have flown by and dragged on at the same time. IOE researchers have continued to work hard in their fields of expertise and we’re delighted to share snippets that have struck a chord with us. For those of you who are seasoned Research for the Real World listeners, you may want to listen back to these again. And for those who are new l...

This is Academia et al., a brand new podcast series from the IOE Early Career Network at UCL. With hosts Dr Keri Wong and Dr Alina Pelikh, we're having some honest conversations about the challenges of being an early career academic in the modern world, with colleagues who've been there, and those who are just now figuring it all out. Find out more about the coming series: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/io...

Up to this point little is known about the consequences of growing up without siblings. We hear about research that seeks to analyse the effects on childhood and adulthood outcomes. Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/dec/whats-life-only-child-rftrw-s12e03

Widening inequalities in learning, growing gender gaps in paid and domestic work - we hear about covid’s impact in these areas and how research findings are informing responses in policy and practice. Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/dec/whats-happened-parenting-and-pay-during-pandemic-rftrw-s12e02

It’s been an incredibly busy couple of years or so for Professor Alice Bradbury and her colleagues. We hear about the findings and recommendations from their work looking at how lockdown has affected school communities. The pandemic has thrown into sharp focus just how involved schools are in the lives of children and their families beyond the classroom. Professor Bradbury details the lengths scho...

[Preview] We're going to hear from UCL experts on how children, parents, women and schools have dealt with the pandemic so far and what it's going to take to truly "build back better". Joining us in the IOE Podcast studio: Professor Alice Bradbury on how schools can recover post-pandemic Professor Almudena Sevilla on what's happening to parenting and pay during the pandemic Dr Alice Goisis and Dr...

Between challenges like climate despair and alternative climate facts, how can education give young people a fuller understanding of the scale and significance of critical climate change? With a PhD in glaciology and a background in geography education, Professor Nicola Walshe can attest to why Geography as a subject is well-placed to engage in the interdisciplinary nature of environmental and sus...

With beginnings in the study of Classics, becoming a teacher, Master’s research in Northern Tanzania at a Massai school, Dr Charlotte Nussey brings a unique set of experiences to each of the research projects she is heavily involved in. Climate change has always played a key part in her research focus on education and intersecting inequalities. Dr Keri Wong hears about how the UN’s Sustainable Dev...

Climate change is bringing about ever-increasing, intense and catastrophic weather events and other ecological disasters. A key challenge is for communities to be able to act quickly and decisively when they happen. Dr Kaori Kitagawa joins us from Japan to discuss her research area of community learning for disaster preparedness. At present, the involvement of the field of education has been limit...

Climate change affects all of us, but some more than others. What can universities do, particularly in countries seen as highly vulnerable to extreme weather events and threats? As the principal investigator for the Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate research project (Climate-U for short), Professor Tristan McCowan is working with teams in Brazil, Fiji, Kenya and Mozambique to streng...

[Preview] We know it's real. What are we going to do about it? This season of Research for the Real World hears from experts and the challenge of enabling education into action. Dr Kaori Kitagawa on preparing communities for ecological disasters, Professor Nicola Walshe on practice for environment and sustainability education, climate change awareness and empowering young people, Dr Charlotte Nuss...

This episode features a story of change. Xiaoyu, an Applied Linguistics Master's student from the IOE, shares how she took the initiative to create her own unique university experience since she came to London in March 2020, in the middle of the UK's first lockdown.  In addition to some common hurdles faced by international students, including socialising and adapting to living and working in a di...

Professor Allison Littlejohn (Professor and Director of the UCL Knowledge Lab, IOE) joins this podcast discussing knowledge, skills and jobs in a future London. How has the pandemic affected education, and what lessons can we take from it in the future? How can we continue to attract and retain talent in an era of virtual working, and how will increasing digitisation augment learning and social ju...

As the Covid-19 pandemic has progressed, mounting evidence has highlighted its marked impact on children and young people’s mental health. We discuss how families and schools can support young people’s social and emotional wellbeing, to smooth the transition and help them with the continued changes and uncertainties in their daily lives. This #IOECoffeeBreaks event was held on 22 June 2021. More e...

Last year schools and families navigated lockdown restrictions and social distancing and learned some things about how to best support children moving up from primary to secondary school, get to grips with new routines, curricula, and ways of teaching and learning. #IOECoffeeBreaks host Dr Sandra Leaton-Gray, joined by Professor Eleanore Hargreaves and Dr Jane Perryman, shares insights from resear...

Vivienne Parry talks to Professor Francois Balloux (Chair in Computational Systems Biology and Chair of the UCL Genetics Institute) and Dr Keri Wong (Assistant Professor in Psychology in the IOE's Department of Psychology and Human Development) about the lockdown extension, a potential third wave here in the UK and what this means for us mentally and physically. Transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/u...

Mental health is complex, and improving it is an increasingly multidisciplinary goal. In this podcast we talk to an award-winning researcher about thinking and working outside your disciplinary boundary. Dr Praveetha Patalay puts forward the case for why the mental health field needs to utilise multidisciplinary perspectives to have a hope of finding impactful solutions. We also hear how Praveetha...

As the mental health of young people continues to be a very pressing issue, we hear about support teams being placed in schools to address pupils’ needs. Can the same be rolled out more widely across the education sector? Vivian introduces a feasibility study involving colleagues from the IOE, other UCL faculties and the Anna Freud Centre mental health charity looking into the implementation of Me...

With schools focused on ‘catch up’, could the arts be further marginalised, and at a time when young people may have greater need for the benefits that arts subjects provide? We've gathered Ed Dorrell (Public First), primary art specialist Emily Gopaul, 2018 Global Teacher Prize Winner Andria Zafirakou, Isobel Traunter and Professor Dominic Wyse (UCL Institute of Education) to talk about arts educ...