The Teaching and Scholarship Podcast

What do comedy, public engagement, viral social media sketches and Sir Paul McCartney apparently remembering his own birth have in common? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Dr Zara Gladman is Public & Community Engagement Manager at the University of Glasgow, where she works to help academics and researchers connect their work with wider audiences in creative, meaningful and accessible ways. In the ep...

In Episode 92 we explore near-peer teaching in undergraduate medicine at the University of Glasgow. In this epiopsde I am joined by medical students Hannah and Reza, who have taken on student leadership of the near-peer teaching programme, alongside Dr Claire Fitton, academic lead for the Head, Neck and Neuro block and staff lead for the project. We chat about what near-peer teaching actually look...

In this episode of the Teaching and Scholarship Podcast, I'm joined by Dr Hannah Mathers, Senior Lecturer in the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow. Drawing on her experience of running fieldwork and excursions with her students, we explore what this type of activity and associated residential trips can bring to higher education, how students learn through direct,...

In episode 90 we welcome back Simon Guild to the show, who has now retired from the University of Glasgow. Simon shares his personal story and talks about how life rapidly changes as you move from a busy senior position, to full retirement. This is not a subject often talked about, but it should be, especially because academics often find it difficult to fully retire.

Episode 89 sees us leave the studio and get out and about in the department for some hot takes from NUNC 26. In this we chat to staff, students, organisers to show you what it's like on the day of NUNC!

In episode 88 we chat to students at Glasgow who have experienced some new EDI initiatives, both interms of curriculum intergration and academic culture. We chat to undergraduate students April, Eilidh and Holly about their experiences of studying within this context, and what they like and have learned from some of these newer developments. 

In the latest epiosde we chat with David Faulds and Fiona Stubbs about Employability. David is an empoyer engagement manager working alongside academics at the Univeristy of Glasgow, to help bridge the gap between academia and industry within the field of biological sciences. Fiona is a careers and employment manager, in the same area, and supports students in developing discipline specific employ...

In this episode I chat with anatomy students Holly and Cat who both added a year to their undergraduate BSc studies to obtain an MSc. April is currently applying to the programme now and wants to know what she can expect - who is this pathway right for? Join us for the conversation. 

In this episode I have a chat with Consultant Neonatologist, Lesley Jackson and Consultant ENT/Head & Neck Surgeon, Cat Douglas. They are currently Head and Deputy Head of student support respectively, within the Glasgow Undergraduate Medical School. We chat about the importance of student support in modern higher education settings and discuss changes over the last decade or so - including greate...

In this episode we chat to Professor Matthew Walters MBE, who is the Head of the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing and Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Glasgow. He is an academic physician whose clinical and research interests lie in the treatment of cerebrovascular disease. In the summer of 2026 Matthew will step down from his role as Head of School, so we take the...

In episode 83, we have students back on the show, talking about their ambitions for their society work duriung the academic year 2025-26. Inroducing Freya and her team to the show, we cover the impact that society work adds to the student experience, with both educational and social events throughout the year. We also get slightly distracted now and then and end up discussing why having a pie in a...

In another special episode talking about body donation, myself and Professor Paul Rea speak with the daughter of one of our donors who was recieved by The University of Glasgow. In this one, we have a lovely chat with Anne Hempstock, who very generously talks us through the feelings and emotions within the family when a loved one chooses to donate their body for the purposes of research, education...

In this episode we chat to Professor Eileen Cowey, who is Head of the Nursing & Health Care School, within the School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing at The University of Glasgow.  Eileen's responsibilities include leading and managing the strategic direction of the Nursing & Health Care School, which consistently ranks highly in UK league tables for student satisfaction. Key activities include l...

It's time for episode 80 and in this one we speak with Maria Afonso who is a veterinary educator with an interest in pedagogy and scholarship of education - her main areas of interest are assessment, study skills, curriculum development and EDI. She currently teaches veterinary anatomy and is the course leader/level coordinator for the 2nd year of the UofG Veterinary Medicine (BVMS) programme.    ...

In this episode we catch up once again with curriculum support manager Dr Ashley Lewis Cole who is part of The Curriculum Transformation Workstream; a concept which is predicated upon the idea that a student's core discipline should enable them to develop and demonstrate skills for the future workplace through an inclusive, accessible curriculum for Life (C4L) approach. So...what if every student...

Body donation for anatomical education, training and research is so important in educating our future generations of doctors, dentists, nurses and scientists. The selfless act of donating your body after death for education is such a wonderful gift to our learners and donors are considered as the "silent teachers". Understanding human anatomy can only be done so effectively when we examine the hum...

In epiosde 77 we talk to Cat Irving who is a human remains conservator at Surgeon's Hall, Edinburgh. After her postgraduate training in museum studies at Leicester, she became a licensed anatomist and has previously conserved the skeletal remains of the notorious nineteenth century serial killer William Burke, for display at National Museums of Scotland's exhibition Anatomy: A Matter of Death and...

One of our most popular episodes in recent times has been the first one we did with Rahaf, who is a orthodontist, originally from Syria. It has been a year since we chatted last and much has changed, both in her personal and professsional life. In this episode (76) we talk to her about her developing career, some issues on educational approaches for learning subjects like anatomy and dentistry, an...

In this episode we speak to student Luca Papoff about why he chose to do an internship as opposed to a typical research project in his honours year. Traditionally, students get the choice to do either a lab based project or a dissertation in the final year of their degree, but many instititions are now also offering an internship as one of their options too. This option gives the student the chanc...

It's time for episode 74 and in this one I chat with Steph Scholten who is the Director of The 'Hunterian Museums' and its collections at the Univeristy of Glasgow. This episode provides some insight into managing this side of The UofG's estate, and so we discuss some of the issues that arise for Steph and his team during their daily work. We chat about things like, interesting specimens, ethical...

In this episode (#73) we get Joe Gray back in for a catch up on what he has been doing since he was last a guest on the show. There is of course the usual random nonsense intertwined with discuissions on The Royal Society of Biology accreditation, NSS stuff and talk on assessment and feedback too.   

In this epiosde we have a festive round up of all the Univeristy of Glasgow's top news stories from 2024, along with some insights into how the communications team work and what they do. I am joined by Richard Warburton - Head of Commmunications and External Relations at UofG , and Charlotte Morris -  the Communications Manager for The College of Social Sciences for a light hearted chinwag. Ever w...

In epiosde 71 we speak with some 2024-25 anatomy student society committee members on the importance of student societies within Higher Education Institutions. I'm joined by University of Glasgow final year students, Olivia Campbell, Hannah Clark and Fraser MacLean to discuss all of this, their ambitions as a team, the extra curricular wokload, staff/student partnerships and a whole lot more!  

In episode 70 we chat with Aileen bell, who is Deputy Head of School for Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing, Head of the Dental School and Professor of Oral Surgery & Dental Education at The Univeristy of Glasgow. In this one we chat about the NSS, where Aileen and her team have a sustained exemplary record, that has often led the way for further conversations on how things should be done, or could b...

In episode 69 we are joined by Ashley Lewis Cole, who is a curriculum support manager at Glasgow and has been involved in driving the COIL innitaitive. This stands for Collaborative Online International Learning and is a University wide project aimed at offering our student population opportunities for a more diverse cultural experience, especially when it is not possible to travel. Ashley has a w...