UCL Minds

With the ever-increasing challenge of climate change, educationalists are having to respond in a form that moves beyond a sense of eco-anxiety and hopelessness. This lecture aims to address this by proposing a pedagogy of hope as the means to engage learners of all ages in demonstrating that change is possible through social engagement and promoting a sense of global citizenship. Inspired by the t...

About the Lecture: Little attention is paid to sleep hygiene and Dr Garfield will present evidence to persuade the audience otherwise. This involves discussing research that is correlational as well as causal evidence from experimental and genetic epidemiological studies from recent years. Within the realm of sleep I will also discuss some of our recent findings on napping and how a nap might be b...

Anxiety is a natural human response. It’s what we feel when we are worried, tense, or afraid – particularly about the unknown or things that are about to happen. However, for approximately 23% of the UKs population, anxiety involves repeated episodes of intense fear or terror about everyday situations and activities. Professor Oliver Robinson is the co-group leader of the Neuroscience and Mental H...

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people communicate and interact with the world. Though more than 1 in 100 people are on the autism spectrum in the UK, it is often taboo to talk about. This is one of the reasons some people with autism feel it is hard to be themselves and mask their autistic traits to appear more neurotypical to society. Professor Kurinchi Gurusamy is...

Mental health illnesses that occur during pregnancy or in the first year following the birth of a child, affect 27% of new and expectant mothers in the UK. Common negative stigmatising perceptions are often what prevent people from speaking out and seeking help. Dr Kate Adlington is an Academic Clinical Fellow at Queen Mary University London and a Higher Trainee in General Adult Psychiatry in the...

Join hosts Doctor Xand van Tulleken and Dr Rochelle Burgess for Season 4, Episode 2 of Public Health Disrupted with Prof Maria Kett and Sarah Spencer. "Is technology the magic bullet for humanitarian aid, or does it come with its own set of ethical dilemmas?" In this episode, hosts Dr Xand van Tulleken and Dr Rochelle Burgess delve into the complex world of humanitarian crises and the transformati...

We speak with Warren Luk, a former student in Economics & Statistics at UCL, about his time at the university, how important extra-curricular activities are, and what his career path has been since he ventured into the world. Links: https://www.goodlab.hk/ Transcription link: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/statistics/transcript-episode-11 Date of episode recording: 2023-07-12T00:00:00Z Duration: 00:29:16 L...

This episode we explore Positive Impact. UCLB is helping to create a new generation of businesses from UCL academics specifically with positive societal impact at their heart. The commercialisation process can be a long road requiring financial, legal, and practical support. Nigel Campbell meets two inventors, Buffy Price Co-founder and COO of Carbon Re, an AI and Climate Tech company spinout from...

The Bartlett Review Podcast: Women leading infrastructure Why is there a shortage of female leaders in infrastructure and construction, and why is this an urgent problem for us all? In this podcast, we're talking about the shortage of female talent working in top jobs in construction and infrastructure. What is putting women off these jobs? Join Julia Prescot, Deputy Chair of the National Infrastr...

In the final episode of To Prosperity and Beyond, RP and Sam are joined by MSc PIE programme leads, Dr. Onya Idoko and Dr. Konrad Miciukiewicz. They discuss their research interests and professional backgrounds and give insights on how the PIE programme was built and designed to support aspiring transformative leaders from all over the world. They discuss the necessary lens of prosperity in approa...

Mehiyar Kathem talks to Dr Ali Naji Attiyah Diebil of University of Kufa. Dr Ali talks about his Visiting Scholarship and heritage and institutions in Iraq. Date of episode recording: 2023-12-25 Duration: 01:02:47 Language of episode: English Presenter: Mehiyar Kathem Guests: Dr Ali Naji Attiyah Producer: Mehiyar Kathem Transcription link: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/nahrein/media/podcasts/transcript-co...

WHAT COMES NEXT? PART TWO with Professor Sean Fox and Dr Jessica Espey from the University of Bristol. In the final episode of the series, Professor Monica Lakhanpaul and Professor Priti Parikh are joined by Professor Sean Fox and Dr Jessica Espey from the University of Bristol. They’re discussing points raised throughout the series. Looking at the goals from a slightly different perspective, they...

Mehiyar Kathem talks to Dr Ali Naji Attiyah Diebil of University of Kufa. Dr Ali talks about his Visiting Scholarship at York University and heritage and institutions in Iraq. Date of episode recording: 2023-12-25 Duration: 01:02:47 Language of episode: English Presenter: Mehiyar Kathem Guests: Dr Ali Naji Attiyah Producer: Mehiyar Kathem Transcription link: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/nahrein/media/pod...

An interview with Jessica Bondy, Founder of Words Matter charity by Hafsa Qureshi. This episode covers childhood verbal abuse, and the development of a charity which responds to it. Presenter: Hafsa Qureshi Guests: Jessica Bondy, Words Matter Producer: Jennifer McGowan Link to transcript: https://resiliencerg.wixsite.com/mysite/podcasts Words Matter is a new charity on a mission to improve childre...

In this alumni series from the Department of Statistical Science at UCL, we speak with Michael Baxter about his time at UCL and subsequent years working in government, including a wide variety of projects, from unearthing a national Census undercount to informing on the effects of compulsory seatbelt wearing. Presenter: Nathan Green Guests: Michael Baxter Producer: Chih Ching Chen Date of episode...

Dr Mehiyar Kathem of the Nahrein Network speaks with Professor Mark Altaweel (Professor of Near East Archaeology and Archaeological Data Science, Institute of Archaeology, UCL) about his work in Iraq. Transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/nahrein/media/podcasts/transcript-conversation-mark-altaweel Date of episode recording: 2023-11-12 Presenter: Mehiyar Kathem Guests: Mark Altaweel Producer: Mehiyar...

Transformative entrepreneurs are leading the charge in addressing wicked problems by creating relevant and scalable solutions that are poised to make a lasting and sustainable impact. They employ similar methodologies to conventional business practices but capitalise on market failures around social issues and environmental challenges. Arthur Kay, a seasoned entrepreneur and Co-Chair and Co-Founde...

NEW! Season 4 Join hosts Doctor Xand van Tulleken and Dr Rochelle Burgess for Season 4, Episode 1 of Public Health Disrupted with Prof Helen Bedford and Doctor Ranj Singh. "It's about building knowledge with communities and allowing people to ask questions without negative labelling." Why are vaccination rates declining, and how can we rebuild trust? Vaccine rates are falling in the UK, and it's t...

Physicians’ engagement has long been regarded as a critical component for effective performance in healthcare organisations. The World Health Organization highlights that low- and middle-income countries such as India must increase coverage of priority health services to accomplish health-related sustainable development goals. While the majority of hospital CEOs in India are physicians, the opposi...

The IGP conducts transdisciplinary research aligned to local needs and stakeholders, and works with Citizen Scientists across the UK, Lebanon and Kenya as part of its Prosperity Co-Labs (PROCOLs). The teams address what prosperity means in a localised context, and how we can build scalable solutions that acknowledge the challenges facing different communities. Dr. Nikolay Mintchev, Director of Res...

Change management is a broad and complex discipline, but at its core, it is about helping organizations successfully adopt and sustain change. It necessitates a structured approach to prepare, support, and guide individuals and teams through significant shifts in their operations, processes, or culture. When applied to solving social problems and improving people’s lives, it ushers the implementat...

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul and Professor Priti Parikh are joined by Dr Ida Kubiszewski, Institute for Global Prosperity, and Dr Kate Roll, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Today we’ll be unpacking the competing priorities around the implementation of the SDGs, and the challenges countries face in achieving the Goals, both at home and abroad. For more information and to access the tran...

The care problem. It’s a problem address by every Prime Minister yet we’re still here with an ageing population and more and more people needing care with not enough carers to care for them. So, what are we doing about it? In this episode we talk to Bea about the care crisis in the UK, why she’s working on diagnosing rare forms of dementia and how there’s a certain lack of community in the UK, the...

In a conversation with Kevin Murphy, the distinguished researcher at Google DeepMind, we explored his multifaceted career spanning academia and industry. Born in Ireland and educated at prestigious institutions in the UK and the US, Kevin's academic journey led him to become an associate professor in Canada, before transitioning to manage a research team at Google DeepMind in California. We dived...

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul and Professor Priti Parikh are joined by Dr Norha Vera San Juan, Institute for Global Health, and Dr Keri Wong, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society. They’ll be considering the question of mental health and wellbeing. Asking whether the SDGs can and should do more to address this issue, and what that might mean in practice. For more information and to access the...