Scholars are making podcasts! You might be aware of the popular science communication podcasts. They are great at presenting complex ideas through highly produced episodes, but they miss the nerdy beauty that can be found when experts deep dive into topics or themes. DIY podcasts produced by scholars allow those who might never get a post-graduate education the chance to experience the very best version of being in a seminar.

Material Girls

Hosted by the indefatigable duo Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman, who rose to academic podcasting fame with ‘Witch, Please’, this new scholarly podcast about pop culture is heavy on the laughs and sharp with the social theory. You can deep dive into concepts such as ‘petro-capitalism’ via Barbie, ‘mass culture’ via Star Wars or ‘intimate publics’ via Taylor Swift. Totally accessible, even to those who’ve never felt the need to theorise filmic depictions of blue aliens. Listen now >>

Big Biology

Biology research is so diverse that biologists have to ask each other lots of questions to understand each other’s research which, it turns out, makes for an amazing podcast for non-biologists. Especially those who have questions such as: ‘Can we use a molecule’s complexity to distinguish life from non-life?’ Co-hosts Marty Martin, Art Woods and Cam Ghalambor do a great job of explaining what they will talk about with their guests in advance, so that even when it gets a bit intense, lay people can follow along. Listen now >>

Who do We Think We Are?

If you’ve only paid passing attention to news in the UK over the last decade or so then you’ll know that British people are having an ongoing existential discussion with themselves about who they are. Whether discussing Brexit, Windrush or ‘really hostile environments’, sociologist Michaela Benson doesn’t shy away from complexity as she is joined by an array of experts. Helpful ‘active listening questions’ accompany the podcast, whilst the Beyond the Headlines occasional spin off, co-hosted by Ala Sirriyeh, unpicks how migration is being reported. Listen now >>

The Cosmic Savannah

This podcast promises a ‘safari through the skies’ as it explores astronomy and astrophysics from the African continent. Co-hosts Jacinta Delhaize and Daniel Cunnama speak to leading researchers about their cutting-edge work, covering topics such as pulsars, how galaxies change over cosmic time, the lifecycles of cosmic dust, and the supermassive black hole that we have in the middle of our Milky Way. Some basic understanding of science is needed, as some of the episodes get quite complex. Listen now >>

Disasters: Deconstructed

There’s no such thing as a natural disaster. That’s what co-hosts Ksenia Chmutina, Jason von Meding have been telling their listeners for the last eight seasons as they explore the root causes of disasters from different disciplinary and ideological points of view. Some episodes feature guests speaking about work in ‘disaster studies’ or related fields, while other episodes are reading groups of classic works. They traverse themes relating to injustice, inequality, structural violence, and resistance. Listen now >>

What the If?

Documentary filmmaker Philip Shane, history of science professor Matt Stanley, and virologist and sci-fi author Gabrielle Paniccia push their imaginations to limit as they take listeners on extended wild yet scientifically-rooted thought experiments. ‘What if humans had evolved tool use while still living in the ocean?’ ‘What if humans lived forever?’ From gene editing to space rocks, and lethal flatulence to x-rays, the only limit to the podcast is the hosts’ curiosity (which, it seems, is endless). Listen now >>

How to Build a Stock Exchange: Making Finance Fit for the Future

This limited run podcast series is a history and sociology of financial markets. Philip Roscoe’s promise to teach listeners how to build a stock exchange, is the ruse around which he builds his anecdote-packed narrative that explores how financial markets came to be as they are today. Episodes include ‘Pickles, public schoolboys, and the business of financing start-ups’, and ‘The decade when greed became good’. You may or may not learn how to build a stock exchange by the final episode, but even if you listen with zero knowledge of finance, you’ll come away with an understanding of not only how influential stock-markets are in our day-to-day lives, but how they came to be so. Listen now >>

—

Dr. Ian M. Cook loves working with fellow scholars and students in making their podcast dreams a reality. By training, he is an anthropologist whose work focus includes urban India, scholarly podcasting, refugee access to higher education, and environmental (in)justice. Ian has co-created numerous scholarly podcasts, including for research projects and initiatives, and has taught podcasting workshops for researchers, students, teachers, NGO workers, activists and journalists across Europe. He interviewed 101 scholars who podcast for his book Scholarly Podcasting: Why, What, How? He is currently Editor-in-Chief at the multimodal anthropology publishing platform Allegra Lab. 

The post 7 of the best scholarly podcasts appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Why do you love podcasts?

They make a squished train journey or an airport delay far more bearable. They keep you company during a sleepless night or a mentally trying time. They showed me ideas and voices and stories I’d otherwise never know about. They brought me together with people all over the world, virtually and really. They gave me a living where I can do what I want, no permission or commissioners required. They forced me to do the best I can, creatively and intellectually. They’re free to hear.

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

Before I started podcasting in 2007, the only podcast I had heard was couple of episodes of Adam and Joe’s XFM Show. I didn’t actually start listening to podcasts until about a year into making podcasts myself, when my brother gave me an iPod for Christmas in return for babysitting his daughter while he played football on Tuesdays. The first podcast I listened to that wasn’t a rebroadcast radio show, but was made specifically as a podcast, was probably the late lamented Guardian’s Media Talk.

Which podcaster makes you laugh the most?

I rarely listen to funny shows, but in person, Hrishikesh Hirway of Song Exploder and The West Wing Weekly makes me laugh. On his shows he seems so cool – which he is, frankly he lives a dream life – but behind the scenes he’s a big goofball with an extreme aptitude for puns. I hate puns, but I have to appreciate the artistry. My brother Andy also makes me laugh on and off The Bugle, but he’s a comedian so if he didn’t, he would be bad at his job.

Which podcast has educated you the most?

99% Invisible made me see the world differently, and think about things I’d never consciously thought about before. Even when episodes are on topics I thought I knew about, they’d bring a whole new perspective. The show also taught me how to make a different kind of podcast to what I knew: chopping up an interview to create a narrative; dropping in links after; trying to make listeners feel feelings whilst delivering a dose of information; making a factual show that’s very unlike how Radio 4 would do it. My original pitch for The Allusionist was “99% Invisible but about language”.

Can you recommend a podcast our reader may not have heard of?

Mostly Lit is a podcast I’m actually jealous of! They’re so smart and well-read and witty; their brains are just lightning-fast. I’m also jealous of Imaginary Advice, because it’s so amazingly written and conceptualised and delivered. It is unlike any other podcast out there. I only started listening to 10 Things That Scare Me yesterday, and blew through several episodes on the bus. They’re really beautifully produced, and they’re only five minutes long. More podcasts should be only five minutes long.

You can listen to adventures in language with Helen Zaltzman on The Allusionist podcast on Acast, Spotify and all other podcast apps. Or you can hear Helen alongside Olly Mann host the award-winning podcast Answer Me This! which has been answering the world’s questions since 2007. Listen now on Acast, Spotify and all other podcasts.

Read more Podcast Disciple articles in the Pod Bible magazine, which you can read online or buy in our shop. 

The post Helen Zaltzman: “no permission or commissioners required” appeared first on POD BIBLE.