A technology transfer expert and biotech spin-out founder explain the steps involved in moving discoveries from the lab to the market. Most academics want their work to have an impact and one route to achieving this is by commercialising their findings. By partnering with an existing company to bring a product to market or by establishing a new spin-out enterprise, scholars can develop technologies, products and solutions that can revolutionise whole sectors, whether in healthcare, construction,...
Jun 26, 2025•57 min•Ep. 238
As complex organisations, universities need to examine their many and varied functions when seeking to reduce their carbon footprint and advance sustainability. For many, the easier changes have been made so, looking ahead, institutions need to get smarter about how they transform their practices and policies to halt future global warming. In this episode, we speak to two women focused upon driving positive change and reducing emissions in two very different but equally important arenas of unive...
Jun 12, 2025•57 min•Ep. 237
A sense of belonging is particularly valuable in higher education, where feeling valued, respected and part of a community are connected to students’ academic achievement, retention and well-being. But belonging resists clear definition, both what it is and how it relates to other concepts such as inclusion and mattering. This is especially true in a post-pandemic world, where online learning and the digital transformation have blurred the boundaries of university life. For this episode of the C...
May 28, 2025•29 min•Ep. 236
Hear from two academic policy experts, one in the UK and one in the US, who discuss the most effective ways that researchers can share their expertise with politicians and civil servants. We speak to: Michael Sanders is a professor of public policy at Kings College London and director of the School for Government. In addition to his academic career, he has worked in government as chief scientist on the Behavioural Insights Team and was the founding chief executive of What Works for Children’s So...
May 14, 2025•57 min•Ep. 235
Hear why an international approach to higher education research and teaching is vital to building a better future and solving global challenges. We speak to two academic experts to learn about effective institutional strategies to support internationalisation but also what key barriers prevent a more global academy. Lily Kong is president of Singapore Management University. She is the first women to lead an institute of higher education in Singapore. She took the helm in 2019 after three years a...
May 01, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 234
For this episode, we asked academics and university staff from around the world to share their own strategies for staying positive, healthy and maintaining balance in a sector in which stress and overwork are commonplace. At a time when higher education feels under attack in many countries, in more ways than one, it is important for those working in the sector to find coping strategies that work for them and build collective support. Thank you to all who contributed their personal wisdom: Lucas ...
Apr 17, 2025•27 min•Ep. 233
The delivery of quality research is central to the mission of most universities. But there is more to research excellence than headline-grabbing “ground-breaking” discoveries. This podcast episode explores what good research looks like, how it can be supported at an institutional level, and what feeds into a healthy research ecosystem that enables robust studies of all types, at all stages to be carried out and knowledge advanced. We also delve into research security to find out how such scholar...
Apr 03, 2025•58 min•Ep. 232
Assessment is a cornerstone of most modern education systems, and yet is it strictly necessary? If it is, what purpose should it serve and, thus, how should it be designed and delivered? In seeking to answer these questions, we put assessment under examination. In this podcast episode, the nature of institutionalised education, how assessment can better serve learning, the impact of grading, and compliance all come under scrutiny. We speak to: Susan D. Blum is a professor of anthropology at the ...
Mar 20, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 231
Complex problems cannot be solved if examined only through a narrow lens. Enter interdisciplinarity. It is now widely accepted that drawing on varied expertise and perspectives is the only way we can understand and tackle many of the most challenging issues we face, as individuals and as a species. So, there is a growing movement towards more cross-disciplinary working in higher education, but it faces challenges. Interdisciplinarity requires a shift of mindset in an academy built upon clear dis...
Mar 06, 2025•57 min•Ep. 230
How should universities manage the rapid uptake of artificial intelligence across all aspects of higher education? We talk to three experts about AI’s impact on teaching, governance and the environment. These interviews – with a researcher, a teaching expert and a pro vice-chancellor for AI – share practical advice, break down key considerations, and offer reasons for vigilance and optimism. We talk to: Shaolei Ren, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and a cooperating ...
Feb 20, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 229
Learn about new models in academic publishing that could better serve academia by helping scholars get their work into the public sphere more readily, removing financial barriers for authors and readers and underpinning better research practices. We speak to two academics about the challenges associated with the dominant commercial academic publishing model and how they are seeking more effective ways to enable researchers to disseminate knowledge. Paul Ayris is pro-vice provost for library serv...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 228
Citizen science, in which researchers work alongside members of the public to collect or analyse data, brings multiple benefits, extending the capabilities of research teams and aiding public engagement. But there are still sceptics who question its validity as a research model. Find out why concerns are often misplaced and hear some of the ways enthusiastic amateurs have helped advance human knowledge. On the broader question of public impact, hear how universities could provide a framework tha...
Jan 23, 2025•50 min•Ep. 227
For this episode, we talk to British social artist, designer and researcher Helen Storey about a career that has taken her from runways to scientific collaborations to refugee camps in the Middle East and Africa. Storey is a professor of fashion and science at the London College of Fashion in the Centre for Sustainable Fashion at the University of the Arts London (UAL). In May, she donated her 30-year Helen Storey Foundation Archive of about 2,000 digital and physical pieces to UAL. In this inte...
Jan 09, 2025•45 min•Ep. 226
Indigenous knowledge has historically been marginalised or actively excluded from higher education. However, universities around the world are now recognising that First Nations’ wisdom and culture can enrich education and are giving these communities a greater voice. Of course, with deep-rooted issues such as decolonisation and lack of parity to be addressed, there’s still a way to go. In this episode, Indigenous university leaders – in Canada and New Zealand – explain how their institutions su...
Dec 19, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 225
Learn from the winners in three very different THE Award categories how they developed the strategies and projects that saw them take home a trophy in 2023 – and how these have evolved in the 12 months since. We speak to: Roderick Watkins, vice-chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University, which was named 2023 THE University of the Year Mark Brown, a professor in evolutionary ecology and conservation at Royal Holloway, University of London, who won Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year Joanne Pl...
Dec 05, 2024•51 min•Ep. 224
With world leaders gathered in Azerbaijan for the COP29 climate change summit, this week’s podcast focuses on universities’ role in advancing sustainability and reducing carbon emissions. As centres of teaching, research and innovation, universities are uniquely positioned to educate on environmentally aware leaders and help find ways out of this crisis. We spoke to two academic experts in this space to find out how they and their institutions are driving action on climate change. Tripp Shealy i...
Nov 21, 2024•48 min•Ep. 223
Universities are public service organisations, educating and researching for the broader societal good. Yet in many countries, the UK and Australia among them, public funding for these institutions has been stripped back forcing them to take a more strategic, commercial approach to generate the income needed to support their work. How can institutions balance social responsibilities against the need to maintain sound finances? How can they improve the quality of teaching and research while drivi...
Nov 07, 2024•56 min•Ep. 222
For students to thrive within a higher education setting, they need to feel safe and supported. Universities’ duty of care extends from making students feel welcome and valued to protecting them from serious harm. On this week’s Campus podcast, we discuss the full spectrum of student safeguarding and support. Rachel Fenton, a professor in law at the University of Exeter and one of the UK’s leading academic experts in sexual violence and bystander intervention outlines the scale of the problem in...
Oct 24, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 221
What underpins effective research, knowledge generation and innovation? In this podcast, we hear a world-leading biomedical scientist discuss what constitutes effective knowledge exchange and supports translational research that can, ultimately, result in innovations that change the world for the better. Plus, a data scientist outlines the opportunities and risks associated with the proliferation in, but also greater regulation of, online data and what this could mean for future research. Chas B...
Oct 10, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 220
For this episode of the Campus podcast, we talk to Eunice Simmons, who has been vice-chancellor of the University of Chester since 2020, about what works when it comes to widening participation in higher education and how to ensure students are successful in their studies and beyond. She describes how initiatives such as Citizen Student and the Race Equality Challenge Group embed the values of social capital, civic engagement and equity across the institution, and link academic learning to the r...
Sep 26, 2024•32 min•Ep. 219
