Research for All: The "How to Fix..." podcast offers actionable solutions.

Research Culture Uncovered

🎧 Bonus Episode! 📢

Recently Ged Hall had the pleasure of talking to Kersti Mitchell, External Communications and Campaigns Manager, and Dr Jim McQuaid, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Composition, about the University of Leeds's new podcast “How to fix …”

It was an insightful conversation that explored the importance of research culture and how to make academic content accessible to a wider audience.

🔍 Here are 3 key takeaways from the episode:

1️⃣ Collaborative Approach: Research culture thrives on collaboration and teamwork. By bringing together academics from various disciplines, we can address complex issues like air pollution, cost of healthy food and violence towards women more effectively.

2️⃣ Accessible Research: We discussed the need to make research more accessible to the general public. Through the How to Fix… podcast, we aim to empower listeners with practical advice and insights from experts, like Dr. Jim McQuaid, who shared valuable tips on reducing pollution and improving indoor air quality.

3️⃣ Impactful Engagement: The success of the podcast can be measured by various indicators, such as other universities taking notice, policymakers listening, and engagement from students and the general public. We also discussed using metrics to understand our audience, including gender and age breakdowns, as well as social media engagement.

How are you making your research accessible and would a podcast be the way to go? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Kersti and Jim mentioned a number of things in the interview that may be of interest:

• UK Government Chief Medical Officer annual resport on air pollution.
• Death of Awaab Ishak due to mould and the new guidance that emerged from that tragic story.
• Policy Leeds and their services (follow on X via @policyleeds and LinkedIn)
• Knowledge Equity Network - development and enactment of a declaration to reduce inequalities through increased access to knowledge
• Professor Cath Noakes and Dr James Tate
• Born in Bradford - one of the largest research studies in the World, tracking the lives of over 30,000 Bradfordians to find out what influences the health and wellbeing of families.
• Ultra Low Emission Zone (London) and how its expansion caused controversy

You can follow Kersti and Jim on X (formerly Twitter) at @kerstimitchell and @jimmcquaid respectively.

All of our episodes can be accessed via the following playlists:

• Research Impact with Ged Hall (follow Ged on Twitter and LinkedIn)
• Open Research with Nick Sheppard (follow Nick on Twitter and LinkedIn)
• Research Careers with Ruth Winden (follow Ruth on Twitter and LinkedIn)
• Research talent management with Tony Bromley (follow Tony on Twitter and LinkedIn)
• Meet the Research Culturositists with Emma Spary (follow Emma on Twitter and LinkedIn)
• Research co-production

Follow us on twitter: @ResDevLeeds (new episodes are announced here), @OpenResLeeds, @ResCultureLeeds

Connect to us on LinkedIn: @ResearchUncoveredPodcast (new episodes are announced here)

Leeds Research Culture links:

• Researcher Development and Culture Website
• Our Concordat Implemention plans and progress
• University of Leeds Research Culture Statement
• University of Leeds Responsible Metrics Statement
• University of Leeds Open Research Statement
• University of Leeds Research Culture Strategy - launched September 2023

If you would like to contribute to a podcast episode get in touch: [e-mail]