Dr Daniel Nour considers himself an accidental change maker, but he is also a pretty prodigious one. A doctor, inspired by the health care that helped his brother as a child, it was an experience offering emergency medical care to a homeless man in London during his medical studies that left him unable to ignore the gaps in the healthcare system, especially for marginalised communities.

In response in Australia he created Street Side Medics, a mobile general practice unit that meets and provides medical care to people that are homeless in the places where they are at - at food venues. It started in Sydney and has spread across Australia. His work led him to be recognised as 2022 Young Australian of the Year.

Here he talks about that journey and what he learnt creating something from nothing. He explores the art of founding an organisation, the limits of planning and the importance of mentors and vision.

For more on Street Side Medics: https://www.streetsidemedics.com.au/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast

Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:

Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ 

Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie Grant

People Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni Press

On Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersall

On Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/

And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni Press

Amanda is on Socials here:

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall

Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Daniel Nohr considers himself an accidental change maker, but he is also a pretty prodigious one. A doctor, inspired by the health care that helped his brother as a child, it was an experience offering emergency medical care to a homeless man in London during his medical studies that left him unable to ignore the gaps in the healthcare system, especially for marginalised communities.

In response in Australia he created Street Side Medics, a mobile general practice unit that meets and provides medical care to people that are homeless in the places where they are at - at food venues. It started in Sydney and has spread across Australia. His work led him to be recognised as 2022 Young Australian of the Year.

For more on Street Side Medics: https://www.streetsidemedics.com.au/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast

Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:

Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ 

Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie Grant

People Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni Press

On Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersall

On Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/

And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni Press

Amanda is on Socials here:

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall

Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/

Here he talks about that journey and what he learnt creating something from nothing. He explores the art of founding an organisation, the limits of planning and the importance of mentors and vision.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Democracy is in trouble right now. In the US, Trump’s authoritarian impulses are closing over the checks and balances that used to make space for people to participate. In the UK the success of Reform in May’s local government elections reveal that people are increasingly seeing politics as elite sport - choosing to attack the system as a whole. In Australia, the success of One Nation in recent bi-elections suggests that it is also not immune from this anti-democratic movement.

In this chat with democracy academic Hahrie Han we explore this challenge, and some seeds of hope that are emerging at the local scale. Recorded ahead of the UCL Policy Lab’s Ecosystem Project gathering in May 2026 (where Hahie and Amanda are both speaking), they talk about source of hope that lie in the practices of a politics that can build spaces that can invite and explore people who are different, and have different opinions to work together.

Things might be grim, but we are never without power. This conversation seeks to make practical where collaboration across our differences can make a difference.

======

We talked with Hahrie back in 2019 - take a listen to it here: https://changemakerspodcast.org/hahrie-han-changemaker-chat/

For more on the UCL Ecosystem project, visit: https://ecosystem-project.ucl.ac.uk/

For more about Hahrie Han’s work (including her latest book Undivided and her many books on organising, people power and making change), visit: https://www.hahriehan.com/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

We have a brand new podcast called ChangeMakers Digest - co-hosted by Samuel Chu and Amanda Tattersall, take a listen: https://changemakerspodcast.org/category/episodes/digest/

You can keep up to date via:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast

Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:

Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ 

Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie Grant

People Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni Press

On Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersall

On Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/

And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni Press

Amanda is on Socials here:

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is this?

Today we are releasing a new podcast format on the ChangeMakers Channel - the ChangeMakers Digest where we take an issue in the news or that has grabbed our attention and try to make sense of it - "digesting" it - to draw out lessons and meaning for how we make change.

It is hosted by Amanda Tattersall with Samuel Chu, a long time US based community organiser.

Our aim is to release these episodes fortnightly. There is more about the digest on our website: https://changemakerspodcast.org/changemakers-digest/.

We are very keen to build a community where we extend the digesting to others making change. If you have ideas you would like us to discuss, or indeed would like to discuss with us send us an email at [email protected]. We are also keen to set up interactive digital spaces where we can keen this conversation going - if you have ideas for where that might work well, let us know.

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast

Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast

Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more about Samuel:

Personal site: https://www.samuelmchu.com

The Campaign for Hong Kong: https://www.thecampaignforhongkong.org

Democracy in Flight: https://www.democracyinflight.org

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelmchu

Twitter/X: https://x.com/samuelmchu

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samuelmchu

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samuelmchu

For more about Amanda:

Personal site: https://amandatattersall.com/ 

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, US politics has polarised sharply - with the rise of Trump and right-wing populism, but also a renewed class-based left around figures like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes and Zohran Mamdani.

Part of what has given rise to these candidates is a Democratic Socialist political movement - and a key part of that movement is the publication Jacobin, which has sought to teach and lead debate about radical class politics, reviving Marxist critiques of capitalism and socialist ideology.

In this chat, the founding editor of Jacobin, Bhaskar Sunkara, charts the history of the US democratic socialists and the role of Jacobin in particular. He unpacks the recent New York Mayoral Election campaign with Zohran Mamdani, exploring how the big but simple demands about free buses and rent freezes created a different imagination for what is possible from the state. He also shares a little about his upcoming book The Blueprint (with Mike Beggs and Ben Burgis), and some of the topics he will be talking about when he visits Australia in May and June 2026.

For more information and to buy tickets for Bhaskar's Australian speaking tour: https://www.search.org.au/bhaskar_sunkara_live_in_sydney_get_your_tickets_today

The Jacobin magazine is here.

Bhaskar's earlier book, The Socialist Manifesto, can be bought here.

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast

Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:

Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ 

Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie Grant

People Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni Press

On Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersall

On Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/

And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni Press

Amanda is on Socials here:

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Antoinette Lattouf not only fought and won a battle against the ABC - who unfairly dismissed her for sharing posts about the genocide in Gaza - but while she was doing that, she wrote a book about women who have fought and won across Australian history. Its called Women Who Win, and it was launched last week.

In this chat we unpack what she found about what it takes to win - reflecting on her journey and that of other women. We explore the kinds of qualities and insight the help us make change.

One of the great joys of this chat, and of Antoinette's book, is the vulnerability and honesty that she brings to thinking about change making. She calls on us to be bold, but never pretends that its easy. Instead, she shares some of the ways she held herself steady as she fought for the right to speak, and for a media landscape that respects difference and different ideas.

To find out more and get a copy of Antonette's magnificent book "Women Who Win" - visit the Penguin Random House website (or all good bookshops) - https://www.penguin.com.au/books/women-who-win-9781761355370.

You can also listen to Antoinette's podcast with Jan Fran "We used to be Journos" on ACAST here: https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/we-used-to-be-journos.

You can find out more about Antonette via her website: https://antoinettelattouf.com/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast

Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:

Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ 

Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie Grant

People Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni Press

On Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersall

On Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/

And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni Press

Amanda is on Socials here:

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rules and assumptions like economics are far from natural or neutral. They are written by a certain group of people and serve a particular set of interests. So what does it look like when a growing group of African women begin to disrupt these assumption by building approaches to economics, food, health and politics that starts with their lives?

Crystal Simeoni has spent six years spearheading a pan-African feminist movement that is doing exactly this. We talk about her journey to this work that has been built out of her experiences working in community based economics in Kenya, and based on a long held critique of top-down policy systems. Crystal has strengthened community-led research methods to design change differently. She no longer wants a seat a table that has already been set by someone else. She is working with African women through NAWI to build a new table that is designed with African women in mind.

You can find out more about NAWI Collective here: https://nawi.africa/

The African Feminist Journal Crystal mentioned is here: https://feministafrica.net/

The repository of African women's thought leadership on political economy questions is here: https://kofa.nawi.africa/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast

Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

For more on the books and Amanda’s writing, have a look at:

Amanda’s website - https://amandatattersall.com/ 

Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie Grant

People Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni Press

On Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersall

On Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/

And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni Press

Amanda is on Socials here:

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When war mongering has reached a new level of absurdity, this week we are tuning into a chat we recorded last year with comedian Sami Shah about the change making power of satire.

Sami shares his story of finding comedy - and political satire in particular - as a way to cope with political instability in Pakistan, and how he brought those insights to his work as a comedian in Australia. He shares his reflections on the possibilities and limits of comedy, while also sharing some of its methods. He speaks of a way of seeing the powerful that uses ridicule to show that they aren't infallible.

This chat was first released in March 2025.

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcast

Blue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.social

Amanda is on Socials here:

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersall

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.social

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda.tattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The world's attention is focused on War in Iran and across the Middle East, but less attention is being paid to the people who will have to uplift their lives and seek refuge in other countries because of the bombs.

Mona Bani knows this journey as her family were refugees from Iran decades ago. In this podcast - that was recorded in 2024 - she tells the story about how her family's journey to seek refuge, and the community they created and the challenges they faced let her to establish a different kind of support service for refugees in the UK.

This is a story of a community working out how to support and lift itself up in a context of heightened anti-immigrant politics. There are powerful lessons about the role of community leadership in providing community services, and there are also insights for how communities can provide a response to the rise in authoritarian anti-immigrant policies escalating across the world.

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.social

On LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Kelly has been involved in climate and Indigenous campaigning and social change for decades - with a focus on communications, storytelling and the arts. She has long taught people about how to communicate their messages in the media. But in January 2026, she found herself at the centre of unprecedented bushfires then flooding in regional Victoria - and used her skills to project a message about disaster and climate change.

In this episode we explore what she learnt from her experience on the frontline, and what her experience can teach others about how to communicate and link our personal experiences and testimony to bigger public causes and issues when talking to the media - and when telling stories more generally.

For more:

Alex's website and project archive https://echotango.org/

The Unquiet Collective - Alex's film and impact home https://unquiet.com.au/

The Things We Did Next speculative futures project https://www.thethingswedidnext.org/

Economic Media Centre - free spokesperson training https://www.economicmediacentre.org/

The Point op-ed on disaster levy: https://thepoint.com.au/opinions/260115-harcourt-fires-show-need-for-disaster-levy

350.org post on resilience https://350.org/wildfires-building-community-resilience/?r=AU&c=OC

Duty of care & lived experience spokesperson resources https://docs.google.com/document/d/14OWJxTJ8y08iouwxg2E4MIsATT7Vv_Xtey4mpekgfXQ/edit?tab=t.0

Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action Lived Experience Guide to Climate Campaigning https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60ee407ec551f135b5c1a9a8/t/66e0e408260d51146efd7c06/1726014473102/Lived+Experience+Guide+to+Climate+Campaigning+2024.pdf  

Documentary Accountability Working Group https://www.docaccountability.org/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.social

On LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.