Climate change affects all of us, but some more than others. What can universities do, particularly in countries seen as highly vulnerable to extreme weather events and threats?

As the principal investigator for the Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate research project (Climate-U for short), Professor Tristan McCowan is working with teams in Brazil, Fiji, Kenya and Mozambique to strengthen higher education’s contribution to addressing the causes and impacts of climate change in lower-income contexts.

Dr Keri Wong finds out more from Professor McCowan about Climate-U’s objectives and how teaching, community engagement and public awareness can be made possible, what it’s like working with researchers from different disciplines and countries, his thoughts on climate change denial, and imagining what an alternative and innovative university might look like.

Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/oct/transforming-universities-changing-climate-rftrw-s11e01

[Preview] We know it's real. What are we going to do about it?

This season of Research for the Real World hears from experts and the challenge of enabling education into action.

Hear more episodes of Research for the Real World: https://bit.ly/researchfortherealworld

This episode features a story of change. Xiaoyu, an Applied Linguistics Master's student from the IOE, shares how she took the initiative to create her own unique university experience since she came to London in March 2020, in the middle of the UK's first lockdown. 

In addition to some common hurdles faced by international students, including socialising and adapting to living and working in a different culture, remote learning threatened to undermine the unique experience of attending different universities – with everything happening on Zoom. Yet Xiaoyu decided to step out and to grasp opportunities for socialising by participating in the Coffee Connect programme and volunteering at the IOE Confucius Institute for Schools. 

This episode was first published in May 2021. It is republished with the permission of the Superdiverse UCL podcast, a student-led series funded by UCL Grand Challenges. Find more episodes from the series on:

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/superdiverse-ucl

Professor Allison Littlejohn (Professor and Director of the UCL Knowledge Lab, IOE) joins this podcast discussing knowledge, skills and jobs in a future London.

How has the pandemic affected education, and what lessons can we take from it in the future? How can we continue to attract and retain talent in an era of virtual working, and how will increasing digitisation augment learning and social justice?

This episode is republished with the permission of the UCL Future Cities podcast series.

Transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-minds/podcasts/ucl-future-cities/s1-ep5-transcript

As the Covid-19 pandemic has progressed, mounting evidence has highlighted its marked impact on children and young people’s mental health. We discuss how families and schools can support young people’s social and emotional wellbeing, to smooth the transition and help them with the continued changes and uncertainties in their daily lives.

This #IOECoffeeBreaks event was held on 22 June 2021.

More event information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2021/jun/virtual-event-supporting-young-peoples-mental-health-post-covid

Last year schools and families navigated lockdown restrictions and social distancing and learned some things about how to best support children moving up from primary to secondary school, get to grips with new routines, curricula, and ways of teaching and learning.

#IOECoffeeBreaks host Dr Sandra Leaton-Gray, joined by Professor Eleanore Hargreaves and Dr Jane Perryman, shares insights from research and personal experience, and what strategies we should keep for the next cohort of children who are about to make the primary to secondary transition.

Full show information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2021/jun/virtual-event-transition-primary-secondary-school-under-covid-19

Vivienne Parry talks to Professor Francois Balloux (Chair in Computational Systems Biology and Chair of the UCL Genetics Institute) and Dr Keri Wong (Assistant Professor in Psychology in the IOE's Department of Psychology and Human Development) about the lockdown extension, a potential third wave here in the UK and what this means for us mentally and physically.

Transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-minds/podcasts/coronavirus/transcript-episode-52

Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-minds/coronavirus

Mental health is complex, and improving it is an increasingly multidisciplinary goal. In this podcast we talk to an award-winning researcher about thinking and working outside your disciplinary boundary. Dr Praveetha Patalay puts forward the case for why the mental health field needs to utilise multidisciplinary perspectives to have a hope of finding impactful solutions.

We also hear how Praveetha keeps on top of her collaborations, and what some common challenges and practicalities of multidisciplinary research can be.

Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/jul/art-collaborative-research-rftrw-s10e04

As the mental health of young people continues to be a very pressing issue, we hear about support teams being placed in schools to address pupils’ needs. Can the same be rolled out more widely across the education sector?

Vivian introduces a feasibility study involving colleagues from the IOE, other UCL faculties and the Anna Freud Centre mental health charity looking into the implementation of Mental Health Support Teams in Further Education institutions.

We also hear about how the IOE’s professional training doctorate in Educational Psychology is unique in its approach to developing research skills and professional practice, through partnerships with the Health and Care Professions Council and British Psychological Society, and placements in local authority areas. To what extent can interdisciplinary collaborations make similar initiatives possible?

Full show notes, transcript and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/jun/how-educators-and-mental-health-practitioners-can-work-together-rftrw-s10e03

If you'd like to ask our presenters or guests a question for future episodes, you can record a voice message: speakpipe.com/ioe or on social media: #IOEPodcast.

Take our 2-minute survey and help us make the best podcast possible: bit.ly/rtrw-survey.

With schools focused on ‘catch up’, could the arts be further marginalised, and at a time when young people may have greater need for the benefits that arts subjects provide?

We've gathered Ed Dorrell (Public First), primary art specialist Emily Gopaul, 2018 Global Teacher Prize Winner Andria Zafirakou, Isobel Traunter and Professor Dominic Wyse (UCL Institute of Education) to talk about arts education advocacy and share their views.

Full event information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2021/may/virtual-event-what-if-we-placed-greater-value-arts-education-our-schools-system

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