Our ability to communicate through the sense of touch has never been more important, as groundbreaking work takes place to make touch a reality digitally. We also hear about how UCL researchers are reaching beyond their own fields of expertise to make this and other innovations possible.

Professor Carey Jewitt leads the IN-TOUCH project exploring how the digital is reshaping touch as human communication. And as the pandemic fundamentally alters the way we interact with each other, Professor Jewitt’s work highlights the importance of communicating via multimodal (and non-verbal) means.

With a focus on health and wellbeing, leisure, work, learning and personal relationships, IN-TOUCH finds itself engaging with the likes of engineers, computer scientists, designers and engineers to gain innovative insights into the use, design and governance of digitally mediated touch.

This interdisciplinary approach also shines a light on how researchers at UCL are tapping into networks like the Collaborative Social Sciences Domain to develop work that benefits the wider society.

Full show notes, transcript and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/jun/getting-feel-interdisciplinary-and-collaborative-research-rftrw-s10e01 

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

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

Is the GCSE system intrinsically flawed, or simply a victim of the high-stakes accountability system in which it sits? If it really has no benefits to offer, what could its demise offer to young people’s education?

Full event information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2021/apr/virtual-event-what-if-we-got-rid-gcses

#IOEDebates In association with tes

We're delighted to be between your ears for the 10th season of the IOE's podcast about education and social science research and its impact on policy, practice and our everyday lives.

This season focuses on how IOE researchers are finding opportunities to extend the impact of their work through collaboration with colleagues at UCL and beyond. Listen to a sneak preview of Dr Sam Sims' and Dr Keri Wong's interviews with:

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

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

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

How people are regaining their voice after their voice boxes are removed, through the beatboxing project Shout at Cancer; how a group of LGBTQ + refugees in Brazil are using film to tell their stories; and how health students and advocates are sharing the impact of their work through poetry.

This episode is reposted from the #MadeAtUCL podcast Season 2, Episode 2. It is presented by Cassidy Martin and edited by Cerys Bradley.

Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/made-at-ucl/podcasts/s2-ep2-voice

Transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/made-at-ucl/podcasts/s2-ep2-voice#transcript

Dr Will Brehm considers his teaching and podcasting to be important parts of his academic life, and issued himself a challenge. “Why couldn’t I infuse my teaching practice with podcast pedagogies? Why couldn’t I utilise the medium of sound and audio to enrich the study of education and international development?”

In an effort to democratise and empower others to get involved in knowledge production and dissemination, he asked undergraduate students to produce their own 15-minute podcasts on any topic in international development and education. The results – outstanding. The content – thought-provoking. Furthermore, what is also amazing is that most had little to no prior experience in audio production.

Here’s an extract from three student podcasts to celebrate their work and push the meaning of impact in new directions.

Full show notes, transcript, links and more student podcasts: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/may/international-development-and-education-student-view

Play can mean everything, and sometimes nothing at all – and that’s ok. Professor John Potter credits his early career as an East London primary school teacher as a key influence in his research interest in digital media and play. It’s in no way a surprise for RFTRW host Dr Keri Wong to hear that play connects to children’s lives in a way that the statutory curriculum doesn’t.

We think about how TikTok and social media are providing templates from which children construct all sorts of games, what this means, and whether parents should be wary of technology's role in modern play. We also expect to see ways the Covid-19 pandemic has influenced children’s games, which John is investigating via the Play Observatory project.

Full show notes, transcript and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/may/ways-we-play-digital-communication-and-creativity-rftrw-s09e04

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

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

#UCLMinds #IOEPodcast

Coming from a part of the world where speaking multiple languages is part of life, multilingualism has always been an area of study that’s close to home for Dr Ruanni Tupas. Ruanni joins Dr Keri Wong to discuss how getting to know the lived realities of students and teachers shapes his research and help reconcile academic theorisation with the messiness of the classroom.

We hear about how, in multilingual communities, value is ascribed to some languages over others and how one’s ability to utilise ‘higher valued’ languages – and even accents - reinforces inequalities. For instance, could the push to learn and use English throughout south east Asia ever benefit everyone? And how does Pilipino pop (or P-Pop) music provide a vehicle to transform language from a barrier to an incentive to understand each other better?

Full show notes, transcript and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/may/overcoming-inequalities-multilingualism-through-education-and-experience-rftrw-s09e03

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

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

#UCLMinds #IOEPodcast #SB19

The gap in levels of attainment between pupils from disadvantaged and more advantaged backgrounds is a longstanding feature of England’s schools system. It’s been a focus for successive governments, from New Labour’s efforts to ‘narrow’ the gap, and subsequent Coalition and Conservative governments’ objective to ‘close’ it.

According to DfE data, some (modest) progress had been made, but even before the arrival of Covid-19 that had stalled. Various provisions have been put in place to aid ‘catch up’, but it's increasingly clear that far more will be needed than is currently budgeted for.

About the speakers: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news-and-events/ioe-public-debates/speakers

Full event information: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/events/2021/apr/virtual-event-what-if-we-really-want-close-attainment-gap-post-covid

In association with tes

Dr Zsófia Demjén and Dr Talia Isaacs join Dr Sam Sims to talk about their research examining key issues and concerns in healthcare communication. You may have noticed particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic the use of military-style words - the frontline, battlegrounds, arsenal - Dr Demjén and Dr Isaacs’ work on the way language is used by cancer patients and the community at large speaks loudly here.

We hear about the use of war metaphor in the context of cancer and how patients share their experiences. Is it actually empowering? As the race to find innovative forms of treatment and cures continue, we also consider the relevance of language in documents when it comes to patients providing consent in research. What are the implications?

Full show notes, transcript and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/apr/war-metaphor-fight-against-cancer-language-healthcare-rftrw-s09e02 

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

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

Professor Chloë Marshall drops into the Research for the Real World virtual studio to talk to Dr Sam Sims about her work focusing on language development in deaf children and in particular, sign language development.

We hear about the challenges in diagnosing developmental delays among deaf children, the creation of a toolkit to aid awareness for teachers and education professionals, the relationship between language acquisition and executive function, and the pandemic’s effect on deaf people in a time of mask-wearing.

Full show notes, transcript and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2021/apr/understanding-how-deaf-children-and-adults-learn-sign-language-rftrw-s09e01

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

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