Project Podcast

Emma meets NASA’s Chief Programme Management Officer, Kevin Gilligan. Kevin explains how NASA delivers some of the world’s most ambitious programmes – from the historic Artemis voyage and a sustained presence on the moon to new propulsion technologies and commercial space partnerships. He shares how project management helps balance speed, rigour and risk, and why openness, resilience and learning from failure are vital when tackling missions that seem impossible.

To explore why influencing is such a vital skill for project professionals, Emma is joined by Emily Jackson, Jessy Morais and Precious Nwagboso to discuss how to build trust, secure buy-in and communicate effectively with stakeholders at every level. From reading the room and adapting your approach, to listening actively and building influence before you need it, the conversation offers practical advice for anyone looking to get better at bringing people with them. The guests also reflect on confidence, credibility and the role of relationship-building in successful project delivery.

Interested in attending APM’s Women in Project Management Conference 2026? Find out more here: apm.org.uk/apm-wipm-conference/

How do you start a project well when the real world is messy, teams form gradually and not everything is ready on day one? In this episode, Emma speaks to Lindsey Brown from the V&A, Kerry Daly from Balfour Beatty and Anita Suji from AECOM about project launches, kick-off meetings and building momentum. They discuss readiness checks, stakeholder alignment, psychological safety, team culture, optimism bias, roles, responsibilities and the human relationships that keep projects moving. Their advice: invest time up front, get the right people together and make expectations clear.

Want more? Read the Project magazine feature ‘How to start a project (brilliantly)’: https://www.apm.org.uk/blog/how-to-start-a-project-brilliantly/

Change fatigue is the weariness teams feel when faced with yet another change initiative. It creates scepticism and leaves everyone with a ‘here we go again’ feeling.

To discuss how to overcome change fatigue, Emma is joined by Sharon Davies, Director of Infrastructure at Turner & Townsend, who led the implementation of the MOD project that won APM’s 2025 Transformation Project of the Year Award; Dawn Temme, an executive coach, change practitioner and Capability Development Lead at Health Determinants Research Collaboration for Greater Essex; and Kate Ward, Head of Change Management at King’s College London.

Emma chats all things tennis with Stephen Frame, Head of Project Delivery at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, better known as Wimbledon, about project management there, as well as about its ambitious future expansion plans. This episode was recorded in the second week of the 2026 championships, where it wasn’t only the heatwave hotting things up, but also the fact that Briton Arthur Fery was through to the semi-finals.

How can humans and artificial intelligence (AI) applications work together as a hybrid intelligence in a positive way for organisations, projects and individuals? There’s a lot of chatter on the subject and there are many so-called experts, so it pays to be discerning about who you choose to listen to. Joining Emma to help cut through the noise are James Garner, Head of AI at Gleeds, and Stephanie Stasey, CEO of Miss AI.

Want more? Download APM's report AI’s Dual Impact on Project Managers’ Well-Being: https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/research/published-research/ai-s-dual-impact-on-project-managers-well-being/

Multiple generations are currently working side by side: Gen Z in their mid-20s and 30s, Millennials in their 30s and 40s, Gen X in their late 40s and 50s, and Baby Boomers in their 60s and 70s. Generational stereotypes abound: Baby Boomers supposedly have it all, while digital-native Gen Z are dismissed as ‘snowflakes’. How helpful are these labels? Probably not very. There’s a backlash against them within HR and business circles, but there are differences between generations in how they like to work, what work means to them and how they prefer to communicate.

In this podcast, Emma delves beneath the chatter and brings together project professionals from every generation to ask them for their experience of working together. Joining her are Baby Boomer Gordon MacKay FAPM, Gen X Karina Singh, Millennial Jimmy Nguyen and Gen Z Miles Allibone-Dover.

Emma talks all things leadership with Dave Corbin ChPP, Chief Project Delivery Officer at Gleeds. Dave started his working life as a gas engineer before switching into project and programme management and working his way up to the top. He shares his career advice on getting ahead, and explains why clarity matters in project leadership. Dave was a finalist for APM's Chartered Project Professional of the Year Award in 2024 – so what has he learnt about project and programme leadership? And how can you go about building your own experience to gain an executive role?

Emma is joined by John McNeill ChPP, Head of Programme Delivery at United Utilities, who's helping to lead the £3bn Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP) in North-West England. What's it like to get a once-in-a-generation critical infrastructure programme off the ground? What's it like to work on a major project in an area, water supply, that is garnering so much public and media attention? Listen on to find out. 

Emma meets Zoë Arden, author of Story-Centred Leadership: Crafting cultures of change. The pair discuss storytelling – why it's a great skill to master as a project professional and how to do it well. Zoë is a fellow at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and was previously Director of Communications at BT, as well as European MD of global communications firm Weber Shandwick, among other executive roles.

For more information on Zoë’s book visit: https://zoearden.com/my-book

The APM book Effective Communication in Projects: Tools, Techniques and Tips, is available at the APM book shop: https://www.apm.org.uk/book-shop/effective-communication-in-projects/