Project Podcast

Emma meets Joanna Rowland, Chief Executive of the RSPCA. Listeners might remember her previous interview with the podcast in 2020 during the pandemic, when she was Director of HMRC’S COVID-19 response unit, responsible for helping mastermind the UK government’s furlough scheme, and where she was also head of the project management profession. 

A lot has changed for Jo since then. She rose through the ranks of the civil service, leaving project management behind her to become Director General of the Home Office, before joining the RSPCA in December 2025 as CEO. 

Find out what it’s like to be a first-time CEO; why project management is a perfect training for the role; why project managers need to set their sights higher; and her advice to getting to the C-suite.

Emma meets James Evans, Programme Manager at NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee, who has a deep interest in psychological safety and contributed to the forthcoming APM e-learning module on the topic.

James explains what psychological safety actually is (and what it isn’t) and the reasons why it's such a hot topic in project management. Psychological safety is no longer a nice-to-have, he explains – it's become a critical factor in managing projects successfully. 

The e-learning module is available from APM Learning for APM members. For more information, visit https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/apm-learning/

**The APM book Doing the Right Project: Using a Systems Thinking Approach to Select Successful Projects is available to purchase here: ⁠https://www.apm.org.uk/book-shop/doing-the-right-project-using-a-systems-thinking-approach-to-select-successful-projects/⁠**

In this episode, Emma is joined by the book’s co-authors – Andrew Wright ChPP FAPM, leader of the APM Systems Thinking Interest Network, Cesar Rendora ChPP and Estar Bennett. 

They explore the world of systems thinking. Ever been daunted about the term or what it might mean exactly? Then we will enlighten you, helping to explain how you can put systems thinking into practice and what advantages it gives you in your projects.

**Find the APM Data Literacy Skills Framework at apm.org.uk/resources/what-is-project-management/what-is-project-data-analytics **

Emma meets Rob Lord, Director of Major Programmes at BT International, and Gareth Parkes, architect of the APM Data Literacy Skills Framework, who is Head of Data and Analytics at Sir Robert MacAlpine and one of the founding members of the Project Data Analytics Task Force. 

The three discuss data literacy, how to improve your own, what data-driven decision-making looks like in real life, and how it can be used to make the delivery of projects more successful.

Join us as we demystify data and give you a bit more confidence in navigating this brave new world.

Ahead of International Women’s Day later this week, Emma meets two successful women in project management who work in completely different sectors – Josie Harries and Anna Ustynyuk. They explain how core project management skills combined with sector-specific knowledge can give you a career that is highly transferable from one industry to another. Both Josie and Anna are members of the APM Women in Project Management Interest Network, which you can learn more about here. 

Emma goes behind the scenes at the Royal Ballet and Opera in London to explore how a £40m technical renewal programme is being delivered without interrupting live performances. From upgrading stage elevators and lighting rigs to replacing critical communications systems, every project must be carefully designed, prototyped and installed around a relentless performance schedule.

Hear from the project professionals leading the work as they share insights on stakeholder engagement in high-pressure environments, hybrid delivery approaches and building trust in teams where reliability is everything.

Look out for the spring issue of Project journal where we bring you more detail on projects at the RBO. Also, don’t miss our previous podcast episode where Emma interviews RBO COO Heather Walker.

Emma meets Heather Walker, Chief Operating Officer at Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO) in London, where she's responsible for planning and coordinating a range of services to support across technical and production estate, visitor experience, technology and administration.

A major focus is the renewal of the estate, ensuring that sustainability is at the heart of fabric and plant upgrades, and that audiences, artists and staff benefit from changes to the environment and the technology running its services. Previous to becoming COO, Heather was project director at RBO.

Look out for our upcoming behind-the-scenes episode at RBO.

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In this episode, we find out the secrets of being a great project manager. It’s January, the time of year where many of us have New Year's resolutions, or maybe just a vague idea of how we want to change things up. So, listen on for some excellent advice from APM’s Chartered Project Professional of the Year, Tamsin Alli-Balogun, who’s also Associate Director of Transport at AtkinsRéalis; Paul Chapman OBE of the University of Oxford Saïd Business School, where he is Academy Director of the UK Government’s Major Projects Leadership Academy; Andy Alder, Managing Director for Major Infrastructure Delivery at Anglian Water; and Anne Marie Purcell of Purcell Advisory.

If you want even more top tips, listen to our first instalment of this podcast, published in January 2025. 

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Emma welcomes back to the podcast Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez, author and Vice President of APM, to talk about his new book, Powered by Projects, which is published by Harvard Business Review Press in January 2026. In it, he argues that CEOs must put projects, not operations, at the centre of how their companies create value. But where does that leave the project managers in that organisation? And how can every project professional future-proof themselves? 

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Emma meets Nathan Hellebrand ChPP, Global Delivery Director at Babcock International Group, and Mike Hudson ChPP, Interim Strategy Management Director at the National Trust, to discuss simplicity. It’s a topic that crops up often when we interview senior project professionals about how they make the delivery of their projects a success. Join us as we get to the bottom of this deceptively complex subject.

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