Smooth Brain Society

What happens when cancer changes not just your body, but your relationship with yourself?

In this episode of the Smooth Brain Society, Sahir is joined by Adam Daly, a psychology researcher at Dublin City University, alongside guest co-host Dr Kate Slade of Drs Confess, to explore the psychology of therapeutic tattooing and cancer survivorship.

We discuss how therapeutic tattoos, from reconstructive nipple–areola tattoos to decorative designs, can help people navigate changes to their bodies, reclaim a sense of autonomy and find new meaning after illness.

Adam shares insights from his research into the experiences of cancer survivors and tattoo artists, exploring body image, identity, wellbeing and the psychological significance of body modification.

We also discuss the emotional experiences of tattoo artists, barriers to accessing therapeutic tattooing, the limitations of current research, and how future work might explore personalised prosthetics and other forms of body modification.

In this episode:

• Therapeutic tattooing and cancer survivorship
• Body image, identity and embodiment
• Autonomy and psychological healing
• Tattoos, trauma and meaning-making
• Stigma and accessibility
• Research limitations and future directions
• Patient and public involvement

Guest: Adam Daly, Dublin City University
Guest co-host: Dr Kate Slade, Doctors Confess

Links from the episode:

RTÉ brainstorm with accounts of cancer survivors: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2025/0730/1526030-therapeutic-tattoos-cancer-reconstructive-decorative/

Tattoo artist study: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-024-01682-4

Systematic review: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-026-02114-1

PPI for early-career researchers commentary: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-026-00979-1

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Therapeutic Tattooing

01:57 The Impact of Cancer on Body Image

07:12 How Cancer Changes Body Image and Identity

11:04 Types of Therapeutic Tattoos

13:35 Challenges and Risks in Therapeutic Tattooing

15:27 The Psychological Benefits of Tattoos

19:45 Who does the Therapeutic Tattooing?

26:11 Research on Therapeutic Tattoos

33:58 Goals of Therapeutic Tattooing

40:47 The Biggest Gaps in the Research

44:58 Rorschach test

46:56 Future Directions in Tattoo Research

49:34 Hot Take: Government-Funded Tattoos

52:55 Final Takeaways and Patient Involvement

In this episode of Voices from the Field, we speak with Dr Kiran Aftab, a medical doctor and neuroscience researcher whose work connects Pakistan and the UK. Kiran discusses her research using portable MRI and artificial intelligence to investigate neurological conditions, alongside the challenges of developing neuroscience research in settings where access to conventional brain imaging and research infrastructure may be limited.

We explore the potential of portable neuroimaging, the use of AI in dementia research, and the importance of ensuring that datasets represent populations beyond those traditionally included in biomedical research. Kiran also reflects on the practical challenges of conducting research in Pakistan, building local research capacity, and developing collaborations that can help address inequalities in access to neuroscience and healthcare.

From the opportunities offered by emerging technologies to the limitations of applying research findings across different populations, this conversation considers how neuroscience can become more inclusive, representative and equitable.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Dr. Kiran Aftab and episode overview

04:03 Healthcare Landscape in Pakistan

06:37 MRI and Portable MRIs

13:28 Portable MRI Research in Pakistan

26:45 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience

29:41 Dr. Aftab's Aims for Research in Pakistan

38:26 Dream Research Project and Current Work

Voices from the Field is a special series from the Smooth Brain Society, supported by the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) through its Spark Grant. The series explores culturally responsive research and what cross-cultural psychology looks like in practice. The views expressed by guests are their own.

In this episode of Voices from the Field, we speak with Dr Veena Easvaradoss, a clinical psychologist and researcher from Chennai, India, about the ways culture and gender shape everyday life.

We discuss her research with women who roll bidis (a tobacco product) in their homes, exploring gendered work, economic opportunity, health risks and an intervention designed to help workers move towards alternative livelihoods. We then turn to parenting in India, looking at how cultural values, urbanisation and changing family structures shape parenting practices and why psychological theories developed in one cultural context may not always translate neatly to another.

Part of Voices from the Field: International Conversations on Cross-Cultural Research Practice, supported by the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) SPARK Grant.

Topics: Gender and work • Bidi workers • Women’s livelihoods • Occupational health • Alternative livelihoods • Indian parenting • Family and culture • Cross-cultural psychology • Cultural adaptation • Gender roles • Socioeconomic inequality

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to the episode and guest

00:44 Dr. Easvaradoss Shares Her Origin Story

03:13 Women in the workplace: The Indian Context

09:54 The Bidi industry and its gendered nature

16:57 Interventions to help bidi rollers

33:13 Policy, welfare and Future

35:25 Parenting Styles in India

48:03 Dream Research and Wrap up

#CrossCulturalPsychology #CulturalPsychology #India #GenderAndPsychology

What can researchers around the world learn from Māori approaches to knowledge, language and community?

In this episode of Voices from the Field, we speak with Dr Awanui Te Huia (Ngāti Maniapoto) about te reo Māori, identity, colonisation and Kaupapa Māori research.

Awanui shares how language shapes identity and belonging, why culturally responsive research requires genuine relationships with communities, and how Māori approaches can challenge conventional ideas about psychology, wellbeing and research.

We also discuss language revitalisation, researcher positionality, community-led research, and what it means to create research that is accountable to the people it seeks to serve.

Part of Voices from the Field: International Conversations on Cross-Cultural Research Practice, supported by the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) SPARK Grant

Topics: Māori psychology • Kaupapa Māori • te reo Māori • Indigenous research • language revitalisation • identity • colonisation • research ethics • cultural psychology • neurodiversity

#CrossCulturalPsychology #KaupapaMāori #MāoriPsychology #IndigenousResearch #TeReoMāori #SmoothBrainSociety

What does it actually mean to decolonise research?

For the first episode of Voices from the Field, we go to Greenland to speak with Inuk anthropologist, educator and Indigenous rights advocate Qivioq Nivi Løvstrøm about research, identity and disability rights in Greenland.

Qivioq takes us into the realities of conducting research in Greenland, exploring what decolonisation can mean beyond theory, what it looks like in practice and why research cannot be separated from the historical and political structures in which it takes place.

We also explore the power of language. Qivioq discusses teaching historical methods in Kalaallisut, challenging colonial narratives of Greenland's past, and how the words we use to describe disability can shape how people understand themselves and their place in society.

We finish by imagining a different academic system built around genuine collaboration, Indigenous knowledge and international networks rather than tokenistic inclusion.

Supported by the International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP).

We all have a story about who we are. But where does that story come from?

In this episode of the Smooth Brain Society, Sahir and Beth sit down with developmental psychologist Dr. Sean Marshall, of the University of Melbourne, to explore narrative identity, which are the stories we build around the experiences that shape our lives.

We discuss how narrative identity develops from childhood, how our memories and interpretations of significant events can change over time, and why the meaning we give to our experiences may be linked to mental health and wellbeing.

Sean also shares insights from the Growing Memories Project, a longitudinal study exploring how the ways parents talk with their children about the past can influence language, memory and later autobiographical storytelling.

So, how much of who we are is contained in the stories we tell about ourselves?

In this episode:
 🧠 Narrative identity
 💭 Autobiographical reasoning
 🕰️ Memory and mental time travel
 🔄 Turning points and redemption narratives
 👨‍👩‍👧 Childhood, parenting and storytelling
 ❤️ Narrative identity and mental health

Listen now and start thinking about your own life story a little differently.

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What if playing a mobile game could help scientists understand how our brains navigate? and potentially identify early signs of Alzhiemer's Disease?

In this episode, we sit down with computational neuroscientist Dr Emre Yavuz to explore the fascinating science of spatial navigation and its links to cognitive health.

Emre discusses how Sea Hero Quest, a mobile navigation game played by millions of people, has created an enormous dataset for researchers studying how humans find their way around the world. We explore what navigation performance can tell us about cognitive differences, including research looking at Alzheimer's-related risk factors, and why navigation may eventually become a useful behavioural marker for cognitive decline.

We also dive into the everyday things that might shape our navigation abilities. How does video gaming relate to navigation? Does relying on GPS actually make us worse at finding our way? What can driving independently at a young age tell us? And why might sleep duration affect navigation differently across men and women?

Then things get even more futuristic. Emre talks us through his research using mobile brain imaging to record two people's brains simultaneously while they collaborate in a virtual Minecraft environment. We discuss brain-to-brain synchrony, the role of the prefrontal cortex, social navigation, and what studying two brains at once could reveal about how we interact with other people.

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In this short episode, newly titled Dr. Bethany Facer shares insights from her PhD research on Parkinson's disease. Sahir and Bethany also discuss their upcoming podcast series on cross-cultural research funded by the International Association of Cross Cultural Psychology (IACCP).

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Support us and reach out!
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We sit down with Dr. Erin Beeston, a Research Associate at the University of Manchester, to discuss her uniquely winding career path. Erin takes us through her journey from history of science and industrial heritage, which includes her PhD on the world's oldest railway station, to her current, impactful work researching health inequalities for the autism community. We dive into what "autism-informed" care actually looks like, why sensory and executive function barriers in healthcare are so significant, and how lived experience shapes her collaborative research approach. Erin also shares insights into her work on Parkinson’s, the importance of co-production in research, and how we might bridge the gap between healthcare systems and the needs of neurodivergent patients.

Dr: Erin Beeston: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/erin-beeston/

Support the show

Support us and reach out!
https://smoothbrainsociety.com
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Merch and all other links: Linktree
email: [email protected]

Do police officers drink more than the general population? How does racial discrimination affect mental health? And what can large-scale data tell us about health inequalities?

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Patsy Irizar from Liverpool John Moores University to explore two seemingly different but deeply connected areas of research: alcohol use and mental health in the police and military, and the impact of racial discrimination on psychological wellbeing.

Dr. Irizar shares her journey, discussing her groundbreaking PhD work examining alcohol use among UK police officers and the culture surrounding drinking in policing. We unpack findings from a dataset of 40,000 officers, challenge stereotypes about the “hard-drinking cop,” and explore the complex relationship between alcohol and mental health.

The conversation then turns to health inequalities, where Patsy explains how the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted long-standing racial disparities in health outcomes. We discuss how discrimination can become biologically and psychologically embedded, why social determinants matter, and what researchers are learning from the largest survey of minoritized ethnic groups conducted in the UK.

Along the way, we talk about:

•  Why people use alcohol to cope with mental health difficulties 
•  The changing drinking culture within UK policing 
•  The “sick quitter” hypothesis 
•  Trauma, occupational stress, and mental health 
•  COVID-19 and ethnic health inequalities 
•  Structural and institutional racism 
•  How discrimination affects mental health over time 
•  Improving mental health services and treatment pathways 
•  The role of research in creating meaningful social change 

Whether you're interested in psychology, public health, policing, addiction research, or social inequality, this episode offers a fascinating look at how our environments shape mental health.

Support the show

Support us and reach out!
https://smoothbrainsociety.com
https://www.patreon.com/SmoothBrainSociety

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email: [email protected]