The Conversation

Cleaning up after a death or violent incident is often far too traumatic and potentially dangerous for family members or for regular cleaning services to undertake. Instead, it’s a task carried out by a small but specialised group of individuals – often women.

Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to two female crime scene and trauma cleaners in South Africa and Northern Ireland who are the last point of contact for families after emergency services and forensic teams have completed their duties.

Alana Gillen initially made her name by taking care of the mansions of some of the Northern Ireland's richest people. She then transferred her skills and now runs the only female-led and owned company in Northern Ireland, specialising in biohazard, crime-scene and trauma cleaning.

Charleen Archibald was trained by two women, known across South Africa as ‘the blood sisters’ (Bloed Susters in Afrikaans). She’s been cleaning up crime and trauma scenes for the past ten years alongside her wife, Sheridan and says that it’s humbling to be invited into somebody’s home on what is often the worst day of their lives.

Listeners are advised that this programme will contain some sensitive content - including descriptions of the aftermath of violent crime, which some may find upsetting.

Producer: Hannah Dean

(Image: (L) Charleen Archibald, credit Charleen Archibald. (R) Alana Gillen, credit Graham Crichton.)

Around the world, mycelium – the root part of fungi – is being used practically as a biological material due to its distinctive properties. Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to two women hoping to reduce the environmental impact of plastic packaging and the meat industry by creating mushroom-based alternatives.

Julia Bialetska is the co-founder and CEO of S.Lab, a company creating protective packaging for consumer products using mycelium to bind hemp. The idea was sparked when Jullia and her husband Eugene Tomilin were taking surfing lessons in Indonesia and witnessed mounds of plastic washed up on a beautiful beach in Bali. On returning home to Ukraine, the couple set out to find a biodegradable alternative to polystyrene. Their business was interrupted when the couple and their two children had to flee Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and they had to start again in Spain.

Kimberlie Le is the co-founder and CEO of Prime Roots, a company making meat alternatives out of mycelium. At University of California Berkeley, Kimberlie took part in research at the Alternative Meat Lab, which kick-started the fungi-based product. Kimberlie spent her childhood in Canada around food, as her mother is a Vietnamese chef who used koji, a type of mycelium, when Kimberlie was growing up.

Produced by Elena Angelides

(Image: (L) Kimberlie Le, credit Prime Roots. (R) Julia Bialetska, credit Lens of Kate.)

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to women from India and the UK who officiate international and domestic matches for the women’s and men’s games. They’re both on the ICC’s development panel for umpires.

Vrinda Rathi is an Indian cricket umpire. She was one of the first female umpires to stand as an on-field umpire in a men's domestic fixture in India. Earlier this year she became the first Indian woman to officiate in a Women’s World Cup final as one of the two on-field umpires for the final between England and Australia at Lord’s. Vrinda was a medium-pace bowler who represented the Mumbai University women’s team for four years. She couldn’t break into Mumbai’s senior side as a player so became a scorer before eventually switching to umpiring.

Anna Harris took up umpiring as a teenager to earn extra pocket money on the advice of her mother Yolanda, who's also an umpire. At age 22 she became the youngest ever umpire to officiate in an international match for a women’s one day international between England and New Zealand. Anna has played domestic cricket for Wales, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. She also works as an NHS doctor in Hampshire.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Vrinda Rathi, credit Matthew Lewis - ICC. (R) Anna Harris, credit Uganda Cricket.)

While the proportion of girls studying science subjects beyond high school is going up, physics, maths and engineering are still dominated by men. Ella Al-Shamahi talks to two women from Sweden and the UK who are using social media platforms to try and encourage greater equality in STEM subjects.

Eleonora Svanberg is a half-Swedish and half-Persian mathematical physics PhD student at the University of Oxford. With over three quarters of a million followers on social media platforms, @eleonorasvanberg discusses topics related to science, education and equality. Her first book in 2024 was about mathematical confidence, mainly aimed at young girls.

Dr Clara Nellist is a particle physicist and science communicator. She’s from the UK and has studied in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Clara’s work has focused on pixel detectors, the properties of the Higgs boson and the top quark, the heaviest known particle. She’s now working on the ATLAS experiment at CERN she’s has over a quarter of a million followers on social media where she posts videos @particleclara.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Eleonora Svanberg, credit Laura Smith. (R) Clara Nellist, credit Clara Nellist.)

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women from Sweden and the United States about what they've learned about treasuring moments of joy.

Kate Bowler is an historian, podcaster and author. She wrote Joyful Anyway after a stage IV bowel cancer diagnosis. Kate says joy isn't something that can be sold by influencers or found in daily journaling. It comes in both the surprising and the expected moments life brings us - and it's perfectly possible to be unhappy and filled with joy at the same time.

Marit Kapla is a Swedish author and journalist. For two of her books she's listened to hundreds of people talk about their lives. Her prize-winning Osebol is based upon interviews with almost all the residents of her home village. Love in Swedish consists of interviews with people all over Sweden about love. Marit says finding joy in one’s life can be difficult and complicated, and the people she's spoken to have many different approaches.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Marit Kapla, credit Ola Kjelbye. (R) Kate Bowler, credit Michaella Jelin.)

Why does it become much harder for older women to become pregnant? And how does fertility treatment differ from one country to the next? Ella Al-Shamahi finds out what women need to understand about their bodies.

Ella speaks to Sarah Allison who underwent fertility treatment in India, Spain and Greece. Sarah is now a fertility advocate and writes under the name Solo Fertility 40s.

She also talks to Dr Alison Campbell, a clinical embryologist and chief scientific officer of the Care Fertility Group, and a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists.

(Image: (L) Sarah Allison, courtesy Sarah Allison. (R) Alison Campbell, courtesy Alison Campbell.)

Datshiane Navanayagam discusses the impact of toxic masculinity in South Africa and South Korea. The United Nations has raised concern about online communities promoting misogynistic and anti-feminist views saying they’re a serious threat to gender equality. 

Seungsook Moon is Professor of Sociology at Vassar College in New York State. She grew up in Seoul, and her research includes gender and social change in South Korea. In particular, she focuses on the remaking of masculinities shaped by neoliberal transformation of economy, politics, and culture locally and globally. South Korea ranked the highest out of 30 countries for how citizens perceive tension between men and women, according to a study by King’s College London. But what is driving the country’s gender-divide and how is misogyny taking shape online?

Produced by Elena Angelides

(Image: (L) Kutlwano Mokgwathi, courtesy Kutlwano Mokgwathi. (R) Seungsook Moon, courtesy Seungsook Moon.)

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women from Uganda and the UK working at seed banks to secure the future of the world's plant life.

Gloria Otieno is a scientist and genetic policy specialist with Alliance Biodiversity CIAT working to create and support seed banks in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. She grew up on a farm in Uganda and witnessed her community lose access to the finger millet they used for ceremonial occasions and only got it back through a gene bank. She says it brought home to her the importance of preserving a diversity of crops.

Charlotte Lusty is head of seed collections at the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew in the UK, the world’s biggest wild seed bank. The underground vaults store millions of seeds from across the globe. With an estimated 45 per cent of flowering plants globally threatened with extinction, it’s an important insurance policy for the future.

(Image: (L) Charlotte Lusty, credit Sebastian Kettley. (R) Gloria Otieno, credit Sustlives.))

When devastation strikes around the world there are groups of experienced, dedicated teams that will fly in to support local people in saving lives. Others support people in the long, slow task of dealing with the aftermath and impact on health, homes and livelihoods. Datshiane Navanayagam talks to women from Venezuela and the UK about their roles in disaster response.

Claudia González grew up in La Guaira, Venezuela which has recently been hit by two earthquakes. She works for World Vision Venezuela and was at a United Nations meeting when the disaster struck. On returning to Caracas she learned many of her school friends and their families had died in collapsed buildings. Since then she's been working round the clock to support her team working with UN agencies to coordinate the emergency response.

Lori Demontigny is a registered nurse with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) providing care in crisis zones. Lori was working in Myanmar when it was hit by its worst earthquake for over a hundred years in March 2025. It's thought over five thousand people were killed. She's now project coordinator for MSF in Bangladesh.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

The trades and construction sectors are crying out for new talent, yet many school leavers have no idea that this industry could offer a meaningful and lucrative career path.

Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women on a mission to get more young people, especially girls interested in jobs like electrician, carpenter and bricklayer. They also discuss the importance of having female role-models in the industry.

Judaline Cassidy is a plumber who honed her craft in her native Trinidad and Tobago before moving to New York where she set up Tools and Tiaras: an organisation that introduces girls and young women to trade skills.

Renee Preston is from the UK and founded Construction for Women to help tackle the industry’s growing skills shortage. She’s a passionate advocate for policy change that gives young people greater access to construction sites and hands-on industry experience.

Producer: Hannah Dean

(Image: (L) Judaline Cassidy, courtesy Judaline Cassidy. (R) Renee Preston, credit Emma Boyle.)