In this episode, Charlie and Rosie are joined by our friend and very special guest, Eleanor Barraclough, as we explore the roles that media work can play in academic and academic-adjacent career paths.

Eleanor shares and reflects on her (extensive) experiences in working with radio, TV, and print media, and we explore topics such as: the challenges of getting into media work; the benefits and sometimes also the drawbacks of working with media outlets while also following an academic career; and we ask what role media work has in an academic career in general.

Eleanor (https://eleanorbarraclough.com) began her career in media by being appointed as a BBC New Generation Thinker in 2013, and since then, she has made content for BBC Radio 3 and radio 4, BBC channels including BBC Four, she’s written various trade articles and books – which ties in nicely about what we were talking about the other week with Lizzie Boyle - and she has been on LOTS of different History podcasts. She’s also just written a brand-new book on the Vikings, called Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.

Some links:

New Generation Thinkers scheme: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/new-generation-thinkers-2025/

Eleanor's new book:https://eleanorbarraclough.com/activity/embers-of-the-hands-hidden-histories-of-the-viking-age-profile-2024/

In this episode, Charlie and Rosie (she's been promoted to an official co-host!) talk with Chris: a US-based academic who returned to University life after a successful career and with busy demands of family life.

After an introduction from Chris about her journey and what she is up to now (working as an academic teacher and administrator in the US), Charlie and Rosie ask some key questions including: why Chris decided that it was time to return to academia; how this transition felt, how Chris surmounted the obstacles to progression (answer: get some good mentor figures!) and finally what advice Chris would give any anyone who is in a similar position, and thinking of rejoining the academic world.

If you like the episode, please feel free to give us some feedback by leaving a short review wherever you get your podcasts from, and don't forget to follow us on social media: @ECRPodcasters

In this episode, Charlie and Rosie are joined by Elizabeth Boyle, author of the book, 'Fierce Appetites: Lessons from my Year of Untamed Thinking', which was published in 2022 and was nominated for multiple literary awards including the Irish Book Awards non-fiction book of the year in that year.

Lizzie talks to us about the ways in which writing for non-academics has influenced her career (as an academic but also as an all-round writer), we discuss the various ways in which Early Career Academics can get experience of writing for non-academic audiences, and we weigh up the place of non-academic writing in the career paths of humanities ECRs.

You can follow more from Lizzie by visiting her website and blog here:http://thecelticist.ie

In this episode, Charlie and Rosie are joined by special guest Ben Jones, Lecturer at the University of East Anglia and long-term representative of the University and Colleges Union (UCU). We embark on a detailed discussion of the financial crisis that has been affecting academia in the UK over the past few years (and which has hit the humanities hard).

We discuss: the causes of the crisis, current responses by Universities and UK Government, and possible long-term solutions, and then, what Early Career Researchers can be doing to help navigate our own position in the midst of this mess!

Please do follow us on social media (Twitter/X and BlueSky: @ECRPodcasters) and leave us a review after listening!

Links to information mentioned in the show:

University and Colleges Union: https://www.ucu.org.uk

Article on UK academia in The Week: https://theweek.com/education/uk-universities-why-higher-education-is-in-crisis#

Article on the crisis in the Guardian newspaper: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/11/the-guardian-view-on-campus-cuts-academics-pay-a-high-price-for-westminsters-mistakes

In this episode, Charlie is joined by our regular contributor Rosie (Brepols publishers), and our special guest Caroline Palmer (Boydell & Brewer publishers). We discuss challenges and changes seen in academic Humanities publishing over the past 10 years, and give advice on what this means for ECRs, as you seek to disseminate your work among intended readers by liaising with publishers (and hopefully getting book deals!)

You can find more information about Rosie and Caroline's employers by finding them online at: https://www.brepols.net and https://boydellandbrewer.com

For our twentieth episode, Charlie and Rachael spend some time reflecting on a year of working on the ECR Podcast. We discuss our aims when we started, whether we think we've achieved them, what we've enjoyed most about podcasting on this topic, what we've found most difficult, and we talk about plans for what we would like to do next in our future episodes.

We hope that this episode offers a fun tour of what we've already done and a teaser of what we're going to do next, and we also hope that it can provide some inspiration for anyone else who is thinking of starting their own podcasting project.

In our latest episode, Charlie and Rachael are joined by Lucy, our resident expert in Public Engagement for the Humanities!

We begin by talking about what PE actually is, what PE initiatives can look like and what sort of activities count as public engagement. We give some tips on how to get involved in Public Engagement, what kinds of activities make for successful and not so successful activities, and we reflect on how our experiences of PE have influenced our academic careers.

In this episode, Charlie, Rachael and Steph convene to talk about writing academic book reviews. Whether you ave no idea what an academic book review is, or if you've thought about writing one but never had the chance, or if you've written several but without really being happy with the results, we have something for you! Join us as we discuss: 1) what academic book reviews are and why they exist, 2) how to get involved in writing them, 3) what makes a good or a bad book review, 4) our tips on writing helpful reviews, and 5) some guidance on how to make the decision to review, or not to review.

Please feel free to leave us feedback via our Spotify account, on Twitter (@ecrpodcasters), BlueSky (@ecrpodcasters) or email: [email protected] and thank you for listening!

In this episode, Charlie is joined by Rosie and a new guest, Stephanie Brown, as we discuss the topic of Edited Volumes. After we start by outlining our varying levels of experience with the genre, we then spend time thinking about: 1) what these edited collections are for and why they exist; 2) how you might go about writing an individual chapter for an edited collection, and 3) how (and how not) to go about being the editor of a collection of essays: from original conception, through to chapter selection, liaison with publishers, dealing with authors, and how to finish the project on time.

In this episode, Charlie, Rachael, and Rosie (now official Friend Of The Show) discuss the process of anonymous peer review. We talk about 1) what anonymous peer review is for and how the process works (for monographs as well as journal articles and book-chapters), 2) how it can feel to receive peer review and what some of the challenges are for us as authors; and 3) how to GIVE peer review, for the maximum benefit of the original authors. We bring various perspectives, including Rachael as an ECR who has only a little experience of the process, to Charlie who has given and received plenty of good and bad peer review, and Rosie: an academic in her own right who has taken part in the process, but also as Publishing Manager at Brepols: a company which could not exist without peer review.

Please do leave us your feedback, and follow us on X: @ecrpodcasters, Bluesky: @ecrpodcasters, and you can write to us at [email protected]