The SOFI Sessions

SOFI Sessions brings you The Softcast! SOFI cohorts 5 and 6 have just completed science communication training at Edinburgh University, which included a trip to BBC Scotland's Pacific Quay to record a mock radio show.  Group 1's programme is hosted by Joe Bradley and Burhan Hussein and features contributions from Laura Confalonieri, Reece Macdiarmid, and Jack Hocking.

Seth is joined by special guest Professor Tom McLeish of the University of York to discuss science, theology, and creativity - if you've never heard a professor of physics recite science poetry before you'll want to listen to the end...!

 

(Link to Tom's article on Rev Prof John Polkinghorne https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0040571X211043170)

Do PhD students make good businesspeople? What is a 'spin-out business' anyway? Join Charlotte, Seth, and business strategy expert Peter Allen as they discuss the SOFI CDT mini-MBA, strategic thinking in a PhD context, and what it means to spin out a company from scientific research.

 

Follow us on social media: we are @SOFI_Sessions on Twitter and sofi_sessions on instagram. You can also email any questions to [email protected].

Merin hosts today's podcast and is joined by Burhan, Adele, and Seth to discuss ideas and tentative plans for the future. Are all PhD students aiming for lives in academia? What other options are there? How will our plans be affected by the pandemic? 

 

Follow us on social media: we are @SOFI_Sessions on Twitter and sofi_sessions on instagram. You can also email any questions to [email protected].

We're back! And our motivation for PhD work, teaching, and podcasting has never been lower! A combination of dark winter days, a flat Christmas holiday and a national lockdown has inspired Ruth, Merin, and Seth to start a conversation about the so-called 'January Blues'. What can we do to get through this dreary drizzly month? (Yes, we are aware this episode is coming out in February...)

 

Follow us on social media: we are @SOFI_Sessions on Twitter and sofi_sessions on instagram. You can also email any questions to [email protected].

James, Veronica, Merin and Seth share some personal anecdotes about the intersection of science and Christmas in their lives. have you ever wondered about the best ways of packing your decorations away? How about counting all the gifts given in the Twelve Days of Christmas? Or how Father Christmas manages to achieve so much in one night? Join us as we have some fun with these questions!

 

Follow us on social media: we are @SOFI_Sessions on Twitter and sofi_sessions on instagram. You can also email any questions to [email protected].

The Other Side is back, this time with a panel of PhD students from around the world! Merin, Veronica and Marie share their own journeys into academia and the reasons for and difficulties about applying to study in the UK. What are the differences between studying in Britain and the US? Why did Merin choose to apply abroad rather than in India? Why was Marie's application process so stressful? Find out in this week's episode!

 

Follow us on social media: we are @SOFI_Sessions on Twitter and sofi_sessions on instagram. You can also email any questions to [email protected].

This week Seth, Veronica and Ruth are joined by two special guests as we discuss SOFI CDT, the SOFI Sessions project and the future of our podcast...

 

Follow us on social media: we are @SOFI_Sessions on Twitter and sofi_sessions on instagram. You can also email any questions to [email protected].

Burhan hosts as Ruth and Veronica each perform their own Halloween tales of science gone wrong...

Veronica and Ruth are your Ghost Hosts in this very scary Halloween episode of SOFI Sessions! Be afraid, be very afraid; working in the lab isn't for the faint hearted (that's why some of our PhD students are theorists). Keep listening if you dare! From fireballs and flooding to forgetting the labels, this Halloween members of the SOFI network share with you their most hair-raising lab stories in the spookiest SOFI Session yet...

 

Follow us on social media: we are @SOFI_Sessions on Twitter and sofi_sessions on instagram. You can also email any questions to [email protected].