In this contributed interview from the Department of Statistical Science at UCL, we speak with Professor Chris Holmes. Chris is Professor of Biostatistics at the departments of Statistics and the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford. He is also the Director for the Health Programme at the Alan Turing Institute.

We discussed a recent presentation given at the department on Bayesian predictive inference and his involvement with statistical modelling to support the UK government’s COVID response.

UCL seminar recording: https://youtu.be/Y9S4n42n0cY

Martingale posterior distributions: https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.15671 Interoperability of statistical models in pandemic preparedness: principles and reality: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.13730

Chris Holmes’ group website: https://www.chrisholmeslab.com

Date of episode recording: 2022-02-14

Duration: 00:24:19

Language of episode: English

Presenter: Brieuc Lehmann

Guests: Chris Holmes

Producer: Nathan Green

For this podcast we are visited by Noriko Cable (UCL), Kate Bennett (Liverpool), Sherry Hamby (University of the South), and Kristen Krause (Rutgers). The podcast is hosted by Jennifer McGowan (UCL).

This podcast covers: 1. How would you define resilience in adulthood?, 2. What are the benefits of resilience in adulthood?, 3. What challenges do adults face in building resilience?, 4. What resources are required in order for older adults to maintain their resilience?

Date of episode recording: 2021-11-13

Duration: 01:15:01

Language of episode: English

Presenter: Jennifer McGowan

Guests: Noriko Cable (UCL); Kate Bennett (Liverpool); Sherry Hamby (University of the South); Kristen Krause

Producer: Jennifer McGowan

Benedetto De Martino talks to Selina and Caswell about decision making, why we make choices that are bad for us, and the importance of having a hobby - plus a banjo makes an appearance.

For more information and to access the transcript: www.ucl.ac.uk/research/domains/neuroscience/brain-stories-podcast

Date of episode recording: 2022-03-15

Duration: 00:41:30

Language of episode: English

Presenter: Caswell Barry; Steve Fleming; Selina Wray

Guests: Dr Benedetto De Martino

Producer: Patrick Robinson

In the second of a two-part feature recorded for LGBTQ+ History Month, presenter Roxie talks to Juliet Jacques, writer, journalist and author of Trans: A Memoir about her 2021 short-story collection Variations and the politics of representing trans history. She also speaks to Ben Miller, historian, writer and co-host of the Bad Gays podcast about complicating conventional queer histories as well as his research into the colonial legacy of queer representation.

For more information on UCL’s recent decision to cut ties with Stonewall: https://thetab.com/uk/london/2022/01/21/vindictive-and-insensitive-students-and-staff-slam-ucl-decision-to-cut-ties-with-stonewall-44148

Petition calling for UCL to rejoin the scheme: https://www.change.org/p/ucl-ucl-staff-students-alumni-ask-ucl-to-rejoin-stonewall-schemes

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the official policies, views or positions of any institutions with which they are affiliated.

To access the transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/moveable-type/moveable-type-podcast-lgbtq-history-month-transcript-episode-3-part-2

Date of episode recording: 2022-02-16

Duration: 01:10:50

Language of episode: English

Presenter: Roxana Toloza Chacon

Guests: Juliet Jacques; Ben Miller

Producer: Anna De Vivo; Damian Walsh; Editor: Daniel Lewis

This episode is a live recording of UCL's event City of Women: creating an interactive map of London’s remarkable women.

The event was part of UCL's 'Stand with Hope' campaign, a series of activities and events aimed at generating discussion on the gender inequalities that persist in the UK and mark the display of Hope the Lego Suffragette at UCL.

About the event

Reni Eddo-Lodge, Rebecca Solnit and Emma Watson have worked together to produce an alternative map of the London Underground, replacing existing station names with the names of remarkable female or non-binary Londoners who have had an impact on the city’s history.

The interactive City of Women London map has been developed by Dr Leah Lovett, Dr Duncan Hay and Montaz Marche from the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) using Memory Mapper, an open source toolkit for mapping stories of place developed at CASA. The print map will be published by Haymarket Books and the project is being developed in collaboration with the Women of the World (WOW) Foundation.

The project is inspired by Rebecca Solnit and Josh Jelly-Schapiro’s acclaimed book Nonstop Metropolis, in which they reworked the New York City subway map to celebrate women who had made their mark on the city. The map then became an iconic poster and sparked numerous conversations about public space, history, gender, feminism, and memory; a special edition of the poster was produced by Haymarket Books in 2019.

Transcript available on https://www.ucl.ac.uk/research/city-women

“The fundamental relationship that must come in is humanity to the rest of nature.”

Would it be such a radical change to flip on its head the idea of improving the overall health of the public to prop up the economy? Redefining the idea of prosperity in the 21st Century and the balance between human wellbeing and economics are among the topics discussed by our guests: two leading thinkers in the field of innovative economics and its relationship with public health.

Together, Professor Mariana Mazzucato and renegade economist Kate Raworth tackle the topic of taking a mission-oriented approach to improving the health of the public. From redefining what prosperity looks like in a modern world, to how active a role the government should have in defining health innovation policy, and everything in between.

For more information and to access the transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/health-of-public/mission-oriented-public-health-show-notes

For this podcast we are visited by Nicole Creasey (University of Amsterdam), Professor Jay Mancini (Virgina Tech), and Dr Gretchen Pianka (Resilience University). The podcast is hosted by Nicole Creasey (University of Amsterdam).

This podcast covers: 1. What is family resilience? How would you define it? 2. Why is family resilience important? 3. What challenges due families face in building resilience? 4. Should family resilience be a public health priority?

Date of episode recording: 2021-09-20

Duration: 00:57:06

Language of episode: English

Presenter: Nicole Creasey (University of Amsterdam)

Guests: Nicole Creasey (University of Amsterdam); Professor Jay Mancini (Virgina Tech); Dr Gretchen Pianka (Resilience University).

Producer: Jennifer McGowan

We’re looking towards the light in episode four. We wanted to understand more about the thought processes behind lighting spaces and the considerations that need to be made when designing with light. With this in mind, we reached out to two experts on light from The UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering.

Join host Christoph for a fascinating discussion on the different kinds of light: from healthy light, safe light, indoor light, outdoor light, public light, all the way to the future of light with Dr Jemima Unwin Teji, lecturer and programme lead for the Light and Lighting MSc and Lorna Flores-Villa, Industrial Designer and PhD student.

For more information and to access the transcript, visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/transcript-bright-lights-big-city

Catch up on previous episodes here: soundcloud.com/uclsound/sets/building-better-the-bartlett

Date of episode recording: 2022-01-17

Duration: 32:04

Language of episode: English

Presenter: Christoph Lindner

Guests: Dr Jemima Unwin Teji; Lorna Flores-Villa

Producer: Cerys Bradley

In the first of a two-part feature celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month, our presenter Roxana speaks to Dr Noreen Masud, BBC New Generation Thinker and Lecturer at the University of Bristol, about her work on flatness, negative affect, and the aphorism, and how each might help us resist heteronormativity. She also speaks to Talen Wright, PhD student at UCL Division of Psychiatry, about her research into trans mental health, microaggressions and microaffirmation. Both guests also discuss UCL’s recent decision to cut ties with Stonewall, and the ramifications of this decision on trans safety and academic freedom within the university and society more broadly.

For more information on UCL’s recent decision to cut ties with Stonewall: https://thetab.com/uk/london/2022/01/21/vindictive-and-insensitive-students-and-staff-slam-ucl-decision-to-cut-ties-with-stonewall-44148 https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/dec/21/ucl-becomes-first-university-to-formally-cut-ties-with-stonewall

Petition calling for UCL to re-join the scheme: https://www.change.org/p/ucl-ucl-staff-students-alumni-ask-ucl-to-rejoin-stonewall-schemes

For more information on Talen Wright’s study, and to take part, see Twitter @TransMMH and: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychiatry/research/epidemiology-and-applied-clinical-research-department/trans-microaggressions-mental-health

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the official policies, views or positions of any institutions with which they are affiliated.

For more information and to access the transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/moveable-type/moveable-type-podcast-lgbtq-history-month-part-1-episode-3

Date of episode recording: 2022-02-09

Duration: 01:00:23

Language of episode: English

Presenter: Roxana Toloza Chacon

Guests: Dr Noreen Masud; Talen Wright

Producer: Anna De Vivo; Damian Walsh

The Nahrein Network speaks to Mr Ali al-Makhzomy, founder of Bilweekend tour company in Iraq, which caters to local tourists. Mr al-Makhzomy was awarded a research grant by the Nahrein Network and partner, the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, to undertake research on developing new methods to strengthen Iraq's tourism infrastructure.

For more information and to access the transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/nahrein/media/podcasts/transcript-interview-ali-al-makhzomy

Date of episode recording: 2018-06-24

Duration: 00:10:39

Language of episode: English

Presenter:Mehiyar Kathem

Guests: Ali al-Makhzomy

Producer: Mehiyar Kathem