How can universities embed societal impact into research practice without reducing it to metrics or placing the full burden on researchers?

In this episode, Esther de Smet, Senior Research Policy Advisor at Ghent University’s Central Research Department, explores how shared language, responsible assessment, tailored support, and stronger institutional connectivity can build impact literacy.

What makes a university genuinely entrepreneurial?

Marcelo Tedesco, Founder and Executive Director of Global Ecosystem Dynamics and Director of Research in Economics & Society at the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology, argues for putting knowledge before venture counts.

In this episode, he explores how transdisciplinary learning, purposeful collaboration, and ecosystem responsibility allow universities to create wider societal value.

Why does excellent research sometimes fail to attract the engagement and investment it deserves? In this episode, Kylie Ahern, Founder and CEO of STEM Matters, explains how universities can replace fragmented announcements with audience-led narratives, connect communication to funding priorities, and use AI responsibly to scale research storytelling.

How can universities become more agile without losing the values that give education its purpose?

In this episode of our podcast, Santiago Iñiguez, President of IE University, shares lessons on entrepreneurial governance, internationalisation, faculty development, and lifelong learning. He also explains why the rise of AI makes human judgement, character, and personal relationships even more central to higher education.

How can university entrepreneurship reach people who do not already identify as entrepreneurs?

In this episode, Naomi Bradshaw, Engagement Manager at the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the University of Auckland, explains how inclusive language, audience-specific stories, community-led design, and reciprocal partnerships have helped the centre broaden participation across students and staff.

An ambitious university strategy only matters when it changes how the institution works.

For this episode, we invited Pascale Quester, Vice-Chancellor and President of Swinburne University of Technology, to talk about how strategic focus, co-creation, innovation time, and industry-led research can turn institutional vision into action.

Drawing on Swinburne’s transformation, she shows why lasting change depends on aligning a distinctive vision with the institution’s everyday choices and systems.

How can university leaders encourage entrepreneurship without trying to control it from the top?

For this episode, we spoke with Tuula Teeri, Professor of Biotechnology and former President of Aalto University, about how Aalto supported bottom-up entrepreneurship through strategic investment, participatory leadership, visible recognition, and long-term commitment. Her experience offers practical lessons for leaders seeking to turn academic autonomy into institutional momentum.

What would a university look like if every element were designed around what graduates should be able to do?

For this episode, we invited Ben Nelson, Founder and CEO of Minerva Project and Founder of Minerva University, to explain how Minerva designed a university around transferable learning, shared assessment, and graduates’ ability to act wisely in unfamiliar situations. We also delved into why institutional purpose, community participation, and sustained commitment are essential to meaningful reform across established universities.

For this episode, we sat down with Scott Shane, Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies and a professor of economics at Case Western Reserve University, to explore how generative AI could reshape university research, teaching, venture creation, governance, and institutional productivity at scale.

In this episode, we examine how universities can move beyond reacting to disruption and become institutions that actively shape the future with Heba Chehade, Head of Foresight Research at Dubai Future Foundation.

We unpack how universities can use foresight to rethink their value proposition, strengthen partnerships, and design more resilient approaches to learning, research, policy, and public value. From AI and funding pressures to lifelong learning, modular education, and future-focused collaboration, the conversation explores how universities can become more intentional engines of progress in a rapidly changing world.