University of Cambridge

Darwin’s tiny, priceless Tree of Life sketch is arguably the most iconic drawing in the history of science.

“The Tree of Life notebooks are Darwin at his most radical,” says Professor Jim Secord, a world expert on the subject. “The theory of natural selection and evolution is the foundation stone of modern biology and much of the rest of the sciences.”

However, the notebooks were stolen in the early 2000s and were missing for two decades before their anonymous return in a pink gift bag on March 9, 2022 – alongside a very odd note!

Despite an investigation that involved the Met Police, Interpol and a global public appeal, we still don’t know who took Darwin’s notebooks or why.

But why would someone steal them in the first place? What makes Darwin’s Tree of Life notebooks so important that someone saw fit to spirit them away from Cambridge University Library then return them again – 20 years later.

In this first podcast from one of the world’s great libraries, you’ll find out about the notebooks’ great importance, the endlessly curious life and letters of Charles Darwin, and the end of a nearly 50-year mega project to transcribe and publish 15,000 letters to and from Darwin – making them freely available to us all.

With guests Professor Jim Secord and Stuart Roberts, Head of Communications at Cambridge University Library. Hosted by communications specialist Sue Keogh FRSA. For more information about Darwin’s life and letters, please visit https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/

Rory Cellan-Jones and leading experts Gordon Harold, Laura Nurski and Zoe Purcell discuss why mental wellbeing in the workplace is essential, and what policymakers can do to promote a healthy workforce.

This episode unpacks the impact of the future of work on mental wellbeing, and its implications for policy. Leading experts discuss the major trends shaping the future of work, how job quality and AI impact wellbeing, and whether it is the job of businesses or governments to promote positive mental health at the workplace.

This episode is hosted by Rory Cellan-Jones (former technology correspondent for the BBC), and features guest experts Professor Gordon Harold (University of Cambridge), Dr Laura Nurski (Bruegel) and Dr Zoe Purcell (Institute For Advanced Study in Toulouse).

Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform

Season 2 Episode 2 transcript

For more information about the podcast and the work of the institutes, visit our websites at https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.

Tweet us with your thoughts at @BennettInst and @IASToulouse.

Audio production by Steve Hankey.

Podcast production by Stella Erker.

Relevant links and publications

The Future of Work Partnership between the University of Cambridge and KPMG

Nurski, L. and M. Hoffmann (2022) ‘Beating burnout: identifying bad jobs and improving job quality’, Policy Brief, Bruegel

Nurski, L. and M. Hoffmann (2022) ‘The impact of artificial intelligence on the nature and quality of jobs’, Working Paper, Bruegel

More information about our guests:

How can poetry explore and share academic research with the public?

Rebekah King speaks with David Cain and researchers at the University of Cambridge about their participation in the Creative Encounters Words programme.

Listen to researchers Dr Catherine Merrick (Senior Lecturer Pathology, Biological Sciences), accompanying music by Jonathan Windsor, Anne Thomas (Newnham College & Plant Sciences)

Mona Jebril (Research Fellow, Centre for Business Research) read their poems and talk about how poetry has enabled them to think differently about the research.

The Words programme set out to look at and share research through poetry. Together with the poetry and public engagement professional, David Cain, the researchers explored the vast world of poetry, its different formats to bring out the poetry that lay behind their research for performance and for publication.

You can discover more about the Words programme, and read all the poems from 2022, at the Words website.

https://www.cam.ac.uk/public-engagement/creative-encounters-2022/creative-words

David's book Truth Street was shortlisted for the Forward Prizes for Poetry in 2019.

https://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/forward-prizes-for-poetry/david-cain/

Music by Coby O’Brien

Produced by Rebekah King

Rory Cellan-Jones talks to leading economists Diane Coyle, Jacques Crémer and Jean Tirole, about why productivity growth has slowed in spite of immense technological progress and what policy can do about it.

This episode unravels the impact of digitalisation on economic growth and its implications for policy. Leading economists discuss the productivity puzzle, why regulating Big Tech is so difficult, the threats of mass surveillance, and what policymakers can do to address these challenges.

This episode is hosted by Rory Cellan-Jones (former technology correspondent for the BBC), and features guest experts Professor Diane Coyle (Bennett Institute for Public Policy), Professor Jacques Crémer (Toulouse School of Economics) and Professor Jean Tirole (Toulouse School of Economics – International Advanced Study in Toulouse).

Listen to this episode on your preferred podcast platform

Season 2 Episode 1 transcript

For more information about the podcast and the work of the institutes, visit our websites at https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.iast.fr/.

Tweet us with your thoughts at @BennettInst and @IASToulouse.

Audio production by Steve Hankey.

Podcast editing by Stella Erker.

More information about our guests:

Professor Diane Coyle is the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. She co-directs the Bennett Institute where she heads the themes of progress and productivity, and researches the digital economy and economic measurement. Diane is also a Director of the Productivity Institute, and a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics.

Professor Jacques Crémer received his undergraduate degree from the Ecole Polytechnique in 1971, a SM in Management and a PhD in economics, both from MIT, in 1973 and 1977. He has held appointments at the University of Pennsylvania and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. His current research interests are the economics of organization, the economics of the Internet and of the software industries, as well as contract theory.

Professor Jean Tirole is honorary chairman of the Foundation JJ Laffont-Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), and scientific director of TSE-Partnership. He is also affiliated with MIT, where he holds a visiting position, and the Institut de France. Professor Tirole’s research covers industrial organization, regulation, finance, macroeconomics and banking, and psychology-based economics.

Rory Cellan-Jones is a former technology correspondent for the BBC. His 40 years in journalism saw him take a particular interest in the impact of the internet and digital technology on society and business. He has written multiple books, including his latest “Always On” which was published in 2021.

How should we be expecting to live as we start to adapt to the changing climate? In our race to resilience, are there limitations to what we shoud expect to see on our supermarket shelves, escalated by the Ukraine war and cost of living crisis? And what real progress have we made since COP26?

To help build momentum after the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, University of Cambridge Professor Emily So worked with the Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) podcast team to engage with academics, policy professionals, and other climate experts to host a new mini-series (season 6) focussing on climate adaption.

We're so pleased to share with you the highlights of the series, produced in partnership with the research project Expertise Under Pressure, part of the Centre for the Humanities and Social Change at the University of Cambridge.

The mini-series was edited and produced by CSaP's Communications Coordinator Jessica Foster. Research for this series was supported by CSaP's Executive Director Rob Doubleday and CSaP's Policy Researcher Nick Cosstick.

Podcast theme music by Transistor.fm. Learn how to start a podcast here.

Between April and June 2022 Professor Forsyth was interviewed four times. The interviewer is Lesley Dingle.

The interviews were recorded, and the audio version is available on this website with transcripts of those recordings:

- First Interview (28 April 2022): Early Life and Career

- Second Interview (11 May 2022): Career Part 1

- Third Interview (17 May 2022): Career Part 2

- Fourth Interview (7 June 2022): Scholarly Works

For more information, see the Squire website at https://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/cambridge-law-eminent-scholars-archive

Between April and June 2022 Professor Forsyth was interviewed four times. The interviewer is Lesley Dingle.

The interviews were recorded, and the audio version is available on this website with transcripts of those recordings:

- First Interview (28 April 2022): Early Life and Career

- Second Interview (11 May 2022): Career Part 1

- Third Interview (17 May 2022): Career Part 2

- Fourth Interview (7 June 2022): Scholarly Works

For more information, see the Squire website at https://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/cambridge-law-eminent-scholars-archive

Between April and June 2022 Professor Forsyth was interviewed four times. The interviewer is Lesley Dingle.

The interviews were recorded, and the audio version is available on this website with transcripts of those recordings:

- First Interview (28 April 2022): Early Life and Career

- Second Interview (11 May 2022): Career Part 1

- Third Interview (17 May 2022): Career Part 2

- Fourth Interview (7 June 2022): Scholarly Works

For more information, see the Squire website at https://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/cambridge-law-eminent-scholars-archive

Between April and June 2022 Professor Forsyth was interviewed four times. The interviewer is Lesley Dingle.

**Please note due to technical problems, the audio quality of this interview is very poor**

The interviews were recorded, and the audio version is available on this website with transcripts of those recordings:

- First Interview (28 April 2022): Early Life and Career

- Second Interview (11 May 2022): Career Part 1

- Third Interview (17 May 2022): Career Part 2

- Fourth Interview (7 June 2022): Scholarly Works

For more information, see the Squire website at https://www.squire.law.cam.ac.uk/cambridge-law-eminent-scholars-archive

Rory Cellan-Jones talks to expert guests Lucy Delap (University of Cambridge) and Victor Gay (IAST) about how lessons from history can inform policymaking today.

In this episode, Lucy Delap and Victor Gay discuss examples from history where lessons can be learned for today’s policymaking. They look at what the recession in the 1970s can tell us about government response to the current cost-of-living crisis, and what the 1918 Spanish Flu can tell us about dealing with a pandemic.

The guests also explore what history adds to policy debates but is currently left out, and why explaining what happened in the past isn’t as straightforward as it might seem.

Listen to this episode on your preferred listening platform.

Episode 10 transcript

For more information about the podcast and the work of the Institutes, visit our websites: www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk and www.iast.fr/

Tweet us with your thoughts at @BennettInst and @IASToulouse

Audio production by Steve Hankey.

Podcast editing by Annabel Manley.

About our guests and host:

Lucy Delap is a Professor in Modern British and Gender History at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests include the history of feminisms in Britain, the US, and the British Empire, and in labour history with a focus on the intersections of gender, class, and disability in the workplace. She is the author of three books, most recently ‘Feminisms: a global history’ in 2020. She was also the winner of the Royal Historical Society Public History Prize for public debate and policy in 2018.

Victor Gay is an Assistant Professor at the Toulouse School of Economics and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse. His research interests include labour economics and the economics of culture, focussing on the economic history of France. As part of his work on developing data infrastructures based on novel archival material, he is also the Scientific Advisor of the University Data Platform of Toulouse of the PROGEDO data infrastructure.

Rory Cellan-Jones is a former technology correspondent for the BBC. His 40 years in journalism have seen him take a particular interest in the impact of the internet and digital technology on society and business. He has also written multiple books, including his latest “Always On” which was published in 2021.