This week Naturally Speaking turns 10 years old! Our first podcast was published on May 15th, 2012. Since then, we have published a total of 86 podcasts, celebrating the diversity of research and events going on within the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine. In this post, we take this opportunity to look back into Naturally Speaking’s archive to share some of our favourite podcasts. We’ve selected those you’ve listened to most, and also tried to highlight the breadth of topics and contributors. We hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane!
Resilience in Academia – Episode 59
This is one of the podcasts most listened-to. Published in March, 2018, in this episode we interview IBAHCM researchers Shaun Killen, Katie Hampson, Richard Reeve, Barbara Helm and Dan Haydon to hear about their often-bumpy career paths, the challenges they’ve faced, and their strategies for overcoming them.
Masters of Science—Quantifying life – Episode 33
This post, published in December 2015, was the first in a three-part series of podcasts produced by Naturally Speaking’s James Burgon and Karen Hotopp, providing an overview of 3 of the Institute’s Masters programmes.
The problem with p-values – Episode 25
In this episode, published in June 2015, one of Naturally Speaking’s founders, Shaun Killen, hosts a round-table discussion on the problems with p-values, and the research culture that perpetuates their use.
How to survive your viva – Episode 1, and How to survive your viva, revisited – Episode 29
It seemed fitting to highlight Naturally Speaking’s first podcast episode, and its follow-on, published 3 years later.
Some cool collaborations…
The RRS Discovery
In this miniseries (Part 1 & Part 2) published in late 2018 / early 2019, PhD student Julie Miller interviews fellow scientists on board the Royal Research Ship Discovery. This international team set sail to the mid-Atlantic to study an area potentially important for both migratory and locally-breeding seabirds.
How smart are fish? – Episode 49
Published in February 2017, in this episode Naturally Speaking (NS)’s Taya Forde speaks with 2016 Buckland Professor of Fisheries Felicity Huntingford and fellow NS team member Martina Quaggiotto about research into fish intelligence—from their ability to form complicated 3D mind maps, to learning to visually discriminate among over 40 human faces! Life-long fishers Charles Jardine and Marshall Bissett join the discussion to share their personal experiences of how smart fish can really be.
Fascinating visiting researchers…
Conversations with an R Jedi – Episode 41
In this episode published in June 2016, Naturally Speaking’s Laurie Baker speaks to Chief Scientist at RStudio, Hadley Wickham, about the ins and outs of programming.
On the Wings of a Giant – Episode 18
We interview University of Glasgow alumnus Richard Phillips of the British Antarctic Survey about his work with albatrosses in South Georgia and his advice for young ecologists entering the field.
And other interesting things IBAHCM researchers get up to…
Thar She Blows! How and why whales and other large animals wash up on the Scottish coastline, and how you can help – Episode 83
In this podcast, Sreedevi Gummuluri and Lucy Gilbert talk to Andrew Brownlow who leads the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS), based at the Institute since the beginning of 2021. Tune in to hear about the fascinating research and surveillance of large marine animals (such as whales, dolphins, seals, turtles, and basking sharks) that strand around the coast of Scotland.
Making Connections – linking data on biodiversity – Episode 65
In 2018, IBAHCM researcher Rod Page was awarded the Ebbe Nielsen prize for his proposal to help document the biodiversity of Australia by linking a variety of open sources of data. Tune in to hear about the challenges and opportunities associated with the exciting field of ‘biodiversity informatics’ – tapping into big data to document the variety of life on our planet in more connected ways.
Original artwork for episodes 59 and 65, as well as for this episode, by Eleni Christoforou
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