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UCL academics lead award-winning ’Oh Pod! x UCL’ Podcast project

15 May 2024

‘Oh Pod! x UCL’ is a mental health podcast series hosting honest discussions between researchers and communities in east London.

Photograph of the two podcast presenters hosting an episode, Shakira Crawford and Iman Issa-Ismail

The podcast series is co-produced by UCL academics, Waltham Forest Future Formed and the Oh Pod! podcast team. The aim of the project is to host honest discussions between researchers and communities in east London, that lead to developed trust.

Funded by UCL East Engagement's Development Fund, the podcast grew out of the Diverse Voices participatory photography project (funded a year previously by a UCL East Community Engagement Seed Fund) and was led by Dr. Rupy Matharu (UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering) & Dr. Shoba Poduval (UCL Institute of Health Informatics).

The ‘Oh Pod! x UCL’ podcast project provides a platform to open the dialogue between academics and people from marginalised communities in east London on issues pressing to the public. The podcast focused on mental health, neurodiversity and illnesses that are often taboo in diverse communities. Guests include Dr Kate Adlington discussing perinatal mental health, Professor Kurinchi Gurusamy discussing Autism and Professor Oliver Robinson discussing anxiety and psychological distress.

The UCL team worked with Kaveh Rahnama from Future Formed (a Borough of Waltham Forest initiative) that offers residents exposure to creative industries. The podcast is produced and presented by Shakira Crawford and Iman Issa-Ismail, who interviewed health experts, asking them questions about commonly held concerns, worries or misconceptions about mental health. The format of the podcast helped ground conversations in reality and allowed members of the public to lead the conversation. The skills and experience gained by the community members led to improved confidence and will allow them to continue their work in podcasting and the creative field. Shakira and Kaveh are with now working with UCL’s IHE on the second series of their podcast, Health in a Handbasket.

The UCL East Community Engagement Development Fund is a small grants funding scheme for UCL staff and post graduate research students who have previously received funding for an engagement project in east London. It is designed to build capacity for previously funded projects to deepen the impact of ongoing engagement practice. The team worked with multiple public and professional partners to achieve the UCL East principles of collaboration, co-production and mutual benefit through creative means.

The podcast was celebrated at the inaugural UCL IHE Engagement Awards. The awards recognise excellence in public engagement within the healthcare engineering and digital health community. ‘Oh Pod! x UCL’ was the winner in the co-production category.

Dr. Rupy Matharu said,

“We’re proud to be helping to correct some negative stigma and healthcare taboos by working with Waltham Forest residents. The podcast is a tangible demonstration of successful co-production in action, and we hope the impact will be felt across communities who wouldn’t usually engage with health research.”

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