Our Top Ten UCL Podcasts

According to an Ofcom report from April 2021, over 50% of adults in the UK have listened to a podcast and over 25% of people listen to them on a regular basis. They're a great go-to for educational, inspiring and entertaining content.

We showcase UCL's prodigious research output, through entertaining and thought-provoking audio content across multiple different series. UCL has been producing podcasts since 2008 and today we have grown to nearly three million listens over the years through Apple Podcasts (formerly iTunesU) and SoundCloud. UCL Podcasts are available on Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Google Podcasts – search UCL Minds wherever you listen to your podcasts to find us. We have over 2,000 active listeners at any point across 50 different countries.

You can listen to all of our podcasts on the UCL Minds section of our website, or by searching UCL Minds wherever you listen to your podcasts, to hear staff and students from across UCL discuss news and insights, whenever and wherever you like, absolutely free!

Our most listened-to podcast overall has been Coronavirus: The Whole Story which highlights UCL's interdisciplinary expertise on COVID-19, focusing on its management, mitigation, eventual halt, and preparing for a post-coronavirus world. But there are so many to choose from that narrowing down what to listen to can prove to be a problem. So to help you out, here's a roundup of our top ten podcasts from UCL as decided by our campaigns team Steph and Halle, who also manage the podcasts:

“We’ve decided as a team, that these podcasts have made the top ten podcasts, as they showcase, reflect and highlight the huge multi- disciplinary research output from UCL, thoughtful student and alumni involvement, and also the invaluable work that our Professional Services team contribute to UCL. There are currently over 30 podcasts to listen to on the UCL Minds page, and we hope you enjoy our favourites on there as much as we do!

Our Top Ten podcasts (in no particular order...)

#MadeAtUCL 

Our award-winning #MadeAtUCL podcasts explore the disruptive discoveries emerging from UCL. Featuring hosts from our student community, Season 3 is out now.

Where Research Transforms Lives: The UCL REF podcast

Explore how UCL's research is changing the world around us with host Dr Rosie Anderson in this special series highlighting some of the most memorable case studies from our Research Excellence Framework submission.

Unlocking the SDGs: A Blueprint for the Future

Through its world-class research and teaching and external engagement, and the way it operates as an institution, UCL’s community of staff and students is playing a leading role in responding to the challenges set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Generation One: The Climate Podcast

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time. With COP27 just around the corner, it’s worth revisiting our ‘Generation One’ podcast to see how UCL academics, researchers and guest researchers are tackling environmental problems. 

Public Health Disrupted

The monthly podcast series from UCL Health of the Public presented by Doctor, writer and TV presenter Xand Van Tulleken and community health psychologist, UCL lecturer and self-proclaimed hippie Rochelle Burgess. This podcast is about public health, but more importantly, it’s about the systems that need disrupting to make public health better. 

Moveable Type 

Moveable Type is the graduate, peer-reviewed journal of UCL's English Department – find the podcast here.

Building Better: The Bartlett podcast

The human spaces and urban landscapes that we build worldwide have a huge impact on our daily lives, our societies, and our planet. In this podcast, we’re taking on the big question: how can we build better?

Brain Stories

UCL Brain Stories aims to showcase the best of UCL Neuroscience, highlighting the wide range of cutting-edge research going on within the Neuroscience Domain as well as bringing you the people behind the research to share their journey of how they ended up here.

Talking to Titans

A seven-part podcast series launched in International Women's Week 2020, where inspiring senior UCL women tell us their stories of achieving complex careers, managing work-life balance and surviving to tell the tale.

Remarkable Stories

We're showcasing the diversity, resilience and achievements of our staff, students and alumni by telling their Remarkable Stories.

Honourable mentions...

We couldn't miss out the great podcasts from the UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation, exploring the scentific, metaphysical and cultural impact of racism. And the UCL Future Cities podcast, which explores the complexity of urban living and how technology, health, society and climate change interconnect with the urban spaces of tomorrow.

Vote for your favourite UCL podcast 

We'd love to know if you agree with our Top Ten, or if you think it’s wildly off the mark... with that in mind, we're conducting a survey so you can vote for your favourite UCL podcast.

Tell us about your favourite podcast by completeing our pollPlease vote only once using the form for your favourite podcast  

If you have any questions or suggestions about our podcasts, please get in contact with us at podcasts@ucl.ac.uk 

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