School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences

Philosophy pop culture podcast takes off in student-staff partnership project

Philosophy students have launched a podcast with the help of staff and financial support from the student partnership fund

Philosophy PhD student Olivia Coombes and 4th-year student Elliott Gruzin want to make philosophy more accessible to the wider public. 

Being avid podcast fans, they decided this would be the right platform for them to engage a wider audience.

With the support of Shian Holt (Head of Student Support and Enhancement), Olivia and Elliott were encouraged to team up with Madeleine Beveridge (Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager) and Isabella Melking (Communications Co-ordinator) to seek funding through the Student Partnership Agreement.

Student Partnership Agreement

PPLS podcasts

Madeleine and Isabella oversee the School of PPLS’ monthly podcast series Forward Thinking, highlighting the School’s research to the wider public.

Forward Thinking blog

Forward Thinking podcast on iTunes

Liaising with Madeleine and Isabella, Olivia and Elliott were given practical advice on how to set up and manage a podcast to prepare for the launch of ‘One Podcast, Two Philosophers, No Problems’.

Philosophy in films

By relating philosophical issues such as time travel and artificial intelligence to films, Olivia and Elliott hope to reach people who have not yet engaged with philosophy.

Through their friendly and informal discussion style, Olivia and Elliott introduce philosophical issues and then explain how these are portrayed in films.

They hope to gain exciting new insights into philosophical issues and ultimately bridge the gap between academics and the general public.

Sustainable podcasting

Elliott and Olivia will invite fellow students and staff to participate in the podcast series and aim to train up future hosts to ensure the podcast continues beyond the project scope of the end of this academic year (July 2019).

This is not a project that will last for a year, we hope it is something that will continue to run even after we have left. Philosophy is for everyone, and we hope to show that.

Olivia CoombesPhD Philosophy student at the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Podcast subscription

You can listen to the podcast on Spotify or iTunes:

One Podcast, Two Philosophers, No Problems on Spotify

One Podcast, Two Philosophers, No Problems on iTunes