Introduction to A Cup of Tea With…: Season 4 of UCL Press Play
Posted on 9th July, 2026
Have you heard about A Cup of Tea With…, the latest season of UCL Press Play: our podcast and documentary series featuring groundbreaking voices and cutting-edge ideas?
Each episode of the new season offers the opportunity to learn more about a diverse range of professors, such as how they got into their field, key insights from their research and how they like their tea. Read on to learn more about the inspiring academics from across UCL who join Professor Judy Stephenson, Professor of Economic History of the Built Environment, for a tea break.
Episode 1: The Human Consequences of AI: A Cup of Tea with Professor Daniel Miller
Professor Daniel Miller is Professor of Anthropology at UCL. He is director of the Centre for Digital Anthropology at UCL, and for over ten years, he directed the Why We Post project on the use and consequences of social media. In this episode, he discusses the different meanings and values that people assign to AI, and why he entered the field of anthropology.
Episode 2: Researching Networks of Human Trafficking: A Cup of Tea with Professor Ella Cockbain
Professor Ella Cockbain is Professor of Human Trafficking and Exploitation at UCL, and Research Director for UCL Department of Security and Crime Science. She also leads the UCL Research Group on Human Trafficking, Smuggling and Exploitation. In this episode, she discusses the limits of anti-trafficking approaches and criminal justice responses to exploitation, and shares her journey from advertising to security and crime science.
Episode 3: The Economics of Life in the Messy Middle: A Cup of Tea with Professor Dame Henrietta Moore
Professor Dame Henrietta Moore is Professor of Culture, Philosophy and Design at UCL, and is also the Founder and Director of the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity. Her recent policy work focuses on economic models, Artificial Intelligence and displaced people, and other vital topics. In this episode, she shares her unconventional analogy for the economy, and makes impassioned arguments both for keeping our focus on how people actually live, and for cross-discipline collaboration.
Episode 4: The Pulses of Caribbean History: A Cup of Tea with Professor Matthew J. Smith
Professor Matthew J. Smith is Professor of History at UCL, and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery. This year, he will be the Principal Investigator on Valuable Lives (VL): the core research project of the UCL Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery (CSLBS). In this episode, he discusses the field of Caribbean history, and the complex history of the Caribbean as a nexus of interatlantic imperial trade.
Episode 5: Inside The Head of Jeremy Bentham: A Cup of Tea with Professor Philip Schofield
Professor Philip Schofield is Professor of the History of Legal and Political Thought, the Director of the Bentham Project and General Editor of the Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. In this episode, Prof Schofield discusses Bentham’s political views, as revealed in the over 100,000 manuscript pages Bentham bequeathed to UCL upon his death, and why AI offers no help to the project.
Episode 6: Excluded Workers and Human Rights: A Cup of Tea with Professor Virginia Mantouvalou
Professor Virginia Mantouvalou is Professor of Human Rights and Labour Law at UCL, and Co-Director of the UCL Institute for Human Rights. In this episode, she discusses the challenges that migrant workers face in knowing and upholding their rights, as well as the struggles that offenders have to overcome to find work on release. Prof Mantouvalou also speaks about her journey into human rights and labour law, and the writers who inspire her.
Episode 7: Rethinking Britain in India: A Cup of Tea with Professor Margot Finn
Professor Margot Finn, FBA is Professor of Modern British History at UCL. She researches, teaches and supervises predominantly in topics relating to British colonial and imperial history, with particular emphasis on the family, gender, material culture and transnational encounters. In this episode, she discusses the importance of re-examining evidence, and how students’ use of AI can limit their critical engagement.
Episode 8: How to Prevent Disasters: A Cup of Tea with Professor Ilan Kelman
Professor Ilan Kelman is Professor of Disasters and Health in UCL’s Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction. His overall research interest is in the deeply interlinked nature of disasters, health and climate. In this episode, he discusses the dangers of complacency, and why ‘natural disasters’ are a misnomer.