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UCL Press Play

Step into the minds of leading academics with UCL Press Play: a podcast and documentary series featuring groundbreaking voices and cutting-edge ideas.

Join UCL academics as they uncover new ideas and fresh insights on diverse topics such as queer histories, neurodiversity, and climate justice.

Register below to be the first to hear when new episodes drop.

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About the series

Season 1, Bentham’s Defence of Sexual Liberty – The Greatest Good, is available to listen to now. Jeremy Bentham’s influence can be felt all across UCL, but the impact of his radical progressivism can be felt worldwide. In this season, join renowned academics in conversation about Romanticism, queer histories and much more, as they discuss how ideas that were once considered radical now shape the world we live in.

Season 2, Beautiful Minds – The Greatest Good, is available to listen to now. The question‘How much do we understand the human mind?’ is at the heart of this new season. Uncover facts about the mind as our expert speakers challenge misconceptions of autism, clear up common myths about Tourette’s Syndrome and propose strategies for making our society more inclusive.

Season 3, Climate Extinction Politics – The Greatest Good, is starting in January 2026. The climate crisis affects every part of society, but those least responsible for climate change often suffer its worst impacts. This season brings together leading UCL academics from a wide variety of backgrounds to break down the key climate issues we are facing, and calls those responsible to action.

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Why Sleep Hygiene Doesn’t Always Work, featuring Professor Dagmara Dimitriou
Podcast category: Beautiful Minds, Podcast

Season 2. Professor Dagmara Dimitriou and Professor Philip Schofield take a deep dive into the strange world of sleep and the brain.

A white play button with the text 'UCL Press Play' on a coloured background.
Why People with Dyslexia Make Great Engineers, featuring Dr Michael Woodrow
Podcast category: Beautiful Minds, Podcast

Season 2. Dr Michael Woodrow joins Professor Philip Schofield to discuss how dyslexia’s image-based, big-picture thinking fuels engineering creativity.

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Exploring the Autistic Mind, featuring Dr Sarah White
Podcast category: Beautiful Minds, Podcast

Season 2. Professor Philip Schofield and Dr Sarah White take a forensic look at the brain, and challenge outdated medical models and stereotypes of autism.

A white play button with the text 'UCL Press Play' on a coloured background.
Bentham’s Defence of Sexual Liberty (documentary)
Podcast category: Bentham's Defence of Sexual Liberty, Documentary

Season 1. This documentary uncovers Jeremy Bentham’s radical defence of queer lives against the backdrop of 18th- and 19th-century repression.

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Nonbinary Gender in the Middle Ages: Recognising Wilgefortis, featuring Professor Bob Mills (documentary)
Podcast category: Bentham's Defence of Sexual Liberty, Documentary

Season 1. Did the medieval world embrace gender diversity more than we think? This documentary challenges idea that gender diversity is a modern phenomenon.

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The UK’s First Gaysoc, featuring Dr Luciano Rila
Podcast category: Bentham's Defence of Sexual Liberty, Podcast

Season 1. Professor Philip Schofield sits down with Dr Luciano Rila, from UCL’s Department of Mathematics, to delve into the history of the UK’s first university-affiliated Gaysoc, founded at UCL by Jamie Gardiner in 1972.

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Queer Aesthetics and the Panoptic Gaze, featuring Dr Xine Yao
Podcast category: Bentham's Defence of Sexual Liberty, Podcast

Season 1. Professor Philip Schofield and Dr Xine Yao unpack how aesthetics and emotional refusal have been used as resistance by queer figures, women doctors and racialised communities.

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Queerness, Islam and the Left, featuring Dr Jonathan Galton
Podcast category: Bentham's Defence of Sexual Liberty, Podcast

Season 1. Professor Philip Schofield is joined by Dr Jonathan Galton as they tackle the fraught and timely question of how the progressive left navigates the tension between queerness and Islam.

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Bentham, Romanticism and the ‘Cockney College’, featuring Professor Gregory Dart
Podcast category: Bentham's Defence of Sexual Liberty, Podcast

Season 1. Professors Philip Schofield and Gregory Dart dive into the philosophical divide between Romanticism and Utilitarianism.

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