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.
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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 available to listen to now. 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.
Season 4, A Cup of Tea With…, is your chance to share a tea break with inspiring academics from UCL (University College London). Join Professor Judy Stephenson, Professor of Economic History of the Built Environment, to learn how they got into their field and hear insights from their research. Plus, find out how they like their tea!
The Mental Health of Neurodivergent Children, featuring Dr Emily Midouhas
Podcast category: Beautiful Minds, Podcast
Season 2. Professor Philip Schofield and Dr Emily Midouhas explore the challenges that neurodivergent children face, and how best to support them.
Music and Memory, featuring Dr Jess Jiang
Podcast category: Beautiful Minds, Podcast
Season 2. Professor Philip Schofield and Dr Jess Jiang draw on cutting-edge research as they explore the links between hearing and dementia.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.