The Conversation Documentaries – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Conversation Documentaries

The Conversation

News

Science

News

Frequency: 1 episode/35d. Total Eps: 107

The Conversation Documentaries (formerly The Anthill) is podcast from The Conversation UK. Our documentary series cover everything from science to the environment, politics, culture and economics. We unearth new stories from the world of academia and talk to experts to shed light on some of the big questions of today. The Conversation is a not-for-profit independent media organisation and our journalists work with academics to help share their research knowledge with as many people as possible.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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🇬🇧 Great Britain - newsCommentary
20/08/2026
#94
🇫🇷 France - newsCommentary
20/08/2026
#83
🇫🇷 France - newsCommentary
19/08/2026
#63
🇬🇧 Great Britain - newsCommentary
12/08/2026
#73
🇬🇧 Great Britain - newsCommentary
09/08/2026
#97
🇬🇧 Great Britain - newsCommentary
24/07/2026
#99
🇫🇷 France - newsCommentary
13/07/2026
#86
🇫🇷 France - newsCommentary
12/07/2026
#56
🇬🇧 Great Britain - newsCommentary
01/07/2026
#84
🇬🇧 Great Britain - newsCommentary
29/06/2026
#83

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https://donate.theconversation.com/uk
11 shares
https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-anthill-podcast-27460
9 shares
https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/recovery-series-87523
8 shares

https://open.acast.com/shows/5e3bf1111a6e452f6380a7bc/episodes/
2 shares

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/nov/23/study-shows-60-of-britons-believe-in-conspiracy-theories
1 share

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Score global : 59%

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Theory of everything: do we really need one?

Wednesday, April 12, 2023 • Duration 56:29

The quest for a theory of everything – explaining all the forces and particles in the universe – is arguably the holy grail of physics. While each of our main theories of physics works extraordinarily well, they also clash with each other. But do we really need a theory of everything? And are we anywhere near achieving one?

Featuring Vlatko Vedral, a professor of physics at the University of Oxford and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, an assistant professor in physics and astronomy and core faculty in women's and gender studies at the University Of New Hampshire.

This episode is presented by Miriam Frankel and produced by Hannah Fisher. Executive producers are Jo Adetunji and Gemma Ware. Social media and platform production by Alice Mason, sound design by Eloise Stevens and music by Neeta Sarl. A transcript is available here. Sign up here for a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

Further reading:

The standard model of particle physics may be broken – an expert explains

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Will we ever have a fundamental theory of life and consciousness?

Wednesday, April 5, 2023 • Duration 46:45

What’s the difference between a living collection of matter, such as a tortoise, and an inanimate lump of it, such as a rock? They are, after all, both just made up of non-living atoms. The truth is, we don’t really know yet. Life seems to just somehow emerge from non-living parts.

Featuring Jim Al-Khalili, professor of physics at the University of Surrey, and Sara Imari Walker, professor of physics at Arizona State University.

Further reading:

Life: modern physics can’t explain it – but our new theory, which says time is fundamental, might

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Climate Fight part 5: the art and chaos of negotiating the Glasgow Climate Pact

Friday, November 19, 2021 • Duration 44:39

A good negotiation is supposed to leave everyone feeling a little unsatisfied. So what happened at the world's biggest one – over the future of our planet? In part five, and our final episode of Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiations, host Jack Marley reports from Glasgow where he spoke to academics who have been researching the UN climate negotiations for decades, and the people representing their countries in the talks.

Featuring Abhinay Muthoo, professor of economics at the University of Warwick in the UK; François Gemenne, director of the Hugo Observatory at the University of Liège in Belgium, and Lisa Vanhala, professor of political science at UCL in the UK. And Hadeel Hisham Ikhmais, a climate negotiator from Palestine.

The Climate Fight podcast series is produced by Tiffany Cassidy. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens and our series theme tune is by Neeta Sarl. The series editor is Gemma Ware. You can sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here. A transcript of this episode will be available soon.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

Five things you need to know about the Glasgow Climate Pact, by Simon Lewis, UCL and Mark Maslin, UCL
The world has made more progress on climate change than you might think – or might have predicted a decade ago, by Myles Allen, University of Oxford

Climate Fight part 4: the youth movement grows up

Wednesday, October 27, 2021 • Duration 31:13

Locked out of conferences and company boardrooms, young people have tried to influence the international response to the climate crisis with strikes and protests. In part four of Climate Fight, the world's biggest negotiation, we explore what effect this youth activism has, and where the movement will go next.

Featuring Harriet Thew, researcher in climate change governance at the University of Leeds, who speaks to youth climate activist Abel Harvie-Clark about his experiences. And Lynda Dunlop, a senior lecturer in science education at the University of York.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

Environmental action: why some young people want an alternative to protests, by Lynda Dunlop, Lucy Atkinson and Maria Turkenburg-van Diepen, University of York
Young climate activists have far more power than they realise, by Anna Pigott, Swansea University
How the youth climate movement is influencing the green recovery from COVID-19 , by Jens Marquardt, Stockholm University

Climate fight part 3: the left behind

Wednesday, October 20, 2021 • Duration 36:37

In the shift away from fossil fuels, how do countries make sure not to widen inequalities in the process? In part three of our series Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiations, we travel to the Cumbrian town of Whitehaven on England’s north-west coast that could soon host the UK’s first deep coal mine in more than three decades. We talk to local people for and against the mine, as well as experts in the concept of a just transition, to explore how regions like west Cumbria that have suffered from decades of deindustrialisation can thrive in the shift to a low-carbon economy.

Featuring Rebecca Ford, senior lecturer in politics at the University of Strathclyde, Rebecca Willis, professor in Practice at the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University and Kieran Harrahill, PhD candidate in bioeconomy at University College Dublin.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

Cumbria coal mine could usher in a net-zero-compliant fossil fuel industry – or prove it was always a fantasy, by Myles Allen, University of Oxford

Climate Fight part 2: the path to net zero

Wednesday, October 13, 2021 • Duration 38:43

In part two of Climate Fight: the world’s biggest negotiation, we’re talking to experts about the grand goal of the negotiations: reaching net zero emissions by 2050. We explore what net zero means, and the technologies that will be needed to get the world there.

Featuring Mercedes Maroto-Valer, assistant deputy principal for research & innovation and director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions at Heriot-Watt University, James Dyke, senior lecturer in global systems at the University of Exeter and Myles Allen, professor of geosystem science and director of Oxford Net Zero at the University of Oxford. Our producer Tiffany Cassidy also visits the Boundary Dam coal-fired power plant in Saskatchewan, Canada, to see carbon capture and storage technology in action.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading

A global carbon removal industry is coming – experts explain the problems it must overcome, by Johanna Forster and Naomi Vaughan, University of East Anglia

Climate Fight part 1: where's the money?

Wednesday, October 6, 2021 • Duration 34:26

In the first episode of our new series Climate fight: the world's biggest negotiation, we're talking about climate finance – money pledged by the world's richest countries to help the poorest parts of the world adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. Where is it being spent and is it really working?

Featuring Jessica Omukuti, COP26 Fellow in Climate Finance at the University of York and a research fellow on inclusive net zero at the University of Oxford, Harpreet Kaur Paul, a PhD candidate in climate justice at the University of Warwick and Alina Averchenkova, distinguished policy fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, London School of Economics and Political Science. Thanks to the reporting of Maryam Charles, we also hear from two residents of Zanzibar about why some climate finance can leave people feeling worse off.

The Climate Fight podcast series is produced by Tiffany Cassidy with reporting from Maryam Charles in Zanzibar. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens and our series theme tune is by Neeta Sarl. The series editor is Gemma Ware. You can sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here. A transcript of this episode is available here.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Further reading:

Climate finance: rich countries aren’t meeting aid targets – could legal action force them? by Harpreet Kaur Paul, University of Warwick

Climate fight: the world's biggest negotiation – trailer

Wednesday, September 29, 2021 • Duration 02:13

How will we actually tackle the climate crisis? And who gets to decide? As Glasgow gets ready to hold the COP26 climate summit in November, The Anthill Podcast is launching Climate fight: the world's biggest negotiation, a new podcast series taking you inside the fight for our planet's future.

We'll speak to some of the academic experts influencing climate policy, and to some of the people around the world who will see their lives change as a result of it. We'll also be in Glasgow for the COP26 summit, talking to experts to unpack how the negotiations went. The first episode will go live on October 6.

The Climate Fight podcast series is produced by Tiffany Cassidy. Sound design is by Eloise Stevens and our series theme tune by Neeta Sarl. The series editor is Gemma Ware. You can sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here.

Climate fight: the world’s biggest negotiation is a podcast series supported by UK Research and Innovation, the UK’s largest public funder of research and innovation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Recovery part six – 2008 financial crisis and lessons for today

Wednesday, July 8, 2020 • Duration 42:16

The 2008 financial crisis resulted in the worst global recession since the second world war. The collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008 caused a meltdown of the global financial system. Money markets froze and there was a major credit crunch as the ability to borrow money suddenly dried up.

To stop contagion and make sure other major financial institutions didn’t collapse, governments stepped in to shore up the system by bailing out the banks. Anastasia Nesvetailova, professor of international political economy at City, University of London, explains what these bailouts involved and why they were so necessary.

Aidan Regan, associate professor at University College Dublin, tells us how the crisis spread across the eurozone and why some countries rebounded a lot more quickly than others. We also discuss how the austerity policies that many governments adopted following the 2008 financial crisis hampered economic growth.

And we explore how emerging markets such as Brazil and China were affected by the 2008 financial crisis. Carolina Alves, fellow in economics at the University of Cambridge, outlines how they were shielded from some elements of the crisis but also left vulnerable to the large reduction in finance that followed.

You can read more research into the 2008 financial crisis and what lessons we can learn from it for today's coronavirus recovery alongside other articles in our Recovery series, which accompany this podcast.

This episode was produced by Gemma Ware and Annabel Bligh, with sound design by Eloise Stevens.

The Anthill is a podcast from The Conversation UK. We’re an independent news media outlet that exists purely to take reliable, informed voices direct to a wide audience. If you’re able to to support our work, please consider donating via our website. Thanks to everyone who has already done so.

Hosted on Acast. See for more information.

Recovery part five – the post-Soviet transition

Wednesday, July 1, 2020 • Duration 36:38

In this fifth episode of Recovery, a series from The Anthill Podcast exploring key moments in history when parts of the world recovered from a major crisis or shock, we’re looking at what happened in the former Soviet Union during the transition from communism to capitalism in the 1990s.

When the USSR was finally dissolved at the end of 1991 it was a massive shock to the system for millions of people. The transition from a state-controlled command economy to a market-driven capitalist one was a hugely complex structural change. What followed was what’s come to be known as “shock therapy” – post-communist states were suddenly subject to mass privatisation and market reforms. Price controls were lifted. State support – which had been such a fundamental part of everybody’s way of life in the former Soviet Union and eastern bloc – was withdrawn.

Jo Crotty, professor of management and director of the Institute for Social Responsibility at Edge Hill University, was living in between Belarus and Russia in the early 1990s. She describes the hyperinflation and economic breakdown she witnessed during this period. Companies tried to keep people employed, but these were jobs in name only and there was a huge problem of hidden unemployment – which she says offers a warning as coronavirus furlough schemes end today.

Some parts of the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries recovered quicker than others. Lawrence King, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a research associate at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, explains why, and what political upheaval the drastic economic reforms provoked. He also describes the devastating impact that waves of privatisation had on mortality rates in Russia in the 1990s.

And Elisabeth Schimpfössl, lecturer in sociology and policy at Aston University, talks about a new group of oligarchs emerged in Russia during the transition in the 1990s, benefitting from the waves of privatisation and shift to a capitalist system. She describes the enduring legacy this period has had on wealth inequality in Russia.

The Conversation Documentaries – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Conversation Documentaries – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other99+

Acast1

The Guardian1

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

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Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

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The Guardian1

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