Friday Afternoon at the Bratby

On November 4, Eve Pollard delivered the 41st annual Baggs Memorial Lecture on the theme of “Happiness – what it is and how it may be achieved by individuals as well as nations”. We spoke to her before the lecture to get her thoughts on the subject of happiness. 

In this episode we talk about the impact of Brexit on the University; on our people and core activities. We are joined by Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International), Professor Robin Mason and Professor Dagmar Scheel-Toellner, a German member of staff who’s worked at the University for the past 25 years. We cover what the best Brexit deal would be for the University, what we're doing to plan ahead, how we're supporting staff and students, as well as searching for some potential positives in this time of great uncertainty.

Matt Collins welcomed former member of The Communards and current Church of England priest, Reverend Richard Coles, to talk about happiness. Reverend Coles was at the University recently to deliver the 40th annual Baggs Memorial Lecture on the theme of Happiness. During the 1980s Richard had chart success with The Communards, who had three UK Top 10 hits, including the biggest-selling single of 1986, Don’t Leave Me This Way, making him the only vicar to have ever had a number one single. Richard is also co-presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live and is a regular guest panellist on shows such as Have I Got News For You and QI. In January 2014, he won the BBC’s Celebrity Mastermind, and in 2017 he appeared on Strictly Come Dancing.  

Welcoming the 2018 British Transplant Games (BTG) to Birmingham. Professor Adnan Sharif, Consultant Transplant Nephrologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, and Alan Wheeldon, a competitor at the Games, discuss the event, organ donation and how we increase rates of organ transplantation in the UK.

Episode 2: Matt Collins chats with Professor Martin Powell and Dr Sophie Cox on the anniversary of the NHS. Would today’s NHS be recognisable to its founder, Aneurin Bevan, and what needs to be done to ensure that the NHS has a sustainable future? Can healthcare technologies help meet some of the challenges that the NHS faces?

Welcome to Friday Afternoon at the Bratby’s first podcast: a preview of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Matt Collins chats with Conor McKenna, Dr Natasha Rulyova and Dr Jamie Rann ahead of one of the most controversial and politically charged football World Cups of all time.