Podcast appearances and mentions of Bristol City Council

We're going up north – or actually, the north is coming down south to Bristol. You've probably clocked by now that there's been a massive Northern Soul revival in the city, so we thought we'd unpack what it's all about.This week, Neil talks to Levanna McLean and her mum, Eve Arslett. It started when Levanna began doing Northern Soul dances during lockdown. Her mum filmed it, they pushed it out on socials and it blew up. They've featured everywhere: from BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour to the New York Times.They then set up the Bristol Northern Soul club night. It kicked off at The Assembly in Old Market and has recently moved to the Eastville Social Club – an historic working men's club in an Ikea car park.So, why is a scene that started in the sixties taking off in Bristol now with a whole new generation? We try and unpack all of this...Bristol Northern Soul on HeadfirstLevanna McLean

This week we've got the next instalment of Bristol Unpacked for you. Neil managed to get a chat in with our new High Sheriff, Kalpna Woolf. Its one of those mysterious, archaic titles that somehow has stood the test of time, but as Kalpna details, is a world away from its original purpose of enforcing the monarch's will and collecting taxes… Kalpna talks us through her upbringing as a first generation migrant kid in London and the life experiences which led her to this point, as an ambassador of community cohesion across cultural divides. It's a good one, and feels poignant in this current political climate where migrant has become a dirty word.Kalpna founded 91 Ways – an organisation using the power of food to connect Bristol's 91 language communities. She also set up the Be Onboard initiative which aims to diversify boardrooms, making them representative of the communities they serve. She's been a boss at the BBC and a board member for University of the West of England. 

One year into his leadership of Bristol City Council, Green party councillor for Southville Tony Dyer sits down with Neil to talk about it. Is he a Noel type? or a Liam? or a Bonehead? (apparently these are references to a band called Oasis).They touch on the Green Party's internal dynamics, financial hurdles, and the significant political changes occurring within the city, such as the appointment of the new West of England Combined Authority mayor, Labour's Helen Godwin. They unpack some key local issues from the past year, including the controversial East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood Scheme, Yew Tree Farm and more generally, budget constraints impacting public services. Also, the rising wave of right wing populism and how that might impact Dyer's stomping ground in South Bristol in the years ahead.

With faith in democracy – and in particular in traditional political parties – at a low ebb, in the UK and elsewhere, this week Unpacked wrestles with whether citizens' assemblies offer a chance to rekindle the public's affection. Neil is joined by David Jubb, co-founder and co-director of Citizens In Power, which as its name suggests aims to enable citizens to lead decision-making and shape the future.Citizens' assemblies offer a representative group of people the chance to deliberate on thorny issues – such as abortion or assisted dying – in a much more nuanced way than, for example, the Brexit referendum did. They are meant to provide a safe space for people to respectfully disagree, something that has become harder in our age of polarised opinion, and to find solutions that are acceptable for all.This year, Jubb will be collaborating with Trinity Community Arts and St Paul's Carnival on Citizens for Culture, a West of England-wide project to explore how creative opportunities can be more inclusive and accessible for everyone in the region. How will that work then? Who will be involved? And what would success look like? Tune in for another thought-provoking chat…

In this instalment of Bristol Unpacked, Neil is joined by BBC Politics West editor Pete Simson to unpack the upcoming West of England Combined Authority (WECA) Mayoral election. Simson, a veteran political journalist, offers his expertise and breaks down key aspects of the election, discussing the major candidates, voter engagement strategies, and the complexities of local political dynamics here in Bristol. How do you cover local political content in an engaging way? And what might be the impact of recent scandals and controversies on the WECA election results? Listen on to find out.Politics West

This week, we're diving into Bristol's vibrant nightlife. Neil talks with legendary Bristol photographer Colin Moody who has has been wide awake, capturing the city after dark in his latest project.Colin is no stranger to documenting Bristol's characters; his previous photography books have brought the streets of Montpelier and Gloucester Road to life. Now, he's turned his lens to the nightlife, working for the past five years (yes, even through lockdown) alongside Jasmine Yaba Ketibuah-foley. Neil chats with Colin about his new book, the decline of nightlife across the UK, and why clubs are closing left and right. Is it the cost of living? Post-pandemic struggles? And what about the rave scene—is it still the cultural force it once was?Plus, should a man of Colin's age really be out until 4 AM taking photos? Shouldn't he be at home with a cup of cocoa? Tune in for a brilliant conversation about art, nightlife, and the soul of after-hours Bristol.

This week we're bringing you another episode from the Bristol Unpacked Archives; its Green party MP Carla Denyer who was interviewed by Neil in October 2021, just after her election as co-chair of The Green party and 3 years before her election to parliament as the MP for Bristol Central in 2024.How has she measured up against early commitments expressed in this interview? Check out her voting record and see for yourself.Original Copy - October 2021:Carla Denyer, an elected councillor in the city, has just won the leadership of the Greens alongside Adrian Ramsay. With Labour shifting to the right, and concern about the climate crisis starting to become mainstream, Denyer thinks this is the moment for Greens, in the UK and beyond. But can they get out of their pigeon-hole and reach a wide range of society? Will internal divisions rock the party like they have others? And what does this all mean for Bristol? Join Neil for an in depth interview on Carla's background, politics and plans.An audio excerpt of a council meeting is used courtesy of Bristol City Council.

From the archiveApril 2022"As the slap reverberates around the world we talk all things comedy with Jayde Adams - who went from working in Asda Bedminster to her own Amazon Prime Special. She just starred in a new BBC documentary following her move back to Bristol. Going deep about how the death of her sister made her so driven, are there red lines in comedy, and what it is like coming home."

Lucy Reed is a barrister in the family courts, where separating couples hammer out child custody arrangements and where, in one of the most severe decisions the state can take, orders are made to take children into care, separating them from their families. On 27 January, journalists were for the first time allowed, with some restrictions, to report from any family court across England and Wales. Why is this a big deal? And with the system under pressure, why do so many kids get taken into care, and what needs to change?Lucy's blog Pink TapeFamily Court Information

From the archives - an updateToday we bring you an episode from the archives with Dr Patrick Hart. Patrick took action in August 2022 to demand an end to new licences and consents for oil and gas projects in the UK, something which has subsequently become government policy. He disabled petrol pumps at an Esso garage on the M25 on the 24th August 2022.On August 24, 2022, he disabled petrol pumps at an Esso garage near the M25. He was found guilty of Criminal Damage in October 2024 and appeared before Judge Mills at Chelmsford Crown Court on January 7 of this year.Dr. Hart has already been fined in civil court for this action, as the Thurrock Esso petrol station is subject to a private injunction. He has also been referred for a disciplinary hearing by the General Medical Council (GMC) and will face a tribunal. In the past 12 months, the GMC has suspended two doctors from the medical register following convictions for non-violent climate protests. Dr. Hart now faces penalties in three separate proceedings for the same incident.Before sentencing Dr Hart said:“Right now, the greatest health threat to all of us is the unfolding climate catastrophe. It is the greatest health threat we have ever faced. All healthcare workers have a responsibility to protect the health of their patients. If we do not stand up to the oil and gas executives who are wreaking havoc on our climate and the politicians who enable them, if we do not end the burning of fossil fuels, then we will have failed as a profession and the health systems that we have developed over centuries will collapse. I will continue to fight against the death sentence of fossil fuels for as long as I have strength in me. I have no greater duty as a doctor at this moment in history.”Original copy:Just Stop Oil protestors have been disrupting business as usual since April 2022. A Daily Mail article called them “a deranged criminal eco-terrorist cult”. But who are the people behind the headlines? Neil sits down with Dr Patrick Hart, a local GP who has been putting his career and liberty on the line through direct action protests, including the smashing and spray painting of a petrol station. Dr Hart believes we have run out of time for purely legal ways of pulling the world back from what the UN has called “the brink of climate catastrophe”. But are these tactics effective? Are protestors losing public sympathy? Does that matter? Listen in for a conversation far and away from the soundbites of Good Morning Britain

It's the coldest time of the year, and Bristol's homelessness crisis is as bleak as ever. How does it feel to be out on the streets? This week, Neil puts the question to Paul Goggin, ex-Lord Mayor of Bristol, who went through a period of sleeping rough after a relationship breakdown. Goggin has also been open about his mental health struggles – does the UK need a different approach? And as Labour councillor for Hartcliffe and Withywood, does he fear the rise of the Reform Party? Listen in to find out…Head to www.thebristolcable.org/join to become a member, and subscribe to The Bristol Cable wherever you get your podcasts.

As 2024 comes to a close, we take a moment to reflect on what has been a busy year at Genomics England and in the wider genomics community. Throughout the year, guests have joined us to discuss groundbreaking research discoveries, important ethical considerations, and share their personal stories. It was also a year of transformation: we rebranded our podcast as Behind the Genes, welcomed Dr Rich Scott as our new Chief Executive Officer, and launched the Generation Study, in partnership with NHS England. The Participant Panel also saw changes, with Kirsty Irvine stepping into the role of Chair and Adam Clatworthy and Helen White becoming Vice Chairs. In this special end of year episode, Adam Clatworthy, Vice-Chair of the Participant Panel, sits down with Dr. Rich Scott, CEO of Genomics England, to look back on the highlights of 2024. Together, they revisit key podcast moments, reflect on research discoveries, and share insights into the evolving world of genomics. Below are the links to the podcasts mentioned in this episode, in order of appearance: Celebrating genomic breakthroughs - Insights from the Festival of Genomics Shining a light on rare conditions How has a groundbreaking genomic discovery impacted thousands worldwide? How can we work in partnership towards a new era of genomic medicine and research? How has design research shaped the Generation Study? How can we bridge the gap between diverse communities? Can Artificial Intelligence accelerate the impact of genomics? "It's really important that we just continue to bring that patient and participant community on that journey, just to ensure that they really understand the full benefits. And we've talked about that on the episode today. I know that the panel has always encouraged the Genomics England team to look at its boots while shooting for the moon. I really like that phrase just to make sure, look, we can't forget where we've come from to make sure we're taking people on that journey" You can download the transcript or read it below. Adam: Welcome to Behind the Genes.  Rich: Our vision at Genomics England is a world where everyone can benefit from genomic healthcare, thinking about how we ensure the lessons we've learnt through our diverse data programme is embedded across all of our work.  So that word “everyone” applies to people in lots of different ways, different communities people come from, different socioeconomic backgrounds, making sure that equity is baked into all of our work.  And there's real opportunity for genomics to play a broader role than in rare conditions and in cancer, we're proud of the impact we're already having there, and we should really look to the future.  Adam: My name is Adam Clatworthy, and I'm the Vice-Chair for rare conditions on the Participant Panel at Genomics England.  On today's episode, I'm going to be joined by Rich Scott, CEO of Genomics England.  We're going to be taking a look back at the key milestones from 2024 for Genomics England, and really discussing our hopes and aspirations for the year ahead.  During this episode we'll also hear from some of our guests we've had on the show this year, who have helped shape our discussions and shared some of their most impactful moments and insights.  And if you'd like to listen to more like this, then please subscribe to Behind the Genes on your favourite podcast app.  So, with that, thanks for joining me, Rich, how are you doing?  Rich: I'm great, thanks for hosting today, I'm really excited about it.    Adam: So, Rich, it's been a pretty exciting year for you, you've taken on the CEO role at Genomics England full-time, so why don't you just start by telling us about how those first few months have been for you?  Rich: It's been a really exciting year, I think for us overall at Genomics England, and obviously personally taking on the CEO role, which is an enormous privilege.  I've been at Genomics England nine years, and I think both a privilege and a real responsibility to take on the role.  To think both about how we continue to honour the commitments we've given our participants and those we work with, and to think about the future, where we might go together, what evidence we need to generate, what our systems need to support.  So it's been great taking on the role, and thinking about that, both the present and the future, and there's been lots, as we'll talk about, there's been lots going on.  Adam: No, that's great.  And I must say for myself as well, I started the Vice-Chair role at a very similar time to you early in the year.  When I started, we were in the process of looking for our next Chair.  Obviously, we had Jillian and Rebecca, both standing down, after many years in the role.  They've been there from the start, really guiding the Panel through this amazingly successful period.  But for me, I've really enjoyed working in partnership with Helen, who is our Vice-Chair for cancer.  It's been a real partnership, in terms of filling in for that interim leadership role.  And we wanted to make sure that we weren't just caretakers, we were really continuing to be actively involved in a lot of the discussions that are happening with your colleagues across Genomics England.  Very much leading the Panel, and starting to have those important discussions around, where does the Panel go next?  And what's our strategy for the next two to three years?  What are the key areas that we can drive real value and impact, in line with your own milestones at Genomics England?    And, of course, I've just loved getting stuck into chairing the Panel meetings as well, for me, that's the best part, is really bringing together these amazingly diverse and passionate people.  With so many different personalities, lived experiences, and a combined passion for just taking this forward together, and making sure that the benefits of genomics really impact, and that's felt by the wider community itself.  So there's been lots of highlights to recognise this year, a real stand-out for me has to be the Genomics England Research Summit, from what I understand it was the most attended event to date.  And it was just so good to see that a lot of the Panel were front and centre across that event, sharing their stories, having a really active role, whether introducing speakers, or telling their own journeys as part of the Q&A sessions.   I myself was really privileged to be on stage with Baroness Nicola Blackwood, literally nine days after I officially started the role.  So it was great to just dive in at the deep end, get in front of an incredible audience, and just see that the broader Panel was front and centre of the event itself.  And it was just great to see how popular the event was, many more people coming to have a chat to us on the stand than would have found us before, so, all in all, a really big highlight for myself.  So, for you, Rich, are there any other highlights that you want to call out for this year?  Rich: And first to say, absolutely agree with the Research Summit being, you know, a highlight.  The diversity of the discussions that we had, it's one of the things we enjoy most about thinking about creating the summit, as you say, involving the participants very much at the centre.  Like, physically at the centre of the room, for people to come and talk to participants and hearing stories.  And then really seeing how over the years we can see the impact growing, and having talks, whether it's about individual findings, or big research studies.  So the final talk of the day was from Charlie Swanton.  He was talking about some really exciting work that his team have done in our National Genomics Research Library, making a really important discovery about extra chromosomal DNA in cancer, and that's now been published in Nature.  And then right next to him, we were having a policy talk from Sam, who's the CEO of NICE.  And you can see the range of things, the sorts of evidence, sorts of conversation, we need to have, so that was really fantastic.  I'd call out one discovery this year that maybe we'll come back to, and one other big highlight.  So I think the big discovery this year was the discovery of this piece of non-coding sequence in the genome called RNU4-2, which turns out to be pretty much the most common cause of developmental disorders that's been discovered.  And it's just so exciting to see that having been discovered in the National Genomics Research Library.  And then the news, the knowledge spread, across the world, and family support groups coming together to understand and learn more about what that means for them.  So that was, I think, the discovery over the years at Genomics England that's touched me most, seeing that story.  And I'd say for us, organisationally, another big highlight has been the launch of our newborns programme, the Generation Study.  So as lots of people listening will know, we've been actually thinking about what the questions underlying this study are for a good number of years, doing a lot of preparatory work.  Actually, before we even started, setting up public dialogue jointly with the National Screening Committee about what the public were keen to understand and the appetite for research in this area.  And then we've been spending several years designing the study, working with the NHS how to design, safely launch it, National Screening Committee involved all along, and working with patients and the public to design it.  And this year now launching the study at a public launch, just a couple of months ago, by the time people are listening to this, and at the time of recording, more than 2,000 families have joined the programme.    So really exciting, us exploring a really big question for genomics, about the use of whole genome sequencing in newborn babies.  Whether that should be offered to every baby at birth, primarily driven by that desire to do better for those children born with treatable conditions, where genetics, genomics, can be a way in to finding them, but doing that at the right pace, and very much in a research setting.  That's been a real, a moment, I think there's been so much work on the path to it, but it's right to sort of celebrate these staging posts on the way.  We're early in the programme, there's lots to do, lots to work through, lots of evidence that we'll accrue, but it's really exciting to be at that staging post.  Adam: No, absolutely, and from my side, I think seeing all of the media pick up for the Generation Study launch, you could really see the excitement in the wider kind of community.  Seeing it shared on social media, obviously those part of the 100,000 Genomes Project, seeing things like this.  It's like they can see the tangible outcomes of all the work that they've done as part of that initial project, and seeing how those learnings are then taken onto this new study.  So we'll now hear a clip from earlier in the year from Louise Fish, who is the former CEO of Genetic Alliance UK, who shares her thoughts on the potential of the Generation Study.  Louise: The Generation Study is looking at 200 conditions and whether it's possible to screen for them.  And for all of those 200 conditions, it's a really exciting opportunity to see if we can learn more.  Both about the potential to understand and develop treatments early, but also just about the chance to understand the natural history of that condition so much earlier than we do at the moment.  And I think that's it, it's that understanding the natural history of the condition really early, and understanding how a family can be helped, through all aspects of the condition, which is giving people most excitement I think, alongside the potential to develop treatments.  Adam: So now, let's look back at the priorities for Genomics England for 2025.  Now, Rich, would you like to just take us through some of the things you'll be focusing on next year?  Rich: Yes, one of the things that we've been doing this year, but also actually in the year before, is really looking to the future.  And saying, where might we be in terms of genomics really living up to the impact it could have, if we collectively, in the UK and working with international partners, sort of get things right?  And that's very much about balancing the realism of where we are, and the impact we're already having, and being proud of that, and then getting that same sort of ambition and realism casting to the future.  And I'd say, I think there are two really broad themes.  I think the first thing is, we're enormously proud of the impact we've had already for families with rare conditions, and people with cancer, and that impact will continue to grow in the coming years, in those areas.  And in the next few years, that's where the biggest impact of genomics will continue, and the rare disease programme we have thinking increasingly about how we support the generation of evidence and pathways that lead to rare therapies.    So building, getting better all the time at finding diagnoses, which is still a long journey we're on, and continuing that work.  Increasingly thinking about how we can support therapies, and in cancer, again, playing a better role in cancer, both by driving efficiency in diagnostics, and efficiency in identifying where therapies enabled by genomics can be targeted.  And we see lots of different examples of that, clinical trials is a big area where we hope to have more impact in the future, but also thinking about some of the novel therapies that are there, both for rare conditions, but also, for example, the cancer vaccines.  And I think we're uniquely placed in the UK, because of our partnership at Genomics England with the NHS, and the broader science ecosystem, to have that impact.  So that's the sort of like continuing very much where we are, but really pushing those boundaries.  And then also, if we look to the future, to say, what role could genomics play?  And we, as you know, our vision at Genomics England is a world that everyone can benefit from genomic healthcare, and I think that plays out in a couple of ways.  Firstly, thinking about how we ensure the lessons we've learnt through our diverse data programme is embedded across all of our work, so that word “everyone” applies to people in lots of different ways, different communities people come from, different socioeconomic backgrounds, making sure that equity is based into all of our work.  And then also, to say there's real opportunity for genomics to play a broader role than in rare conditions and in cancer, we're proud of the impact we're already having there, and we should really look to the future.  And as we set out where we think what evidence is needed and where we need to learn what the digital infrastructure that we build and others build, need to build that to support that, we look across a few different areas.  But really you can see genomics playing a role across the lifetime, in different places in different roles.   To pick one really powerful example is something people often refer to as pharmacogenomics.  Which is a medical term for what boils down to look at a person's DNA sequence, that's the genomics bit, and making decisions based on what drug to give them, what drugs to avoid, or perhaps what dose to drug to give them.  Based on, for example, the desire to avoid adverse drug reactions that people might be at high risk of, and you can identify that risk looking at the DNA.  That is one example of genomics playing a role in being increasingly sort of preventive, getting away from disease, getting upstream of disease arising, or harm arising.  And there are other opportunities in common disease as well, sort of casting forward to what that impact might be, and we feel that genomics could play a role, really broadly, across healthcare, in probably as many as half of all healthcare encounters.    But what we need to do over the coming years for that to potentially be the case is we need to build out the evidence, and we also need to understand what digital infrastructure we need, to make that a possibility.  So that the information is there in simple format, for patients and the public, for their GPs, for their pharmacist, for people in any speciality in hospital, not just sort of rare disease clinics or in cancer, as we are at the moment.  And so very much we're thinking about the programmes that we and others could run to ask some of those questions, to think about what we need to build out.  We feel that the UK's uniquely placed to develop that evidence, so that we can make the choices about how genomics is used, and so we can be ready to embed it.    And it really aligns with that shift that we see and we hear, for example, in government being talked about, when we're looking about sort of the shifts that the NHS sees as essential.  You know, increasingly preventive, increasingly digital, increasingly in the community, and that point of sort of getting upstream.  And genomics is going to be an important part of that.  And we at Genomics England are really excited about the role that we can play, whether it's through the digital infrastructure we build, whether it's the programmes that we run to develop the evidence.  Or whether it's through the ethics and the engagement work, the work with the Panel, and the work with the wider public, to understand how we might develop this evidence, what people are comfortable with, what the expectations are.  And I think that, pulling that together is complex, it's really exciting to think about how we do it.  I think we in the UK are uniquely placed to take advantage of that.  Adam: That's great, and I think the pharmacogenomics piece is fascinating.  I mean, you hear many stories of people having adverse reactions to certain medications, and you wouldn't even think it's something that may be linked to their genetic makeup.  It's so important that we take people along that journey, around what the benefits are, the ethics, to make sure that people really understand the journey that we're making and what the potential impact could be.  Whilst there's lots of amazing new areas to develop into, a key focus for us on the Panel is really continuing to demonstrate how the 100,000 Genomes Project participants continue to have an impact, and they're helping shape a lot of these developments.  So they generously donated their data, it not only helps Genomics England develop the systems and services that now benefit many families, but it also continues to drive that scientific and technological enhancement.  So it wasn't just about reaching that 100,000 genomes, that project was really the starting point, as it were, it's not the finish line, it laid the groundwork for a lot of these developments.  So it's about how do we focus on maximising the benefit for those participants over their lifetime, not just at that one point in time.    We know genomics is evolving so rapidly, what you can glean from a genome today is far more than what was possible in 2013.  And we know the Diagnostic Discovery team is continuing to analyse the data for participants in the project based on these new advances, the team led by Suzi (Walker), who's doing some amazing work there.  Using all the latest tools and enhancements, just to make sure that those participants are really benefiting from that learning.  So, we just need to make sure we stay close to that wider community, and just ensure they're not forgotten, that's really a key north star for us as the Panel.  And something that we've been pushing is better ways that we can help to communicate the ways that you're celebrating these successes, providing regular updates on research progress, offering personalised reports based on the latest findings.  And it's all about providing them with that hope.  Some people may never get a diagnosis, but it's about giving the hope that one day they might get that phone call out of the blue, so it's about giving the hope that those possibilities are out there for others.    So we're now going to shift gear onto hearing from Shaun Pye, who is the father of Joey.  She was diagnosed with DYRK1A syndrome, which is a rare chromosomal disorder, which causes a degree of developmental delay or learning difficulty, at the age of just thirteen.  In this podcast episode, Shaun and his wife Sarah told us of their journey to Joey's diagnosis, and how their role in writing the BBC television comedy drama series, There She Goes, has helped to shine a light on the rare condition community.  Shaun: Then the opportunity came along with 100,000 Genomes, and we signed up immediately.  And then that, they did that, and it was a few years before that went through the system, and then we had, out of the blue really, we were asked to go and see a geneticist, and we had no idea that this is what it was.  I honestly thought it was just a routine sort of, we've got a few more theories or something, and she just said, “We've found out what it is.”  And it's like, that moment is, well, we tried to describe it in the TV programme, but it is quite hard to describe what goes through your mind, when after thirteen and a half years somebody suddenly says, “Oh, by the way, that thing that happened with your daughter, we've worked out what it is.”  Adam: So here, Rich, did you want to provide some updates around future progress, particularly in diagnostic discovery and expanding the research?  Rich: When we're looking to the future, we're looking sort of in two areas.  How we can build the impact we're having today for families with rare conditions and cancer, and that very much includes the participants in our programmes, 100,000 Genomes, those through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service, who joined the National Genomic Research Library.  And we've seen, I think the number that I'm most proud of at Genomics England is that number of diagnostic discoveries returned to the NHS, which has just hit the 4,000 mark.  And for those less familiar with the terminology, essentially what that means is where either researchers or the internal team at Genomics England have identified changes in the genome data, that with new knowledge, often with a fine tooth comb, it's considered likely that that is the answer to the cause of the rare condition in that person in the programme.  So that's 4,000 of those returned to the NHS.    And that tells you a lot about where we are for families with rare conditions, and I think there's two points here.  The first one is, we've got a long way still to go to do what we want to for families with rare conditions.  I'm a doctor and still see families in my clinic once a month at Great Ormond Street, even with the incredible advances we've had over the last particularly 10or 15 years, with the changes in sequencing and analysis, we still find an answer for the minority of families.  So that number is growing, and we're really proud of how much better we've done, and there's a long way left to go.  And the really critical thing is designing a system which we're so lucky with in the UK here, where we can continue to learn.  And that's not just for learning for the knowledge of people who might encounter the health system in the future.  It's to learn for those people who've joined the National Genomics Research Library, who've already trusted us to be the custodians of their data, and to do better in the future.  And that's what our diagnostic discovery work really aims to do.  And sometimes that's about new gene discoveries.  So all the time new things are being discovered each year.  And if you look at the DNA code, if you like, boil it down very simply.  99% of it is what we call non-coding DNA, I'll come back to that, about 1% is the genes, which if you like are sort of the books in the library of the DNA, overall DNA code, that we understand relatively well how they're read by the body.  The bits in between, it's a bit of a funny, well-spaced out library this one, that's the 99%, actually we've had very little understanding of most of that code in between.  But we're beginning, and particularly this year, to gain an understanding of how we might interrogate some of those pieces.  And not all of the answers lie in that non-coding DNA, there's lots of answers still left in genes that we don't understand well.    But one of the examples I mentioned earlier, and in fact the thing, the single discovery I guess which I'm most proud of having happened in the National Genomic Research Library is this discovery of this non-coding region called RNU4-2.  Which is a funny, like technical series of letters and numbers, but basically it's a very small patch of the whole DNA code.  Where this year, scientists discovered actually about 60 patients in the families in the National Genomic Research Library where that was the cause of their child's developmental disorder.  Actually, that knowledge has really rapidly spread across the world.  So I actually saw on social media at the weekend, from one of the scientists involved in the discovery, that the family support group that's been set up for what they're calling ReNu syndrome, which I think is a lovely name in itself, speaks to that word hope that you mentioned, Adam.  There are now 248 members of that group, and that's how fast that knowledge spreads across the world.  And what we're doing is thinking how we can support those discoveries more broadly, and non-coding DNA is one of those areas where that growth is, but it's not the only one where we're looking to support things.  But it's so exciting, and I think it gives you a sense of the scale of progress that is left to make.  And I think a really important point is that remains a really important area of our focus, it's not about moving on and looking just to the future, but we need to keep working for the families who are already part of our programmes.    Adam: That's incredible, that 248 members in such a short space of time.  And I love the ReNu name for that, I agree, I think that's a fantastic way of positioning it.  Earlier this year, we heard from Lindsay Pearse, whose son Lars received a diagnosis through that groundbreaking discovery of the genetic change in the RNU4-2, or ReNu gene, which was made possible by whole genome sequencing.  She told us what the diagnosis meant for their family.  Lindsay: This feeling that, like, we've been on this deserted island for eight years, and now all of a sudden, you're sort of like looking around through the branches of the trees, and it's like, wait a minute, there are other people on this island.  And in this case, actually there's a lot more people on this island.  Yes, it's very exciting, it's validating, it gives us a lot of hope and, you know, it has been quite emotional too (laughter).  And also, a bit of an identity shift, because I spoke earlier about how being undiagnosed had become quite a big part of our identity, and so now that's kind of shifting a little bit, that we have this new diagnosis, and are part of a new community.  Adam: You talked about it there, Rich, I mean, it's been really seen as a success story for the whole genomics ecosystem, especially the speed at which it all came together.  From the conversations I had with some of the individuals that were involved in the study, from the date of seeing the first findings in the lab meeting to a polished pre-print going live, was exactly 47 days, which in science terms is less than a second.  So that's how they positioned it to me, incredible.  And you've just said there, they set up this support group earlier this year, and already got 248 members, which is incredible.  The impact on families is significant, the mother touched upon it there.  I mean, for many parents there is that relief that it wasn't something they did during pregnancy, but instead, it is a chance occurrence.  For some, this knowledge means that they can make important decisions, choosing to grow their family, for example.  And it really ends that diagnostic odyssey that many families face, providing answers and potentially ending unnecessary testing that their child is going through.  But I think, and I can talk from personal experience here, that the largest impact is really being able to connect with other families and building that community, you cannot really understate that.  If I look at our own experience of getting a CRELD1 diagnosis for our children, the first time we didn't feel alone was when we could find that community.  We can support each other, we can learn from each other's experiences, and really also drive forward further research into that condition through advocacy.  So, I remember seeing that post on the Facebook page, about that RNU4-2 discovery, and this was before I'd even started in the role at Genomics England on the Panel, but you could really feel that excitement and the relief that they had.  And they mentioned that the official paper only had 36 other people worldwide, they found this little Facebook group that they created with five families in, and in the space of, what, 6, 7 months, they're already at 248.  That's all people that understand what they're going through.  And it's really hard to describe, it's like finding your family that you've never met, people that understand, and they really get what you're going through.  And being able to share tips, advice, learnings, and things that everyone's going through at different stages in their child's life.  So, I really don't think you can talk highly enough of that, that community aspect, and that's just been amazing to see.  And, look, this new era of research into the role of non-coding RNA genes, it really may open more opportunities for diagnoses for patients, participants potentially leading to hopefully more breakthroughs in the year ahead.  So now we're going to move on to why it's so important to engage patients and participants in the genomics world.  So, we'll now hear a clip from Helen White, who is the Vice-Chair for cancer on the Participant Panel.  Now Helen and I have been working really closely together as Vice-Chairs in this interim leadership role, to really ensure that we continue advancing the Panel's strategic initiatives while we recruit that new Chair.  So it's been amazing learning and working with Helen.  In this clip, she discussed an important topic that's been very much top of mind of the Panel, which is the importance of involving the patients and public in genomics research.  Helen: I think, you know, as patients, members of the public, we're eager to get on and for change to happen and things to be better, but it's, yes, a big, big process.  But also, good to hear that you talk about it being a collaborative approach, it's not just Genomics England, it's the NHS, it's members of the public and patient voices, it's other organisations working in partnership.  Adam: Now I think we all recognise the importance of engaging patients and public to ensure diverse communities understand the benefits of genomics, and actively involving patients and participants in the research, to make sure that they're including the perspective of what matters most to them.   Rich: I mean, it goes back to the thing that we really see as central to the value that we at Genomics England can provide.  So we increasingly think of ourselves as a data and evidence engine for national scale genomics, and I think a really important to call out there is that evidence is broad.  And part of that evidence is about public expectations, public preferences, and patient preferences.  And if you think about the big things that we do and where we bring that value, and bring that data and evidence engine role, is, you know, firstly in the digital infrastructure that we build and the data that we hold and present to our various users.  Secondly, it's in the evidence that we distil from that, and very much thinking about part of that being evidence in and around, including that piece on what people expect, this isn't just about hard science and health economics, this is an equally if not more important part of that.  And then thirdly, it is the third area of our focus is on that engagement piece, because that's so fundamental.  And I think you and Helen called that out absolutely right, about that being, that's integral to the whole process, and it's the beginning of any programme you need to start with understanding what the big drivers are, what the expectations are, and doing this very much together.  That's one of the reasons we're so fortunate to have the Participant Panel we do, in our Newborns Programme the Panel have been an important part of that design from the outset.  It's also about broader engagement with different communities, people who currently don't engage with genomics, because they've had no need to, sort of understanding that piece.  And I think we've definitely seen over time in health data research, but also research more broadly, where it's quite easy for these things to be disconnected.  And that results in two things.  It results in research happening about interesting esoteric stuff, but not on the stuff that makes a difference for families.  And I think that's really important, because researchers need to be directed in the resource limited world towards the things that really make a difference.  So that's the first thing.  And the second thing is, it's very easy, with the best will in the world, for people to make wrong judgements about what people are or aren't content with, and you need therefore to be absolutely transparent about what the research is.  Be really clear about what those questions are, and let people challenge you, right from the outset, so that we can design research studies, but also, the system as a whole, together in a way that everyone has a say.  Not everyone has the same view, but how we can develop a system that takes into account those things and gets that balance right.  This is about making a difference to people's health outcomes, thinking about how we achieve that, while also balancing off all of the different views there are, is really important.  And that's at the heart of it.  And it can be scary, because it's right that there is that challenge out there.  And it's one of the things that I think we've learnt at Genomics England, how important it is to be really open to that challenge, and to do that piece really early in all of our work, and have it there baked into our governance as well, for example, the Participant Panel.  Adam: Absolutely, and I think you've summarised all the key areas there really well, in terms of the importance of that engagement.  And one other area I'd just like to pick up on is the impact it can have on the patients or the participants, simply by having that connection with the researcher, that's doing all of the amazing stuff that for some of us, it's really hard to comprehend.  But having that interaction and collaboration with them, it's so important in terms of, again, I go back to giving you that hope.  And a real highlight for me at the Genomics England Research Summit was when Hannah, one of the members of our Panel, she came running over to us and she was just beaming.  And she said, “Guys, you'll never guess what, I've just met the scientist who discovered my daughter's diagnosis in the NGRL.”  And you could see that she was so excited, you cannot understate the impacts that can have on them as a family.  Like having that interaction and that personal connection with the person that really in some ways kind of changed their lives, in terms of understanding more about what that could mean for their daughter growing up, and how they're managing the condition.  So, it's amazing when you can see those highlights and hopefully we'll see more of those.  And it's also really important that we get that diversity I think, as well, in that collaborative approach, just to make sure that it is equitable for all.  And that really brings us on nicely to the next topic, which is about how do we bridge the gap between those diverse communities, and make sure that we're reaching everyone as best as possible?  So we're now going to hear a clip from Sandra Igwe.  Sandra is a CEO and founder of the Motherhood Group, speaking about the Generation Study.  Now, Sandra spoke about the importance of building trust, and how it is vital to engage with a diverse group of communities in the design of research studies.  Sandra: Every community's different, and every patient is different as well.  And so that may require different focuses or different formats or different messengers for different groups.  And so we like to have people with lived experience from the community representing that, and also driving the uptake of consent as well.  But failing to engage diverse voices can lead to perpetuating inequalities in access and uptake.  So it's really important to have representation, because the lack of it in research can overlook communities' specific concerns and needs.  Adam: So, Rich, did you want to talk about why it's so important to have that diversity?  Rich: Yes, I mean, it's critical.  One, I mentioned earlier, our vision as an organisation is a world where everyone benefits from genomic healthcare, and that word “everyone” really resonates.  I think Sandra has been really an important part of the work that we've done over the last couple of years, particularly through our Diverse Data programme.  But I think one of the real challenges for us is how we make sure that that is something which is embedded across all of our work.  And that's something that we're really focused on at the moment, how we embed the learnings that we've had through that standalone Diverse Data programme into everything we do.  Because we're absolutely committed to that, and I think that is engagement with the diversity of different groups relevant to each programme.  I think one of the real important things is that transparency piece about actually that it's hard to achieve equity in healthcare, full stop, because of historical underinvestment in some of these areas.  And I think being clear with people about that is a really important step, and then talking really practically about why it really makes sense to take different approaches.  And so one thing about our programmes and how we think about the future overall, if genomics is going to make a difference to more than half of healthcare encounters, it needs to be something that across all communities, and across the large majority of people in each of those, that this is something that they want to be part of.  Because it's going to make a difference for them or their families or something they really buy into.  And that's why this isn't just about thinking only about specific programmes where this is a question, it's about making sure that we're designing a system, developing the evidence that is really broadly applicable, and continues to learn.  Because we know that what we learn today is hopefully an improvement on where we are, but we continue to learn and learn and learn.  And it's about creating a system that does that, and does that equitably, or as equitably as we can.  Adam: So we're now going to hear from Moestak Hussein, who works to build and embed cohesion, inclusion, and social justice, in her role at Bristol City Council, in public health and communities.  Moestak talks about the value of co-production, and how this can help to build trust with communities who have historically been underserved or mistreated.  Moestak: If we talk about co-production, true co-production is really creating a power balance where there's no hierarchy, it's an empowering model.  It empowers both the researchers or the person that comes in, but also the communities that participate, and you all start on the same level, on the same outcomes and the same goals and aims that you want to achieve.  Adam: So, if I look at that from our perspective on the Panel, I think co-production in genomics research, so using participant data in the NGRL, is certainly what we'd like to see much more of.  To ensure that research is not only relevant to its intended audience, but also aligns with broader democratic principles of citizenship, accountability, and that transparency as well.  But look, we have to be realistic.  Some genomics research projects are not going to lend themselves to meaningful patient and public involvement in the early stages, but it's really important later on in the research pathway, if the findings identify a patient population who might benefit from that research.  At the moment, involvement of patients and participants, carers in research, is really not great, in terms of the researchers using the NGRL.  So, in conversations what we're hearing is they're saying, “Well, we don't know how to do it, we don't know what steps we should take.”  Or “We don't think it's relevant because we do this particular research.”    But really, our view is that some PPIE, or patient and public involvement engagement is better than none.  Some may not be relevant for all stages of the research pathway, we're not really seeing enough of that happening at the moment, and some papers are even being published without any context of the participants' lived experience at all.  Which can actually be quite frustrating, if you're that patient or parent, and you see a paper published, and you think, well, actually, why didn't they reach out to us?  Just to understand a bit about the symptoms that we're experiencing, what are the challenges that we're facing, just to really add that important context.  So, I think there's certainly an opportunity for us on the Panel, certainly for Genomics England, to be that kind of guiding light for those researchers.  Whether it's providing them with researchers, research papers, or a hub of patient advocacy organisations that are already connecting those patients with researchers.  It's all about signposting them the relevant information, so I think there's certainly things we can do there.  And it really fits in with the bigger engagement piece.  So, whether there's a landing page or a dedicated website that shows them, where do they go, what are the steps that they can take, what's the best practice, what's worked well for another researcher, and how did that lead to really great outcomes for the families involved?  That's where I think we can all play a part in guiding them on that journey, rather than it just being a case of, they're not doing that patient and participant engagement very well, and kind of criticising it.  Let's reach out to them and say, “Look, we can help you and guide you on that journey.”  Rich: I really agree with the need to make those connections happen.  One of the things I think that is often missing is just a confidence just to crack on and do some of this stuff.  And I think, actually, looking at the ReNu syndrome experience, that was work that was swiftly done.  Scientific at the beginning, the initial publication put out there so that people could understand, and was quite medical by necessity, in terms of the speed of getting information out there.  And then very quickly, and quite organically, patient support groups have formed, and also, the scientists are working with that group.  I had a really interesting conversation with Sarah Wynn, who's the CEO of the Unique last week, about how some of that has played out, how the role they've played in facilitating some of that.  And some of it just comes down to sort of really simple things, and working through how you can set up Zoom or whatever meeting, for people to learn about the condition.  And how you preserve anonymity, where that's appropriate, but also allow people to have discussions about their loved ones where they want to, etc.  So it's partly just about giving people the space and the confidence to get on with some of these things.  And as you say our, one of the things we at Genomics England are quite thoughtful about, and I think it's a really good topic to continue talking to the Panel about, is how we get that balance right.  Where, actually, us being a connector and, as you say, signposting useful resources or ways of doing these things, just to break down some of those barriers.  Because almost always the research groups, when they discover something new, this is really new territory for them, and they're often nervous about doing the wrong thing.  And so it's about breaking down some of that anxiety actually I think.  Adam: Yes, absolutely.  In our case, with our condition that we're advocating for our son, we've been working with a researcher.  And it's almost on us as well just to kind of share our story with them, and making them feel more comfortable to ask us questions and be very open and transparent about the more we can share, the more that can hopefully benefit their research moving forward.  It's very much a two-way thing as well, but I like what you said there about having the confidence just to kind of reach out and start those conversations, and have that starting point.  Next topic, we're going to look at some of the innovations that are on the horizon, that we're seeing in the world of genomics.  So, Rich, do you want to take us through what are the most exciting things that you're exploring at the moment?  I know we hear a lot about AI and the technological aspect, so why don't you take us through some of those?  Rich: Yes, so I guess this comes back to that question where we've been looking forward, you know, where might genomics be impactful and making a real difference to people's lives, to helping us have a more efficient healthcare system in the future?  And I think part of that is about this general shift.  You know, genomics technology, we just take for granted now how much it's shifted, how it's within the means of the healthcare system to generate genomic data.  And we're really fortunate in this country because of the digital infrastructure that we've been able to build together with the NHS, that opens up a lot of these questions.  And it's just extraordinary the time we're at in genomics, so almost take those two things for granted, which we should never do.  The change in genomic testing technology, which continues to advance, and secondly, thinking about the digital infrastructure, like the nuts and bolts of what we've got, and the ability to safely store and reuse and analyse some of that data at scale.  And point at two big things.  Firstly, genomics enabled therapies are changing a lot.  So, our understanding, our ability to make a diagnosis, or understand what's different about a cancer, for example, mean that in various ways it's becoming feasible to do more tailored therapies.  Where knowing that, the genomics nitty-gritty of that condition, helps you tailor that, or create sometimes even a bespoke personalised, truly for that one individual, therapy.  And in rare conditions we see that with the so-called N=1 therapies, but also with gene therapies and so forth.  And in cancer we see that with the cancer vaccines, for example.  So that's an enormous area of change, and one of our responsibilities is to support that sort of research, to help identify people who might be eligible for trials or treatments.  But it's also to work with the ecosystem to think about how we can help support the generation of evidence that means that those therapies can be affordable and so forth, on a scalable basis.  So that's one really big area of excitement.  And we see our Rare Therapies Launch Pad being part of that, the National Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, being part of that.  So that's thing one.  Thing two is AI and machine learning, and I think sat on alongside the sort of broader picture of saying, there's a lot left to learn, there's enormous potential in genomics in terms of playing a role in many different situations, not just in rare conditions, in cancer.  And we know doing that well, but also scaling it, making it really efficient, so that we can do that in a context of a really busy health service, one of the answers is making sure that we're leveraging everything we can about the potential of AI.  And there's lots of different ways in which that can be supportive, I won't list lots of them.  But one of the things that we're doing at Genomics England and working with the NHS is thinking about the most promising areas.  And some of those are quite, like, down and dirty, if you like, so sort of saying, which jobs are there that we can use AI, if you like, as a co-pilot, alongside experienced scientists, to speed up their work?  And we're really excited about the role we can play in a few ways actually.  So the first one, back to that sort of data and evidence engine point, is helping organisations who have a tool, help validate it for use in the NHS, and say, “Does it perform to this standard?  What do we want to say about how it performs from an equity point of view?  And from a clinical safety point of view?” etc.  And making that leap from stuff that makes a Nature paper to stuff that lands in clinic is surprisingly challenging, and that's one of our roles.  And we really enjoyed working with various companies and academics over the last few years on that.  We did some work recently with Google DeepMind, on their AlphaMissense tool, thinking about how we can think about that role that might play, for example, in speeding up the interpretation of rare variants that might cause rare conditions.  And there's enormous potential in all sorts of different parts of the sort of end to end of genomics playing a role in healthcare.  And then I'd also say one of the really important things is because genomics in many ways just needs to be part of healthcare and not be treated differently, we also need to recognise where there are questions we need to work through really thoroughly that are a bit more bespoke.  And one of the things that we're really committed to doing, as we look to the future, is making sure that we can support on some of those questions that we really need to be clear on.  I'll go back to that point on, what do we mean about making sure we understand how a tool is working, and whether it's producing results in an equitable way for all different communities?  How do we understand that?  How do we explain what we understand about the performance of a tool?  How do we make sure that patient identifiable data remains non-identifiable if a tool's been built, trained on data?  Working through some of those questions.  But they're really important for us to do, and we're enormously excited about the potential, and we're really committed to working through in detail how we can make that path to adoption safely and in the way that everyone would expect and desire as rapid as possible.  We're just one step in that process.  But we really see a sort of important role for helping people who are producing various tools or various use cases, helping them prove them, helping them validate them, and making the system more efficient overall, but in ways that we really understand.  Adam: That's fantastic.  Look, not that I'm biased at all, but I can tell you that the AlphaMissense innovations that are being developed are shared a lot internally at Google, it has been seen as an amazing success case.  So hopefully we'll see more on that moving forward.  But in the next clip, we're going to hear from Francisco.  So Francisco is the Director of Bioinformatics at Genomics England, who tells us more about the application of AI and its benefits in genomics in healthcare.  Francisco: So AI is already driving the development of personalised medicine for both research and healthcare purposes.  Now at Genomics England we are investigating the use of AI to support a number of tasks, for the potential impact in both research and healthcare.  In the context of healthcare, we are talking about AI tools that can support the prioritisation, the ranking of genomic variants to allow clinicians to make more accurate and faster diagnosis.  Adam: While all of these innovations sound really exciting, it's really important that we just continue to bring that patient and participant community on that journey, just to ensure that they really understand the full benefits, and we talked about that on the episode today.  I know that the panel has always encouraged Genomics England team to look at its boots while shooting for the moon.  I really like that phrase, just to make sure, look, we can't forget where we've come from to make sure we're taking people on that journey.  So, we're going to wrap up there.  Thank you to Rich Scott for joining me today, as we reflected on key milestones for 2024, and looked at the year ahead for both Genomics England and the wider genomic ecosystem.  If you enjoyed today's episode, we'd love your support.  Please like, share and rate us on wherever you listen to your podcasts.  I've been your host, Adam Clatworthy, this podcast was edited by Bill Griffin at Ventoux Digital and produced by Naimah Callachand.  Thank you everyone for listening. 

Bristol is famous for being a maritime city, and its harbour – a vast area of water and historic docklands regenerated from dereliction since the 1990s –  draws tourists from all over the world. But who are the people living on the many vessels moored there? What has led them to choose a boat-dwelling life? And why are they protesting against how the council is managing the harbourside? Join Neil Maggs, in conversation with chair of the Bristol Boaters' Community Association Amanda Sharman, to find out.Head to www.thebristolcable.org/join to become a member, and subscribe to The Bristol Cable wherever you get your podcasts.

When authorities make plans that affect people's lives, what do they get wrong – and how can they do better at working with communities? What are the lessons here for the council in Bristol, as it continues to face blowback over traffic restrictions in east Bristol? And why is it more important than ever for young people to have access to safe spaces, and adults they can trust? Join Neil and Samira Musse, from Barton Hill Activity Club, as they get deep into these issues and more…Head to www.thebristolcable.org/join to become a member, and subscribe to The Bristol Cable wherever you get your podcasts.

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 11th December 2024. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Our guests:https://www.wethecurious.org/ Chris Dunford, Sustainability and Science Director at We The Curious As Sustainability and Science Director, Chris Dunford has been responsible for Sustainable Futures at We The Curious since 2011. During that time, he has introduced a sector-leading programme of environmental best practice, innovative technologies, and organisational change. In 2019, We The Curious became the first science centre in the world to declare a climate emergency and pledged to meet ambitious decarbonisation targets in this decade, implemented alongside climate change adaptation.Beyond We The Curious, Chris has held positions as Head of Environmental Sustainability at UKRI, Elected Director of the Bristol Green Capital Partnership, Mentor of Arizona State University's ‘Sustainability in Science Museums' Global Fellowship, and Chair of the ASDC Decarbonisation Group. Chris' background is in science communication and stand-up comedy. https://w5online.co.uk/Victoria Denoon is the Head of Visitor Experience at W5 Science and Discovery Centre.Victoria joined W5 Science and Discovery Centre in March 2020 and has responsibility for all aspects of W5's operations. She is also currently an ASDC Trustee. Prior to joining the team at W5, she worked in Higher Education in the United States for 15 years with a particular interest in advancing the careers of women in STEM fields. http://www.aberdeensciencecentre.org/Bryan Snelling is the CEO of Aberdeen Science Centre. He's been in this position for five years having started in November 2019. Bryan has worked in the visitor attraction sector for 11 years having previously enjoyed 6 years as CEO at The Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen. Bryan has worked in many sectors during his career including education having worked across the UK in Portsmouth and London before moving to Aberdeen. Bryan is originally from South Wales and in his spare time he enjoys playing the guitar, playing cricket and reading. https://www.sciencecentres.org.uk/Shaaron Leverment is the Chief Executive at The Association for Science and Discovery Centres.Shaaron is the CEO of ASDC and has over 20 years' experience working in science engagement and education. She stands for the value of science centres and museums for social good, as community assets that are accessible and relevant for a more diverse public.Shaaron joined ASDC in 2016 as the Deputy CEO. She is also the co-founding director of 'Explorer Dome' that engages over 70,000 children and adults every year. She leads on a number of national and international programmes and collaborations that aim to improve the relevance and accessibility of STEM for a more diverse public. As a past president of the British Association of Planetaria, she is also currently the EDI co-chair of the International Planetarium Society. Shaaron is mum to two boys, and the owner of a large hairy Golden Retriever.She is part of varied networks, working with schools, universities, science centres, museums and volunteer groups, as well as nation-wide professional associations and Government agencies. She has created and directed national and international (EU) science engagement programmes, including leading the Horizon 2020 Hypatia programme in the UK to support greater gender inclusion in informal science education, and is the driving force behind Our Space Our Future, supporting participative practice in space science outreach.Through work with ASDC, Ecsite and other international partnerships, Shaaron is known for her work to support greater equity and inclusion within our STEM education and engagement organisations, with the ambition of embedding more equitable practice for transformative organisation-wide change. Transcription:  Paul Marden: Welcome to Skip the Queue. A podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Paul Marden. Now, today's episode is a special one. A few days ago I was at the Association for Science and Discovery Centre's annual conference recording in front of a live studio audience. Joined by a panel of the great and good from the Science and Discovery Centre community, Victoria Denoon, Head of Visitor Experience at W5 Science and Discovery Centre. Bryan Snelling, the CEO of Aberdeen Science Centre. Chris Dunford at ASDC Sustainability Group Chair and Sustainability Director at We the Curious. And Shaaron Leverment, the CEO of ASDC. Now, I have to say, this was a bit of a proof of concept for us and we had a few technical gremlins, but whilst the sound quality isn't brilliant, the conversations absolutely were. Paul Marden: So without further ado, let's go over to that recording I took a couple of days ago. Why don't we start with our icebreaker questions? So this is a tradition for the podcast and nobody has been prepared for this. So, Victoria, you'll like this one. It's a really easy one. Bauble or custard cream? Victoria Denoon: You said it was going to be easy. Paul Marden: Oh, no, I could give you my answer straight away. It's a firmly held belief for me. Of course, it's the only answer to that question. Bryan, you have to live in a sitcom for the rest of your life. Which one? And why? Bryan Snelling: Oh God, can I have the ball? But do you know what? The only one that sprung to mind was Only Fools and Horses. I think, you know, a bit of dodgy dealing here and there. Can't go wrong with that, I think. Yeah, Wheeler dealing, you know what I mean? Paul Marden: One day Wanda's There'll be millionaires. Chris, play 10 instruments or speak 10 languages. Chris Dunford: Oh, horrible. I'm going to go for 10 instruments because I feel as if Google can do the rest. But 10 instruments? I can finally record my own albums. Paul Marden: And Shaaron, last but not least, control time like Hermione or Fly Like Harry. Shaaron Leverment: Oh, God, fly Like Harry, Paul Marden: Really? Shaaron Leverment: Yeah, yeah, 100%. Paul Marden: You don't need a time turner to be in every session. That wasn't the latest question at all. Okay, let's get cracking then with the main interview. Shaaron, first question is for you. This year and next sees the 25th anniversary of the millennium funded science centers which saw a huge amount of investments into science communic engagement across the country. What did that do to shape science in the last quarter of the century? And where do you think it will take us next. Shaaron Leverment: Great question. Paul Marden: Thank you. Shaaron Leverment: Like 25 years ago, as I mentioned in my talk, even no one really knew what science communication was. You know, now obviously there's masters in it, there's people who are doing PhDs in it and I think it's actually becoming a very important part of policy and recognised as strategically important in terms of the way in which nation engages with science. And I do believe that's because we have these amazing places across the U.K. now. Let's be honest, like a lot of them existed beforehand. There was at least 6, including Satrasphere, which is now Aberdeen Science Centre, which existed before the Millennium centers. And then suddenly all of these centers were. But now we've got 60, nearly 70 across the entire places. The Lost Shore is just open, which is all about surf and science. Shaaron Leverment: I think science, referring to one of our keynotes, is really becoming part of culture. And then we're no longer looking at sort of museums and centres as like cathedrals of science. We're looking at them as real kind of cultural and community assets. So that's where I think. I think that's where the trajectory is going for the next 25 years. I'll just wrap that into the end of that. Paul Marden: This is a follow up for that and really anyone can join in on this one. Thinking more about where we go in the next 25 years, let's talk about funding streams because we had a big lump of money back just before the millennium projects get them kicked off and we're unlikely to see that level of lottery funding again. So how can centres, after all, they are visitor attractions and charities in many cases. How do they diversify their income streams? Victoria Denoon: I think there's two things about that and one's really important from the ASDC perspective because there's what we can do individually, but there's also what we can do collectively as a network. So you know, we are looking at that particularly from the Millennium Science Centre perspective. Victoria Denoon: And obviously that's a bigger voice if we do that together. So that's really important to have those conversations. At W5 we do that by increasing what we do for corporate hire. We do a W5 late program, which is an 18 plus evenings for adults to come down. And because we're going to be 25 years old next year, there's that nostalgia that really helps sell that. So we're looking at key events to drive revenue across the year to really get more people in our door who wouldn't come to us otherwise. Bryan Snelling: Yeah, I think it's obviously very important to diversify our income. But what we're talking about here, in terms of the money we got in 2019, you're only really going to get that sort of money again from very large institutions or government. And I think whether you're trying to persuade an individual to come and visit your science centre or local, national, devolved governments to give you money, it's all about the message that you're sending. It's about the science centres are really important part, and we were talking about it earlier on, the culture of what we're doing here. So whether you're just one individual or a multinational that has big bucks, you've really got to try and make them understand that. Chris Dunford: I think it's. Yeah, I think it's almost as well as diversifying to new funders, it's also diversifying what the existing funders will be happy to fund, because I think the funders understandably want the shiny new exhibition, the lovely new outreach in the brand advance, the school workshop photo opportunity. And those are all good things. And we couldn't do those things without the funders. But they'll need to. As these buildings getting older, they need to recognize at some point that those things can take place in the building where the roof leaks and it closes in the summer because the heat wave and the cooling system can't keep up. So I think if you're saying to the funders, yes, you can support this workshop, but we will need some contribution towards the rooms that the workshop take place in. Chris Dunford: So I think it'd be helpful to understand that. And to do that, we just need to make the case better to our value. So it's not just this extra news thing, but day to day supporting us to literally keep the lights on and keep the rain out of the roof. Bryan Snelling: Can I just add, I think there's also an important thing here about mission drift. We should be true to our own mission. We should know where we're going, our direction, and not have as much as possible. Because I understand it's a balance. Not have as much as possible. The funder direct what we do. It should be the other way around, or at least. And one of the big words of this conference that I've heard is collaboration. And we shouldn't just be doing it all the money, we should be actually understanding this is what we should be doing and this is how we're going. You should be coming on board with us. Paul Marden: You risk the tail wagging the dog, don't you? If all you do is chase the sources of funding. And you do that in a haphazard way. It's got to follow, as you say, it's got to follow the mission and the core values of the centre. Victoria Denoon: And it is a relationship, you know, it's like philanthropy and, you know, universities doing their work with donors. I mean, you really do have to have mutual respect and understanding and be looking for sponsors or funders or partners who have the same mission and values that you do. That conversation becomes a lot easier. Paul Marden: Absolutely. Shaaron, any thoughts? Shaaron Leverment: I think I agree with what they're saying. It's really well put. Paul Marden: This is an audience question and this is from Kate Allen from Purple Stars. And she asked me, is the A in steam in cooperate and why it's not a binary question. Chris Dunford: Right. Bryan Snelling: Look it up. Victoria Denoon: Yes. Bryan Snelling: Did you see the inflection in that? Paul Marden: Absolutely. Bryan Snelling: I think it's a two way process. I think that the A is very important. And again, I'm gonna repeat myself, but I think it's been a big part of what the conference has been about and it's been about collaboration. Yes, it's important, but it's a two way process because it's not all about us incorporating the arts. It's also about the arts incorporating the st, the E and the M and the science elements. So I think it's a two way process at the moment. I feel this is just my own opinion that it's a little bit more give than take. Shaaron Leverment: I think there's an interesting, you know, there's an interesting conversation of like, do you need an artist for it to be art? What is art and what is science? You know, and actually, you know, so much of, you know, the engagements that we see involve huge creativity, kids making planets and things like that in science. I do think that we need to use all the tools to get across these massive ideas. And I don't actually even know what science is anyway, so I'm on the back. Shaaron Leverment: And I also noticed in Tom Crick, when he was looking at the curriculum, they separate mathematics and numeracy from science and tech, you know, and so in science, tech engineering is often considered the invisible E in stem. Maths is often considered the invisible M in STEM in science and discovery centres, you know, and so the arts as well. I fully believe that we need to be trans and multidisciplinary 100%. But you know, I think it includes, you know, the music and everything. I think includes absolutely everything. So maybe these acronyms, which is not, they're not useful at all. Paul Marden: I don't think it helps. One of the things that we talked about when we first. We were spinning ideas around this episode, weren't we? And you talked about the idea that you shocked me, that science matters to me and I care about it. And it's something that I enjoy doing with my family. And to consider that isn't for the government to consider. That's not really part of culture because they're funded quite separately. It offends my roles, I think. Shaaron Leverment: But also, you know, it's just another beautiful way of looking at the world. You might look up at a night sky, you know, like Mara or Kilda, like we're hearing by Este. And you might look at it with eyes where you're just wondering at the jewelry of creation or making pictures in the stars. Or you might also be wondering about, well, maybe there's a planet out there. Shaaron Leverment: And I think you can look with all eyes and you can. It's all in wonder. And the fact that they are segregated, it comes back to school science, I think. I think actually in the normal world, as human beings, we don't have to separate them, but it's just very hard, especially when these are crazy funding lines. Like Tom mentioned the difference. I did not know that festivals are considered part of culture, but science festivals aren't. It's madness. Chris Dunford: It also depends in a way what you're doing. So if you're putting the A into STEAM  because you say that as a society, as a cultural attraction, we want to involve ourselves, then obviously, yes, we don't want to. You know, it's inclusive because as Shaaron said, they can. They bring different things to the table. But if you're putting an A in there because you're saying that art is the same as the others, then they're no different. But that's good. It's good that art and science kind of behave in different ways. So. So they both start with an idea or a question. They can both be kind of curious or stimulated by something. But then whether we do night sky or whatever, the way that art might scrutinise the night sky would be different to the way that science will scrutinise. And that's fine. Chris Dunford: They can complement each other. It's not. You need to recognize the differences in those kind of, I don't know, the intellectual disciplines, so they can support each other rather than say, well, artists, science, design. It's not as simple as that. They're different, but that's okay. Victoria Denoon: I do think they play a part together in making things more accessible to people. So if you look at major technology companies, they focus just as much on the design and the look of some of their products as they do on the actual technology that goes into them. So there's a lovely added experience there with putting that together. I think it's very important, but for different reasons. Paul Marden: Absolutely. There's been a lot of talk at the conference about diversity and inclusivity. To a certain extent, inclusion is about understanding who your audience is and understanding what it is that they need. Paul Marden: So let's dig into that about your three science centres. What are the customer demographics, what does the audience look like and what areas of diversity and inclusion are important to them? Victoria Denoon: Well, I think that assumes we've actually asked our audiences, you know, what is important to them. And I don't, you know, I'd like to sort of throw that over to other representatives for science centres because we have done some of that, but we probably haven't done it enough to be able to actually answer that question. That's something we are really looking at because we have a lot of different information about the demographics, but not really what they want to see us do. So we're looking at different focus groups and how to involve more people in that to get a better picture of that for our particular science centre. Bryan Snelling: I think we were very lucky to receive a lot of well enough ISF funding plus local funding to completely overhaul our science centre four years ago. What happened four years ago, it was wonderful. But as Shaaron said, we're actually not a millennium sites and we've been going for 36 years. I think tech request, slightly longer than us, Shaaron Leverment: 38.Bryan Snelling: There we go. But not many longer than us. But over that time we've asked and we found out a lot of information about what our visitors wanted. And similar to what Victoria said, we don't necessarily ask enough. We recognise that's a bad thing. We need and we are putting in place and now to evaluate to get feedback more. But back then were very aware of sort of things that we needed to do. We needed to be wheelchair user friendly. Bryan Snelling: So everything is now accessible throughout the science centre. We're one of the lucky places that have a changing places facility which is incredibly good and it's gone down very well. We also have a sensory space which was retrofitted admittedly. But if you look at our feedback on the online, that's gone down fantastically well and it allows some of our neurosensitive visitors just to calm down, go there and just take a moment and then come back and I think the very fact that we're a science centre, it's very hands on, it's very stimulating. Bryan Snelling: So having that has been a real wonderful addition to what we've got. And I think we've also got to remember financial inclusion. So a lot of the sort of sponsorship that we look for is to work with in Scotland. It's called simd, the Scottish Index for Multiple Deprivation. Chris Dunford: I'm sure there's a similar thing in England, but I want to know what it is. Paul Marden: We'll talk about that in a minute. Bryan Snelling: But we a lot of again, it's not mission drift when you are also doing it. A lot of our funders want to give us money so we can support those maybe who don't have as much money as the rest of us. So all of these things we've taken into account and parts of what we do at the science centre. Chris Dunford: Yeah. I suppose the question ultimately is when we ask our visitors what does inclusion, diversity mean to them, we won't get the answer we need. And that's because if you have a certain demographic who are visiting and you ask them diversity, inclusion, then obviously they will speak from their own life experience. But actually the people need to ask the people who aren't visiting. So in that respect, I mean the things we draw upon, we work closely with things like local council, so we have access to their data of who's living in the city and who's facing areas of deprivation and that kind of thing. Chris Dunford: So you can kind of fairly accurately figure out who's around you in your community and who's around you in your community isn't mirroring who's coming through the door and straight away you know where your focus areas are and the reason they might not be visiting, it might be economic, but it could also because there's things that you do unintentionally. It makes it look like you're not for them. Paul Marden: Yes. Chris Dunford: So only by engaging with them, seeing you through their eyes, will you understand maybe why you've been doing a thing which wasn't encouraged when they through the door. I suppose the last thing to say on that is often it's very tempting to think the inclusion thing is going to be groups that can't afford to visit and therefore Chapel saying it may be then detracting from the purely commercial enterprise we need to do to keep the buildings open and running. Chris Dunford: And for some areas who cannot afford to visit, then yes, that's an important part of what you do. But there could be areas, community who aren't visiting. And they can afford to visit because for some reason you're not currently for them, you can become for them. And you've also opened up a whole other market as well. So whether you're looking at it because you want more visitors financially, or you're looking at it because you want to be able to reach everyone, you need to ask who's in the city, who isn't here currently visiting and can we find out why they're not visiting? And then we just work through those challenge at a time until you hopefully are truly reflecting those around you. Paul Marden: I was at a Museum and Heritage Show earlier this year. There was a really interesting talk about inclusivity and making places accessible. And one of the key facts was that people that need an accessible place to visit, if they don't know something is accessible because you haven't communicated it properly, they will assume you are not accessible. And so having the changing places toilet and the sensory room is amazing. But you also have to communicate that to people in order for them to come and feel like it is a place for them. And that's. You're right, it's not about the charitable end of the organisation. It can be just a commercial thing. When you tell that story simply and easily for people, all of a sudden you are not going to market. Shaaron Leverment: We're sort of encouraging people. We've got an accessibility conference coming up in May which will be hosted by Winchester. And hopefully between now and then we can really support people with some of these amazing visual stories. Because I think you're absolutely right that you do need to know if it's accessible. You need to know what facilities you need to have those opportunities to know that there's a quiet space and what to expect. And then someone, honestly, if they know what's there and what's not there, then that's enough. Paul Marden: I've talked about this example before podcast, but Skipton Town Hall is an amazing example. They've got a museum whose name escapes me, but they won last year's Kids in Museum's Family Friendly award. But they have an amazing page that talks about their accessibilities with photos and videos where you can see the entrance, every entrance to the building and where that entrance will lead you to. It shows you the changing places toilet. You know, they are making it super easy for you to be able to understand that. And it's on your page, but it's a page that's hugely valuable on their website. Victoria Denoon: I think just beyond what you can do on your own. Site for that. There are organisations you can work with that tell people the story about what attractions in their area are accessible. So making sure you know who those groups are and working with them to get your story out and how you can support that's really important. Paul Marden: I've got Tudor in front of me from Eureka and I know that's something that Eureka has done a lot of is communicating the accessibility of what they deeds the outside world. I'm going to take your Scottish index of multiple deprivation and take that back to the uk. I'm going to talk a little bit about Cambridge Science Centre because they've passed two weeks ago, they've just opened their new building and one of the things that they talked about on the podcast with me was that part of the motivation for locating it on Cambridge Science park was because it is cheap by jail with one of the areas of multiple deprivation within the city. Paul Marden: They run youth groups in that area and what they found was that even though these kids are in a youth group associated with the Science centre and they are right next door to the Science park, those kids don't feel that a career in Science in the UK's hotspot for tech is a place where they could end up. Paul Marden: They just don't feel like it is of them. So how do we help those kids and families in those areas feel like science centres are for them and a career in the future and in science and tech is an opportunity for them? Bryan Snelling: I think when were redesigning the Aberdeen Science Centre, as I said, the only thing that's still there because It's a Category 2 listed building is the outer walls. But what we looked at that time was we said, well, how can we make it relevant to the northeast of Scotland? So we have three zones in the Science Centre which relates to either the up and coming or very much mature economies up there. We have an energy zone, of course we do, but space, you know, Shetland is on our patch, big patch, so is Sutherland and those of you who know Scotland, very big patch. That sort of space is a big part of what's happening up in northeast Scotland, but also life sciences. So we made it relevant so that people on an everyday sort of and kids can sort of relate to things. Bryan Snelling: I think we're the only city and people will help me out here and bring me down to size if that's the case. We have hydrogen buses in Aberdeen. I think we're one of the only, let's go like that. One of the only cities that currently do that and they see these things travelling through the city centre every day. But you know, they want to know more about that. So it's about making it relevant, making it day to day obvious that this, you can work in this because actually it's there or it's that or it's yes. The other thing is about showing the other careers that you can link it, you can focusing on space, but there's more than just that. You somebody said, yes, you also need to have a chef in the Antarctica. Bryan Snelling: So show them the other careers actually link in with this sort of and just make it relevant. Chris Dunford: Yeah, and I think obviously if you've got sections of society where there's young people who feel that science isn't for them, I think the first thing to recognise obviously is that they are in their lives. They're obviously getting messages that are telling them that's the case in the way in which children from other backgrounds are getting messages telling them what science is for them. And you can see that through the lens of the science capital. You can't control all of those, but you can control how you interact with them. Now, obviously what Cambridge did is they were able to physically relocate. Most of us aren't in that position in terms of the whole building, although that reached us the ability to do that on a complete short term basis. Chris Dunford: But I think again it's recognising that inclusion work is so much more than just kind of saying, “Hey, we are free. Why don't you come along today and you can visit for free or whatever.” It's the diversity of your staff and that's across the organisation. Because if they visit and they see someone that looks like them and that tells them that it is for them in a way in which it's going to be very difficult to do with the people actually working there don't look like people they would recognise as being in that kind of group in that way. It's about the activities themselves. So again, the ideas of kind of co development. So if you develop activities, rather than guess what you think they would like, just find out what they would like and involve them in those activities. Chris Dunford: So inclusion is difficult and it takes a lot of time because you can't just kind of put a sign on the door and say work for you now. You need to change the organisation. So it is enabling them to visit and then to keep that relationship going. That's the other thing that's very difficult. But I think if you did one funded visit and they came once and that was it, that might not be Enough to make them go, “Oh, so I can't be a scientist.” You get some kind of relationship with them going on over time. So yeah, it's a long, drawn out process, which means you need to look very hard at yourself and be prepared and brave to make changes in your own organisation. Because unintentionally you are probably putting some of the barriers there yourselves. Shaaron Leverment: I just want to echo that it really is about building those relationships. We ran a program called Explorer Universe across eight centres. And you know, we were all about extra partnerships and being brave and making new engagement to people who would never have thought to come through your doors. And you know, it ended up being like a year long of partnership building and then those relationships and almost all the programs were outreach. Some of them ended up, you know, as a celebratory event coming through the science centre. But it was very much going to where the kids were going to their space, you know, physically and emotionally and mentally, whatever, and working in partnership. So if you don't have the staff that reflect that community, then you can work in partnership and create those moments. Shaaron Leverment: And then when they do come to the centre, be there at the front door to welcome them. You know, I know you and it's very much, you know, like an experience floor In North Wales. Were working in a playground, you know, and talking all about them jumping off the playground with like parachutes, talking about friction and stuff like that. And one of the best quotes from that was like, I didn't realise this was science. You're like turning what they are doing and saying that you are a techie, techie person, you are a sciencey person, you are an engineer. That's what it is. Shaaron Leverment: You know, it's not saying this is what science is, you know, it's changing the capital that they have already into science capital to know that they are already inherent, as Osley said, inherent sort of scientists anyway. Paul Marden: Yes. Shaaron Leverment: So, yeah.Victoria Denoon: I think science centres are in a really wonderful space here to be able to do that because, you know, we do build relationships with community groups and schools all the time. And research has shown that these young people, why they see themselves in relation to their peers, that will attract them more than anything else into potential careers in science. So having a space where people can come and, you know, we don't tell them, don't touch that, don't do that. Victoria Denoon: You know, they can really fully get hands on and engage in things and having that opportunity. We just opened two years ago, our Learning Innovation for Everyone Space. We offer free school programs there, particularly in partnership with Microsoft and do coding workshops and things like that and lots of other activities and you can also do OCN accredited programs with us there. So it's really about getting them together as a group of their peers and showing them what's possible in that space. Paul Marden: That's amazing. So I'm a dev by background. Telling the story of Computer Science is not something that you see in every science centre that you go to. The whole kind of the history of computing, it exists in places, there are pockets of it. But it's not something that I want to coding club as well. But how many of my kids could go to a local science centre and feel that what they're doing when they're coding the robot and building some Lego is related to something that they see when they're at the science centre and that there's a mental leap to go from this fun thing that we're doing with this robot to the career that is amazing that I could have in the future. It's really hard. Paul Marden: Talking of kids, I'm a trustee at Kids in Museum and we talk a lot about getting the voice of young people who visit attractions and young people, they're worthy, they're in their career and incorporating that into the decision making, strategic direction of museums and science centres. I think it's definitely really important when we talk about climate emergency to get that younger voice in so that trustees don't all look like me. Let's talk a little bit about the youth platform and how you incorporate the youth voice into what you guys do. Who wants to take that one first? I can spot who cracks first. Bryan Snelling: Okay. I'm not very good at this, am I? You are very good. No, but I'm actually quite proud of what we do at Aberdeen. We about a year and a bit ago introduced a STEM youth ball and we're very pleased with that. We actually work with a local festival so it's ourselves and Aberdeen Tech Fest that jointly I say support, but actually they support us. The youth board, it's made up of secondary school kids, young people and last year was a pilot year and it went very well. We're now looking at developing it further. But what they do is they look at what they want to do, they work out what they want to do within a board situation. Bryan Snelling: They've got all the usual bits, chair and the secretary, but they work out that they want to deliver this program and then they'll go away, work together on the delivery of that program. They'll also work out the marketing side of things. They'll also do all of that. But I also, and my counterpart with TechFest also bring our ideas and say what do you think about this? And they give us a very. Paul Marden: Take some of them and rubbish a few I guess.Bryan Snelling: That's what it's for. Paul Marden: Exactly. Bryan Snelling: I mean, let's get out of the way in a safe space before we then go ahead and spend money on this thing. Paul Marden: The most brutal focus could possibly bring together. Bryan Snelling: But we're very pleased with that. The other thing that we're currently looking at doing is working with local university, Robert Goldman University, especially the architecture school, to redevelop our outer area, the garden. It was the only area that wasn't developed when we did inside. And we undertook a number of brainstorming sessions with the youngsters and I mean your 5 to 12 year olds to get their input. And we did that a number of ways, remember drawing or talking or writing, whatever. And that was really interesting. We'd obviously, as the adults had done a similar thing but what they brought was a completely different point of view and it's wonderful. Paul Marden: Excellent. Victoria, you can't not look at teacher. It's only going to encourage me to. Victoria Denoon: No, I think you know, to what Bryan was saying there. We haven't started yet but we're looking at this idea of creating a Y suite, you know, which is our youth suite, which would be young people that will come in and kind of meet once a quarter to help us with some of those decisions. Bryan was talking about Inspiring Science Fund. We also did a huge renovation at W5 as a result of that and that involved a lot of consultation with young people, with teachers, et cetera. And we do a lot of youth led programs but we're looking at really how do we engage that in this more strategic direction going forward. Paul Marden: I think it's hugely valuable, isn't it? When you take it from a consultation point to something that is actually helping to drive the strategy of the organisation. It's transformational. Sharoon, do you have any thoughts about that? Shaaron Leverment: Yeah, I mean I sort of see it from a bird's eye view really, you know. But you know we have our Youth Voice Award because last year our volunteers award was won by. Part of our volunteers award was won by Winchester young group of environmental activists that were really doing great things down at Winchester Science Centre and influencing one seekers charity. And anyone who was at dinner last night, you might have seen the video from Zed King who has done so much work supporting Centre for Life and making massive changes there and not just there, like actually across the network. We are. So we've got this Youth Voice award as one of the only awards that we give because it is so important. We are all about. Not all about, but we are a lot about young people. Shaaron Leverment: So they need to have voice but it's very difficult to be sure how to do that and to make sure that we're not putting too much pressure. I mean here at this conference you can. There we've got some young people coming in showing their bio robots. We've got. Obviously we had the Esports award last night and our next keynote we've got two younger panel members to do a discussion about eco anxiety and how that feels for them to influence the way in which we think about our climate engagement from the voices of people who are experiencing it and experiencing this massive grief and anxiety about their own futures. So yeah, there's a lot of work going on obviously over in Armagh as well, you know, especially with autistic families and you know, I think it's. Shaaron Leverment: Yeah, it's a growing area and we're putting a lot of effort into encouraging like hearing these stories and different things and you know, I know we the curated. Well, with your authority sharing, I might just throw that over to you. I mean I think that's a great piece of work. Chris Dunford: Yeah. On the climate side especially. One thing we've done in the past is work with Bristol City Council, Youth Council, I think I might say most councils will have something like this because they then feed into the UK lean Parliament. I think that's really useful for two reasons. Firstly, because it gives them a space when you talk about climate issues. But secondly, it's helping them to understand the process of democracy, which young people's possibly more important now than ever. I think that's really key because I think what often happens, especially at events like cop, is that inside the room you've got the politicians and decision makers who are struggling with this really difficult challenge of how do we decarbonise and knowing there isn't an easy thing to fix it. Chris Dunford: It's going to be a lot of trailblazers, compromise, a lot of hard work outside where you've got the young people kind of screaming desperately do something, finally find the solution and then have these two different worlds. So I think if you could bring those together to bring the youth Voice into those conversations. What are the trade offs? What are the decisions? Because the consequence of decisions they inherit not us. But also it's useful for young people because it helps them understand that there isn't an easy solution and yes, there's going on strike and it's making the message clear, but there's getting into discussion of what are the trade offs, what are the compromises, and that's how a democracy works. I think that's really useful. Chris Dunford: But the other thing I'd say is if you're going to engage with young people on this and also be prepared for the fact that they're clear, they know what they want and they want the allies to take action. So if you say to them, great, there's time to change that, you're creating a youth board so you can learn about climate change, they'll say, yes, but what are you doing to reduce your carbon emissions? So we're doing this group and we're going to get your views on that. Thank you, that's fine. What are you doing to reduce your carbon emissions? So if you're going to enter into this space, they know what they want from us. They want to take action to create deep, radical and rapid decarbonisation. Chris Dunford: So be prepared for that question because they will ask it and it's the right to ask it. We need to do stuff as well as having board. At the same time, you've got to be taking the action to show that you're copying the agency, what they want. Shaaron Leverment: Have you seen the recent DCMS call as well? I mean, it's obviously strategically important at government as well. So all funders and DCMS in particular are making an election in this. So, yeah, leading the way. Paul Marden: A beautiful segue to my next question, which is what, Chris, this one's for you really is what are ASDC members doing ahead of national targets to reach net zero? Chris Dunford: Yeah. So it's probably worth just causing phone. So, in terms of the national target, for anyone who isn't aware, net zero for the UK is 2050. And net zero essentially means that your carbon emissions are down to zero or they're not zero, then you're offsetting what emissions you are creating. So the balance of the atmosphere is 2 0. And it's really hard. And the reason it's really hard, whether you're a government or an organisation, is you're following the greenhouse gas protocol, which means it's across all three scopes, which essentially means it's the stuff you expect. Chris Dunford: So it's the energy from the grid, it's your fuel and vehicles, it's burning gas in your home or places where, but it's also emissions from all the stuff that you buy and the investments from your bank and your pensions and it's the emissions from your business who travel to visit you. It's huge. It's very complex. So it's difficult. That's essentially what it means, the claim in terms of what sciences are doing. So it's a mixed back. There's plenty of science centers who still don't have a specific claim decarbonisation target, whether that be net zero or 2050 or sooner. So that's one issue I think we need to. Those who have done that piece of work have to work those who haven't to support them, enable them and encourage them to create a space where they can do. Chris Dunford: Because your Internet provider probably has a Net Zero pledge on their website, your supermarket certainly does. Your local council will, your university. So with science centres, it might seem strange that we're actually behind those players rather than leaving it. And of those that do have targets, there's probably about seven science centres in the network. This is student, big museum. So in terms of. In terms of the main science centres and then Tampa Gardens and museums, if you include them, there's probably about 11 organisations who have a kind of a decarbonisation net zero net neutral aimed before 2015. They're mostly around 2030. And again, that's really hard. And those organisations are now figuring out what that means and just how difficult that is. Chris Dunford: There is also even project who have boldly gone for a net positive to say they'll actually be removing more carbon than releasing by 2030. But it's really hard. And the reason it's hard for science centres is we're not Marks and Spencers. We can't just hire a stable team overnight and throw money at this problem. So we're renting some organisations who are tight on time and money who now to take on this huge challenge. That doesn't excuse us from the challenge. So there's no easy solution on the fact that we have to put resource into this. And I think that's why there aren't more Net Zero aims on websites for the centres at the moment. But I think we can get there. We need to recognise it's hard. Chris Dunford: And finally, if you are doing lots of engagement, as I said with schools, then again you need to be backing this up with some kind of Net zero. So it's a mixed bag of the network. There's probably about 10 or so that have specific net zero aims and they're mostly around 2030, 2040. But my prediction is in the coming years, those organisations are going to make some really hard choices and actually say how they're going to do that, because we know from experience it's really difficult. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be doing it. It means you have to push even harder than you were before. Paul Marden: Thank you. Bryan Snelling: Can I add something? Paul Marden: Of course. Bryan Snelling: I think decarbonisation is an important message, full stop, especially in Aberdeen, for obvious reasons. I hope we feel that we have an important duty almost to the visitors to the northeast of Scotland and beyond. Because I think how can we talk the talk about decarbonisation if we don't walk the walk? So there's an internal thing, which notwithstanding how difficult it is, we're just starting down that route. We've had an energy audit done of ourselves. We're now in the process of working out what that roadmap is, or maybe it should be a cycle path road towards net zero, but we need to work that out. But on the other side, we're also tasked with telling people, this is what you should be doing. This is the energy transition. Bryan Snelling: This is how you renewable energy in the future. So how can you do both? How can you do one without the other one? I mean, and I think we just need to be aware of that. And I think as the future goes back to the very first question about what's happening in the future, that's all big part of what we need to be looking at.Paul Marden: Conference is all about shaping future science together. What's your take home message from the different talks that you've been to, or possibly because we've not finished the conference yet that you're looking forward to. What's the standout moment? I know. So I would say for me, the standout moment was last night's awards. I mean, if you weren't overtaken by Zed's video, if you weren't moved by Hamish talking about. And for me, what they both demonstrated is that volunteering and engagement is a conversation. It's a two way street, isn't it? Because they weren't just there as a resource doing things, they were getting something from the relationship and giving back to the sense, etc. At the same time. For me, that bit was the most powerful. Shaaron Leverment: Yeah. And I think actually, you know, there's a lot of emotion there, you know, and it's incredible to someone stand up and say science and you saved my life. Paul Marden: Yes. Shaaron Leverment: You know, I think it was just incredible and very brave. And I think that kind of bringing that emotion into science, it's really important and remembering the people, even people. I think there's been quite a few messages about, you know, the safe spaces that we provide and that interaction with people and that genuine understanding. I think I'm really excited about. We're no longer sort of let science speak for itself and we're not going. Shaaron Leverment: You know, I think people are socially connecting and using emotion a lot more because first we feel right, first we feel and that is what our inclusive outcomes are all about. That it's what makes a difference for someone who is disengaged and doesn't feel that science and technology could be for them to feeling that maybe there's a place they need to feel they belong. So I'm really excited about that aspect of it. I also agree with everything that the elders are about. Bryan Snelling: Really. Shaaron Leverment: Yeah. Chris Dunford: I think several things yesterday for me resonated with the thing which Stephen Breslin said at the very start, which is that we come to these conferences anxious and slightly overwhelmed by the challenges we're facing and leaves feeling energized and positive with at least some of the solutions. And I think that's. That's a similar pattern that I experienced with these conferences. And I think through that lens I've been listening to all the challenges yesterday. And it's just our job is hard and potentially getting harder and as it gets harder, it's more important to society than ever. And I think that's the main thing I'm taking away. Chris Dunford: And I don't just mean things like the inclusion work and the decarbonisation work which we've spoken about during this session, but even things like one of the sessions that really stuck me yesterday was where the Science museum were talking in the lightning talks about their new AI exhibition and the fact that when all the many centers open they could have exhibits that explained Google of motion by pendulums and spinning things. A physical thing. And now we're having to have conversations about AI where there is no physical thing you can hold in your hands. Chris Dunford: There's a historical artefact, it's a circuit board doesn't tell you anything about what circuit board really does in terms of how it impacts society and how are we going to do science communication, science engagement around these challenging issues like AI which are then mounted up with all these kind of social problems with them, which again, the laws of motion that we come with. So, so I suppose I'm going away with that is the fact that our creativity is going to be tested more than before and our ingenuity and our ability to collaborate beyond our initial partners. So, yeah, for me, weirdly, it's about the science communication side and things like AI are going to make that really challenging. And how are we going to do that? Any of the answers other than the fact that we know we're not doing it alone, we're doing it as a network. And that's obviously big talk. Victoria Denoon: Yeah, I think it's the same thing. That remark by Stephen really is something that stuck with me because I did come here as well, thinking about the challenges we're facing, not just as a Science and Discovery centre, but also politically at the moment and just how pessimistic you can be about things. And really being in this conference with all of these amazing people makes you feel more optimistic about things and I think that's just really powerful and it carries you through. So for me, that's. And I think some of the conversations that have been happening here, I feel like since last year we've made a huge jump in terms of where the impact of our network is going with other people. And, you know, Tom's talk this morning really brought that home a little bit as well. So I'm feeling very optimistic. Paul Marden: Thank you. We always end our interviews with a book recommendation, which can be personal or professional. So, Victoria, do you want to share yours with everyone? Victoria Denoon: Well, I think when were talking about this, it was like, what's your favourite book? And for me, my favourite book is actually Pride and Prejudice. It's a book I would read over and could read over and over again. Jane Austen's musings. Paul Marden: Excellent. Bryan. Bryan Snelling: You know, this is the most difficult question that you're going to be putting to us. I've read, you know, fiction most of my life. I mean, you can't. I've always got a book, always looking at a book. So I don't actually have favourites. Why is it favourites? What I can say is my most recent book that I've read was the Thursday we're at the Club by Rich Lawson, which is quite nice. The most profound one was actually 1984. I read that when I was about 18 and I thought, wow. And that was really quite interesting. Followed swiftly by Animal Farm, of course. Paul Marden: So that's three recommendations bankrupt me over. Chris. Chris Dunford: So I've gone for War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. I'm a big fan of, like, old sci fi books. It's different to modern sci fi. Sci fi books like Jules Byrne and H.G. Wells will just ramble on pages about scientific theories at the time. Things they read in nature. So it's genuinely kind of science fiction. But War of the Royals because it's just. It scares me every time I read it. Like it still scares me. Absolutely. And I quite enjoy that. And I don't know why. And there's something about the complete, you know, civilisation. Actually some shouldn't put on this thread too hard, but there's something fascinating about that. Kind of, as he describes it, the liquefaction of society is everything kind of falls apart and every time I pick it up, I'm terrified and I pick it up again, I'm still terrible. Paul Marden: Shaaron, lastly, yours. Shaaron Leverment: I had forgotten this is a question. Paul Marden: Chris had three books, so you can choose. Shaaron Leverment: I'll go for in my. In my head I go for I just off the cup. The Martian is great. When it's got a little bit tiresome with the whole potatoes, improve it. But it is a brilliant. Yeah, it's great. Paul Marden: We are done. If you enjoyed today's episode, please like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Thank you to my guests Victoria, Bryan, Chris and Shaaron, and my amazing ASDC Live studio audience. Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, SkiptheQueue.fm. The 2024 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the 2024 Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

A year on from the Barton House tower block evacuation, and six months after the Green Party became the largest party on Bristol City Council, what has changed as Bristol continues to grapple with a brutal housing crisis? How are the Greens finding being the party of leadership rather than opposition? And if they seized power at a national level, would they tone down their combative comments on Donald Trump? Join Neil Maggs in conversation with Easton councillor and housing committee lead, Barry Parsons, as a fresh series of Unpacked gets underway.Head to www.thebristolcable.org/join to become a member, and subscribe to The Bristol Cable wherever you get your podcasts.

Professor Susan Parnell, who researches the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in African cities, talks to Bristol City Council's Allan Macleod about how the SDGs are implemented in the city of Bristol and what can be learned at the local scale in order to make global progress on the Goals.

In this episode of Behind the Genes, we explore the challenges diverse communities face in accessing genomic medicine. The discussion focuses on issues including language barriers, cultural differences, and socioeconomic disparities that hinder marginalised communities from accessing and benefitting from genomic medicine. Our guests delve into successful strategies for engaging these communities in healthcare research and decision-making, highlighting the importance of building trust with groups that have historically been underserved or mistreated. The episode also emphasises the need for culturally sensitive communication from healthcare professionals and how meaningful community engagement can foster collaboration and trust within genomic research. Our host, Naimah Callachand is joined by Aman Ali, a Community Ambassador at Genomics England and Community Engagement Manager at Our Future Health, Anna Smith, Child and Adolescent Integrative Psychotherapist at Rareminds, and Moestak Hussein who works for Bristol City Council in Public Health & Communities, working directly to build and imbed cohesion, inclusion and social justice approaches in her role.   "If we talk about co-production, true co-production is really creating a power balance where there's no hierarchy. It's an empowering model. It empowers both the researchers or the person that comes in, but also the communities that participate, and you all start on the same level, on the same outcomes and the same goals and aims that you want to achieve."   You can read the transcript below or download it here: https://www.genomicsengland.co.uk/assets/documents/Podcast-transcripts/Bridging-the-gap-between-diverse-communities.docx  Naimah: Welcome to Behind the Genes.  Aman: It's really important to engage community leaders who are really well embedded within the communities, who are attached to organisations or institutions which are well trusted in the community as well, so that we can get a wider perspective of how communities feel about genomic medicine and accessing services that we want people to engage with.  Naimah: My name is Naimah Callachand and I'm Head of Product Engagement and Growth at Genomics England. On today's episode, I'm going to be joined by Anna Smith, child and adolescent integrative psychotherapist for Rare Minds, Aman Ali, a community ambassador for Genomics England, and Moestak Hussein, community coordinator at Bristol City Council. Today, we'll be discussing the disparities in access to genomic medicine amongst diverse communities. If you enjoy today's episode, we'd love your support. Please like, share and rate us on wherever you listen to your podcasts.  Aman: Hi, my name's Aman Ali, I am an ambassador at Genomics England, a person very passionate about health research and ensuring that diverse communities are involved in health research, and I work as a community engagement manager at Our Future Health.  Anna: My name's Anna Smith, I'm a psychotherapist. I work in private practice and also with Rare Minds, who are a company who provide therapy to people with rare and genetic conditions.  Moestak: Hi, my name is Moestak Hussein and I have a background in community development, and I'm passionate about tackling health inequalities, and building social justice and inclusive approaches to address health inequalities. I work at Bristol City Council in the public health team, and I've participated in the Bristol workshops around equity in research in genomics.  Naimah: So, let's jump in and first of all I want to talk about barriers to access for diverse communities. I want to talk about how there are language barriers, cultural differences and socioeconomic factors that impact access to genomic medicine for marginalised communities. Anna, I wonder if you maybe could talk to me a bit about this.  Anna: Yeah. So, I'm talking about the traveller community, and we refer to this community as a GRT community, which is Gypsy, Romany and Traveller, so it encompasses people in the UK, people living in Ireland as well. And some of the barriers to accessing healthcare are a lack of understanding of culture. There's been studies done where it says that people from GRT communities show up lower on all markers for poor healthcare and poor mental healthcare, and part of the reason for that is things like illiteracy. You know, you're dealing with people who can't read or write. They can't read appointment times. They don't have access to public transport. A lot of women don't drive in this community, and also women are not very well supported within the community by the people who can drive and who can get them places, because it's not seen as something that they need access to. Because the community is so closed, everything sort of takes place within the community.   In terms of genomic healthcare, access right from the start of life, if people are not accessing healthcare right from birth, they're not getting the genetic testing that's needed, so then a lot of these things don't even show up until the illness presents itself, and then accessing healthcare from there is really difficult. You know, it's something that – it doesn't happen a lot. Only 67 percent of people from the GRT community were able to get a doctor's appointment when they needed it, compared to nearly 90 percent from other communities, and that's through things like not having a fixed address. Lots of GPs don't offer temporary registration, which means that if you are travelling, you do not have access to a GP, which is your first port of call if you need any access to healthcare. So, many people from the GRT communities are using A&E services in order to get healthcare, which – you know, they are not set up for dealing with long-term life changing conditions. They're there to deal with what's right in front of them and then they move on. There's no sort of continuity of care.  Naimah: Thanks Anna, that's really highlighted a lot of barriers for the GRT community. And I wonder, Aman, if you want to come in now and maybe discuss some of the barriers that maybe the Muslim community might experience.  Aman: Yeah, I think anyone involved in medicine or anyone who's a doctor is really well respected in the Muslim community. That profession is something that every parent aspires for their children to get involved in. They at least want one of their children to be a doctor. Having said that, there's this willingness to engage with the space, but there's a lack of knowledge, which is a huge issue here. People don't know what the word genomics means or genes, or understand DNA. Some of this language is a huge barrier to understanding and then eventually accessing some of the services that could be available to people from Muslim communities. Because when we speak about Muslim communities, we're talking about a huge, diverse group of people from South Asia, from North Africa, from the Middle East, and they all have their nuances and different cultural experiences as well.  Just to kind of point out maybe one or two, most people in the UK have grown up in the UK, where access to healthcare is free, whereas this is quite a strange phenomenon for people who may have not been born in the UK and then access healthcare services in the UK. And the context being here is usually they pay for healthcare in other countries, and whenever any public or free healthcare is provided, it's usually seen as kind of not very good or suboptimum, or yeah, it's not going to be very helpful for us. So, when they see free healthcare in the UK, there's that kind of apprehension, “Actually, is this going to be worthwhile? I'm not paying for this, so it's not going to be very much good for me.” So, those are some of the cultural nuances that certain communities where healthcare is not for free in certain countries that poses a barrier.  Language in terms of speaking and reading is an issue. So, a lot of people, they may speak a language, but they don't know how to read a language. So, even when services are translated – I, for example, can speak Bangla, but I can't read or write Bangla, and not a word of Bangla at all. So for my parents, who can speak Bangla very well, their reading level is actually quite good, but I know that many within the community, they didn't get education back home, and therefore reading and writing is a challenge as well. And then you have the issue of dialects. There's so many dialects within so many different communities, so when a language is spoken or written in a particular way, if that dialect isn't your mother tongue or a dialect that you're familiar with, then that causes challenges to access as well.  Naimah: Moestak, how do cultural beliefs and values influence attitudes towards genomic medicine within each of these different cultural communities?  Moestak: I think Aman and Anna touched on it a lot, and it's about communities being able to coproduce that historically hasn't been there. The supremacy of certain communities to have a voice and be able to express how they would like to shape their healthcare, but also access to healthcare barriers have been part of having a barrier in access. And I think Aman touched on like even the term genomics, I don't think it exists in particularly my community. I come from the Somali community, and I've tried to look at historical kind of words and terms. I mean, our language only got developed in 1973, the written language, so you can imagine that there's a lot of gaps or there's other terminologies.  So, the cultural beliefs and values is also communities' recognition to be driving their own health needs and priorities is not valued within those sectors such as healthcare. I mean, we're still talking about holistic medicine. People go to their faith leaders in the first instance to have support around prayer. That's not necessarily recognised by mainstream health provision. And I think it's about how do we build on those strengths and how do we recognise that that is a really great part of communities. And it's also tradition and customs within childbirth, from birth, understanding what children and young people and families will need. I know there's customs and traditions for women to stay at home, for example, for 40 days, and those are the kind of traditions that could be built on. And I think it's about making sure that the child doesn't pick up bacteria or things like that.   So, there is an understanding and knowledge within communities of genomics. It's the awareness and the training around patient centred approaches are still missing, in my opinion. And I think that influences how people view genomic medicine. It goes back to the lack of trust and historic past abuses and cases, that communities has resulted in lower participation and a reluctancy to be part of genomic testing, but also that lack of understanding.  Naimah: Anna, did you have something you wanted to add in there?  Anna: What you were just saying about keeping it within the community, that's something that we see with the GRT community massively is everything is handled within the family, and I think that's not necessarily valued outside of that community. If you arrange an appointment with someone and the whole family turns up, it's like, “Woah, what's going on here? You know, how is this managed?” And it becomes a safeguarding issue, when actually that is how it's managed, and very often you need to get the whole family on board before you can start working with an individual. Because within the GRT communities, individuals do not exist outside of their families. Even what we're saying about language, a lot of the GRT community who live in England now speak English, but the words that they use for mental health are very different.   You talk about mental ill health, that translates as psychosis in the GRT community, whereas if you're talking about depression and anxiety, somebody might say that they've got bad nerves. So, if you come up and say, “We're dealing with mental health now,” people would say, “Well, I don't have psychosis, I don't have that, this is not an issue for me.” And it's like you're speaking different languages even though you're using the same words.  Naimah: From what all of you have said as well, it does sound like there are a lot of similarities in the barriers in each of the different cultural communities.  I wanted to move on to ask about what strategies have been effective at engaging these diverse communities in healthcare research and decision making processes.  Aman: There are a number of ways I've seen best practice take place in regards to kind of community engagement. The approaches have been one of two approaches. One, either inviting the community to come to your spaces, i.e. organising events or having opportunities where people can engage with your service. Or the alternative approach, which I think is actually more effective, is actually going to the spaces where communities are most familiar with. So, whether that's holding a focus group at a community centre, at a church or at a mosque, or engaging in coproduction with a community organisation, to come together, to come up with an idea of how to best engage communities. And I also feel like there's a difference between PPI, patient and public involvement, versus community engagement.   And those are the two major approaches that I've seen when it comes to community engagement, and I'm a big advocate of community engagement, because you're going into spaces which are authentic to the very communities that we are hoping to engage, but you're going into an unfamiliar environment as opposed to bringing that community into an unfamiliar environment, where they might be a bit guarded with what they want to share and how comfortable they feel. So, those are some reflections on good practices in community engagement.  And I think one of the key things that we need to do is understand who are the key community leaders within that community, ‘cos it's one thing being within that community, and being able to speak about that community are two different things altogether. So just to articulate what I mean by that, I live in Luton, but I've just moved to Luton two months ago, so if you ask me about what life is like in Luton, I'll be able to speak about my experience, but if I was to live here for 20, 30 years then I'd be in a better position to speak about how people in Luton live and what their experiences are like, and that's two different perspectives you're going to get. So, it's really important to engage community leaders who are really well embedded within the communities, who are attached to organisations or institutions which are well trusted in the community as well, so that we can get a wider perspective of how communities feel about genomic medicine and accessing services that we want people to engage with.    Naimah: Thanks Aman. I think you made a couple of really good points there, and I think you kind of have this overarching feeling of building trust, which is what Moestak mentioned in the previous question as well. I thought maybe now would be a good time to discuss your first responders project, Aman, if you could tell us a bit about that. It'd be good to hear the kind of developments from that community work.  Aman: Yeah, so one of the ideas that came about from engagement actually that we had with some community leaders within the Muslim community, primarily some imams, they heard about the work of Genomics England, they heard about the work of research in particular, and they were really keen to get involved even further, but they were honest in saying that, “I know very little about this space. And it's one thing for me not to know much, but then if I don't know anything then I'm not able to then advocate for this within the community. So, two things you need to help me with. One, help me understand this space, but also allow me to then be able to advocate for services or information that my community can benefit from.”  So, that's where the inception of this first responders idea came about. The idea being that community engagement happened with some imams from all across the country, where we trained them to understand a bit more about genomics, and genomic healthcare and medicine, but also to be able to navigate a number of scenarios that they may face in the community. For example, there's a mother who has been recommended by their GP to go see a genetic counsellor, but they're really worried about broaching that conversation with their husband or their family, because of the challenges that they may face. So, how would you support someone in the community when that scenario comes up? Or for example, someone like Genomics England or Our Future Health or another organisation has approached you about a research study, and they want to engage your community, how would you have that conversation with that particular organisation, advocate for those health programmes within your community?  So, we just presented a number of scenarios. But I think the main thing that we ended with was giving the imams in this particular incident the ability to signpost to services, be it helplines that are available for communities to access more information, or websites that people can access in order to understand more information about different issues to do with health conditions, or whether it be better understanding issues like cousin marriages or kind of accessing genetic testing.  Naimah: That sounds like you're empowering the leaders to advocate for healthcare and share this with their communities through this work. I wonder, Anna, is that something that you could do in the GRT community as well, like empower the leaders of the family to disseminate these healthcare messages, and how would we do that?  Anna: Yeah, I think so. I think a lot of it would need to be outreach, and there are people out there who can help bridge that gap. For example, there's a great team called Family Friends & Travellers, and if you get in contact with them and let them know which community you'd like to go into, they can help arrange, or they will come with you to go into that community. Because the GRT community, you know, is very mistrustful of anyone coming in, and rightly so. It was only in 2011 that they were included on the national census as an option to say you're from that community, so I think there's massive mistrust there of anyone coming into the community.  So, if you want to engage the leaders of the families or of the communities, you're going into a settled traveller site, there will usually be somebody who is in charge of that site, not officially, but maybe their family might be the biggest family or they might be the most important family. And there are people out there who will allow you to start to engage with that person, who can then disseminate the information. But it needs to be outreach care, and the information that you disseminate, it needs to be tailored to people who have left school at primary age, who don't have the skills to read or write, or to manage appointments or read prescriptions, or have access to that type of healthcare. That's where it really needs to be tailored.  And I think confidentiality as well needs to be tailored a lot, because gossip and reputation and shame is huge in the GRT community, and if you are seen to be engaging with someone outside of the community, that is something that can bring a lot of shame to you and your family, so it needs to be handled really, really carefully.  Naimah: Just to kind of go along with this theme of trust that you've all now mentioned, Moestak, I wonder if you could maybe comment on what strategies can healthcare organisations and researchers employ to build trust with these communities who have historically been underserved or mistreated?  Moestak: Yeah, I think I mentioned earlier about the hierarchy of power around superiority and also mistrust of medical professional generally, and I touched there on how safeguarding concerns are triggered on not understanding cultural norms and practices within communities, and misconstruing that with safeguarding. There is generally that mistrust is there. And I think what Aman touched on there is really the importance of asset based approaches, and really building on transparent and really embedding transparent and inclusive practices from the onset. I mean, if we talk about coproduction, true coproduction is really creating a power balance where there's no hierarchy. It's an empowering model. It empowers both the researchers or the person that comes in, but also the communities that participate, and you all start on the same level, on the same outcomes and the same goals and aims that you want to achieve.  And I think it's important to embed those kind of approaches, and it's Covid-19 – I mean, we took part in Bristol in King's Fund research around the community champions model. It's exactly that, about engagement, about community driving their own solutions, and being able to collectively collaborate, drive their health piece forward, but also increase the capacity of communities. We worked with clinicians who come from those communities, and it's no surprise that the uptake of covid-19 vaccine increased as a result of working with those trusted voices.   Quite often, those really effective programmes and engagement often are not funded adequately. They're not sustained. And what happens is that we constantly are having to rebuild and restart, and that really does affect trust as well with communities. And when something works, why not build on it? And even now with that Covid-19 learning from the community champion model, the resource is not there anymore. It's not valued anymore, sadly. That in itself is a risk, I think, in building the trust, but also the strength to continue that work and adapt in other ways around genomic medicine, and even increasing and diversifying the genomics data pool, helping communities understand and drive that. And that first responders project, communities being trained to capacity build and then being able to drive that within their communities, that's the only way that we're going to have effective strategies.  Aman: I think adding onto what's been mentioned, with regards to building trust, it's really important to understand the motivations of communities, and to understand what messaging is going to resonate with different communities, and it's going to be a different message for each community. You can't have the same approach for all communities. A recurrent theme that I've come across when engaging different communities is this difference between messaging which is individualistic and then messaging which is about the community and more the collective message, and how that resonates a lot more with certain communities that I've engaged with, particularly within Muslim communities. And that's something that I think is a bit untapped in regards to kind of any materials that are created, be it posters or videos or any content looking to reach out to communities.  When we did some focus groups with some communities in Watford, who are primarily from the Pakistani community but also other parts of Asia in that region, the biggest response or biggest positive response that we got was when we posed the question, “If you were to know that people who look like you, from wherever your parents are, family may be from, would you be motivated to take part in that research?” And the biggest yes came on the back of that question. And that speaks to the fact that, “If I know that my family or my community, not just in the UK but abroad can benefit, then that would really motivate me and build trust that actually you're not just here to benefit me as an individual, but you're here to benefit my community as a whole, and therefore, yes, I'm going to be more trusting of this programme and be more motivated to take part.”  Naimah: I just wanted to go briefly back, Moestak, you mentioned cultural norms, and I wanted to talk about the cultural norm in societies where maybe people may marry someone from the same ancestor, and what the societal fallout from these practices might be.  Moestak: The stigma and the stereotypes often for communities comes from those beliefs and messages that are often sometimes not even backed up with scientific evidence. It can be seen as Islamophobic sometimes of Muslim communities that practice that. But also I think what's important to understand is that concept around hereditary conditions and how that can determine one's health, and it's not really fully appreciated or desired. And so as a result, for example, a lot of people refuse to even have those early onset maternal testing for the foetus. My personal experience, I have three children, teenagers now, and I refused those tests as well, because my belief and my religious beliefs would kind of not align with being able to terminate a foetus if there were some genetic conditions. And so I think that is often not understood and made very clear to communities, and build on their beliefs and attitudes and values. And so those are the kind of cultural norms that are not fully understood.  But also the opposite side of that actually around being able to prevent a good life for somebody or a bad life for somebody, and being able to prevent genetic conditions is also part of the religion on the flipside, but again it's not creating that link. That cultural beliefs is not understood. I think also the community implications around the stigma. I mean, autism's a big issue in the Samali community, and I remember years ago when I was working in education, we had a big issue around even acknowledgement of diagnosis and referrals, and it's because of the stigma. Those perceptions do exist within communities that if someone has a genetic condition or ill health or a disease, it's almost like being a black sheep in the community. And so it's being able to build on those desires of the community wanting to be healthy and well, I think is not often understood.  Naimah: And do you think it's partly as well education of healthcare professionals to communicate in a really culturally sensitive way?  Moestak: Yes, exactly, that's exactly what it is. It's missed opportunities really that we can build on. In that particular example of autism within the community, I was able to do a really positive piece of work with the community, and building on their interest and their skills, but using my own lived experience and understanding and knowledge, and being able to inform that within education sector but also the health sector, and providing that training and upskilling. And there is unfortunately a lack of diversity within the workforce if you look at the NHS. The lower level kind of cleaning and porter staff are ethnic minorities. And so it is about using those clinicians, as I mentioned earlier, that are coming from those communities are the forefront.  We've recently had a really positive piece of work in Bristol around let's talk about MMR, and we had a cohort of unvaccinated community, a Somali community, young people between the age of 16 to 25, and we worked with a Somali clinician, who led on that piece of work, and it was absolutely amazing. The young people as a result trusted her information and took up – but again also another thing that's important is that a lot of data in the medical system is missing. I for one migrated here from the Netherlands, where I came there as a refugee at the age of three years old. My medical history is completely missing in both the UK records but also in the Netherlands, so I didn't know if I had MMR vaccine. So, it's a lot of gaps in information that people have, newly arrived communities that still need to constantly be updated and informed and education awareness raised with those communities.  Naimah: Anna, I wonder if you wanted to add anything onto that point.  Anna: It's really difficult with that mistrust and sort of how closed the GRT community is to getting that information in, and I think to getting that information understood as well and to make it seem like it's important. Because family is the most important thing, people are accepted the way that they are. You know, if we're talking about autism, people are accepted the way that they are, and it is a bit like, you know, “There's nothing wrong with my child, how dare you suggest that there is?” That testing isn't done because the access to healthcare is so difficult, because people can't register with GPs, because they can't access maternity care, they can't access postnatal care. Because they can't register with the GP, they're not on the system, and then the records don't exist. Still now there's birth records and death records that do not exist for these people within the communities, never mind medical history throughout their lives.  Naimah: I think it really highlights a lot of gaps, doesn't it? Aman, do you want to add anything to that question?  Anna: Your opening remarks is that it's a cultural norm in all societies, and we see even within the royal family in the UK, that it seems to be that any disparaging comments are targeted towards certain communities, and even then unfairly. I mean, often it's associated with Muslim communities, but I would say the majority of Muslim communities don't practice marrying someone from within the same ancestor. It's certain cultural communities who do practice this. Having said that, even that practice shouldn't be seen in a disparaging way, because it's how those communities live their lives, and so we should be respectful of that and not speak in any way disparaging towards that community. And I think we have responsibility – ‘cos obviously nationally the conversation then moves onto increased risks of genetic disorders, and so we should be very matter of fact about what the percentage increase is when it comes to the likelihood of genetic disorders within families who marry with the same ancestor.   Because what happens is, if we're not very clear with what the actual facts are with regards to the increased risk of genetic order then even within the community which practices marrying someone from the same ancestor, that figure can be inflated, and so this perpetuates fear and perpetuates the stigma even more. Whereas if we are just matter of fact, “This is the increased risk of genetic disorders,” and leave it there, then the communities can decide and they'll have a more informed position. I think the figures are an increase from two to six percent increase, but if you were to ask people within the community, “What's the increase of genetic disorders if you're marrying someone from the same ancestor?” they might think it's 40 percent or 50 percent or a really high figure. So, that's something that we need to work towards better understanding, which will lead to removal of that stigma as well.  Anna: Again, that's something that we see in the GRT community as well, there's been research done by a woman called Sally Anne Lynch into cousin marriage within the Irish travelling community, and when they tested people, they found more than 90 genetic conditions that are present within people's DNA within that community that just aren't tested at birth. And I think, you know, you're right, it's something that is not talked about, because outside of these communities it's seen as wrong and it's not seen as something that's normal. It's seen as abnormal. But within this community, it is very normal and it's very accepted. But then the testing isn't done because of the access to healthcare.  Naimah: I think it just seems like it does kind of boil down to education and educating healthcare professionals that it is kind of normal practices. Aman, did you want to add something else?  Aman: Yeah, Anna made a really good point about testing. I think there's something that is a gap in the service that we probably don't provide more widely is that, when it comes to people who practice marriage within the same ancestor in other countries, testing is very normal. So, I know there's many countries around the world where it's very standard practice and even a requirement in certain countries that you must be tested before you get married, and so maybe that's something that we can learn from in the UK.  Moestak: I think it's important to understand that some communities, decision making of consent is sometimes done by the head of the family, and I think that that is not fully understood as well, and often can be a barrier to participation. And I think that there's an element of empowerness that is needed, particularly around women that need that empowerment model around consent of decision making around their testing and genetic testing, and just medical consent.  Naimah: That's an excellent point as well, thanks Moestak.  So, I know we've touched on aspects of this already, but I wanted to finish on this question, how can meaningful community engagement foster trust and collaboration in genomic research and healthcare initiatives?  Aman: I think one of the things that I would really improve is just awareness around genomic healthcare and genomics in general. It's a learning curve that's going to happen within communities at different rates, and we need to be mindful of this because that rate will determine also health inequities that are experienced by those communities as well. So, we need to make sure that we are adequately approaching all communities to the best of our abilities. Having said that, target maybe more resourcing and educational opportunities for communities which have been underrepresented in health research and in genomic health research as well primarily, so we need to sort of prioritise certain communities in regards to our community outreach, because then we'll dispel any myths that people might have and work towards chipping away at the mistrust that certain communities may feel towards just healthcare in general, but more particularly about genomic healthcare, ‘cos genomic healthcare brings up some unique challenges and some unique perspectives within communities.  So, there's a number of fears about the future, but also misgivings about healthcare in the past as well that we need to acknowledge. So, by having community engagement initiatives, which are prioritised from the beginning and not just an afterthought, we can go a long way towards getting over some of the challenges of the past, but also not making new challenges for us in the future.   Anna: I think as a whole, the UK has got a long way to go with building trust with the GRT community. I think it's going to take some time. They still are one of the most marginalised communities. For example, in the area that I live, there was a GRT funeral going on a few weeks ago, and all the pub shut because they didn't want GRT communities in their establishments, and there is no other community or minority that that would happen with now. So, I think there is still quite a long way to go to gain the trust of the GRT community. And in terms of healthcare, I think we need to go right back to the start and learn about these communities, and understand their cultures and their practices, and how they work without that judgement. Living a nomadic lifestyle is still criminalised. There needs to be a decriminalisation around these communities before we can even start to begin to work out how to go there and allow them to access healthcare and knowledge and information around genetic conditions, and around health and mental health.   It's going to be a very long road from here, but I think what we can start doing is to start that destigmatisation. If you are a doctor and somebody turns up in your surgery identifying as someone from the GRT community, understanding the background they come from, and not having all those prejudices, you know, which is very difficult to do, to get rid of those thoughts that you already have about someone. I think we need to make a real effort to start, and I think there needs to be changes within the NHS in order for people to access healthcare better. I think the resources that are given and the information that goes out needs to be more specifically tailored to these communities if that's who you're trying to engage with, because there's so much that goes on in the community that's not known outside of the community, and it's not spoken about, and within different GRT communities as well. You know, there are different GRT communities all around the UK, and what goes on in them is not known to other GRT communities either.   So, it's about being specific with the information that you're getting out, with who you're actually targeting. And I think a bit like we were saying earlier, it's the women, you know. The women have childcare responsibilities almost all of the time, and they are the ones who bring up the children, but they're not necessarily the ones that make the decisions about the children or the child healthcare. You know, women are expected to do jobs in the morning. Women are not available before 11 o'clock in the morning. So, think about when you're making appointments for. Think about when you're going. I think it is going to be a long, long road before we get there, you know, with building trust and getting the information out there, but I think we can make a start.  Naimah: Yeah, it does seem like there is lots of ways we can start tackling it slowly. Moestak, I wonder if you had anything you wanted to add.  Moestak: As a public health specialist, you know, we've not been taught genomic medicine or genomic health at all in terms of how that can benefit and radically change the NHS and improve determinants of health, so that's a massive gap of knowledge within the healthcare sector and professionals. But I think in terms of addressing the historic mistrust, I think there needs to be an acknowledgement and a real openness around the historic, you know, abuse and unethical practices that have existed within health. There are other countries that are much more advanced in that and really embedding that within communities through pledges. That long-term kind of piece of work for me is missing. You know, it's that wider education piece that's missing that needs to be really embedded in the culture.  But I think also investing in the infrastructure in the community. Like far too often, if the long-term vision is not there, communities are reluctant to get involved and have trust within that, so I think that's an important part as well. And I think it's also about demonstrating the benefits of genomic medicine. I think that needs to be done in a community level way, through storytelling. I know that there's now a lot of development around cancer treatments around genomics, but I think it's about having those people who have those lived experiences from different communities to be able to share the benefits and demonstrate that through their way, and being appropriately reimbursed as well. I think that's really important.  I think generally, I think there's a long way we've got to go. I'll never forget when I went to Vancouver on a conference around health, and there was a lot of reconciliation there, where there was really acknowledgement, and the indigenous communities there that have a lot of health disparities were able to kind of overcome some of that and start building as a community and addressing tackling health inequalities because that trust was built and that acknowledgement from high up, from government level, all the way trickled down to local. I think also patient centred approaches around – like we mentioned, we talked about linking the cultural norms and the values and the beliefs that people have, and the skills and the assets that they have to be able to lead on these solutions themselves, that really needs to be embedded to build trust.   Aman touched on the perception around what could be done with genomic data. I don't know if Aman wants to elaborate a bit on that, but that's really important. It's a big barrier. It's how do we create transparent ways of storing data, but also use various ways of communication. It doesn't have to be traditional reports. It could be through podcasts. It could be like community messaging.   Naimah: Yeah, I think that's a really important point. Aman, did you want to come in on that?  Aman: Yeah, I think sharing the stories of the past in an appropriate setting, in an appropriate manner as well – ‘cos it's a bit of a double edged sword, ‘cos you don't want to scare people who are unfamiliar with these stories, but at the same time there's a moral responsibility for all of us involved in this space to speak about these issues, one from the perspective of acknowledging what's happened in the past, so then people feel like, “Okay, you're not trying to hide anything here,” but from the perspective of also that we need to make sure that we don't repeat some of the mistakes in the future, and that as people involved in genomic healthcare and involved in this space, that we're cognisant of these misgivings in the past, and we're cognisant of our responsibility to safeguard communities in the future.  Naimah: Okay, so we're going to wrap up there. Thank you so much to our guests, Anna Smith, Aman Ali and Moestak Hussein for joining me today as we discussed the barriers to access to genomic medicine for diverse communities, and the impact it has on these communities. If you'd like to hear more like this, please subscribe to Behind the Genes on your favourite podcast app. Thank you for listening. I've been your host and producer, Naimah Callachand, and this podcast was edited by Bill Griffin at Ventoux Digital.

Send us a Text Message.Welcome to this week's podcast, where I'm going behind the scenes of Bristol City Centre and talking to Tom Swithinbank. Tom's work involves helping businesses become more sustainable and making the city a more appealing place to visit. Tom works for Visit West, specifically for the Business Improvement Districts, which support around 1,200 businesses in the city centre.In this episode, we talk about: How Tom's work contributes to the Bristol City Council's ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2030.A free bike check service called Dr BikeAn initiative for city centre workers to bring their own lunch boxes to Finzels Reach food market to cut down on packaging waste - a great initiative that all of us can consider, no matter where we work. The use of cargo bikes for businesses who need local deliveries Making the city look more appealing using planters, murals and green walls, all of which make the city centre a better place.We also discuss the future of the historic Castle Park and the exciting plans to redevelop that rather colourful derelict building on the corner. Along with the plan to landscape the area next to Cabot Circus to strengthen the park's link to the shopping centre.  I hope you enjoy the episode.  Bristol City Centre BID Redcliffe & Temple BID Broadmead BIDConnect with Tom Swinthinbank on LinkedIn For more links to things and businesses discussed (podcast on website)Huge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs. Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.Subscribe to the Visitor Elves newsletter, to receive the latest podcast releases and inspirational tips to help you with your visitor economy business. To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to: InstagramLinkedIn If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories.

Send us a textWelcome to this week's podcast, where I'm going behind the scenes of Bristol City Centre and talking to Tom Swithinbank. Tom's work involves helping businesses become more sustainable and making the city a more appealing place to visit. Tom works for Visit West, specifically for the Business Improvement Districts, which support around 1,200 businesses in the city centre.In this episode, we talk about: How Tom's work contributes to the Bristol City Council's ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2030.A free bike check service called Dr BikeAn initiative for city centre workers to bring their own lunch boxes to Finzels Reach food market to cut down on packaging waste - a great initiative that all of us can consider, no matter where we work. The use of cargo bikes for businesses who need local deliveries Making the city look more appealing using planters, murals and green walls, all of which make the city centre a better place.We also discuss the future of the historic Castle Park and the exciting plans to redevelop that rather colourful derelict building on the corner. Along with the plan to landscape the area next to Cabot Circus to strengthen the park's link to the shopping centre.  I hope you enjoy the episode.  Bristol City Centre BID Redcliffe & Temple BID Broadmead BIDConnect with Tom Swinthinbank on LinkedIn For more links to things and businesses discussed (podcast on website)To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:InstagramLinkedIn This episode is sponsored by Hello Starling. Hello Starling, is an award-winning Media Planning and Buying agency that specialises in delivering advertising campaigns with great results for visitor attractions and destinations. They've worked with brands such as Bristol Zoo Project, Visit Shropshire, Visit Conwy, Visit Herefordshire and the National Tourism Office for Poland. If you want to be the centre of attention, visit hellostarling.com today. FREE GUIDE - 6 Steps to finding your Ideal Customer Do you want to know who your ideal customer's are and how you can focus your time and money reaching them? Download my FREE guide now. If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories.

Thank you to the folks at Sustain (https://sustainoss.org/) for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 86 In this episode of CHAOSScast, co-hosts Alice Sowerby and Dawn Foster welcome guests Aida Mehonic, Malvika Sharan, and Kirstie Whittaker from The Alan Turing Institute. The discussion begins with delving into the Institute's strategic vision, focused on using data science and AI to address global challenges in environment, health, and security. They examine the role of open source contributions in enhancing the ethical, accessible, and impactful uses of AI. The episode highlights various projects, such as The Turing Way, and the importance of community building, inclusive research practices, and the ethical considerations of AI. They also discuss the integration of CHAOSS metrics in their work and explore future projects and initiatives at The Alan Turing Institute. Press download now to hear more! [00:02:58] Kirstie gives an overview of The Turing Institute's strategic vision and explains the three missions. [00:06:22] Aida talks about the importance of communicating with organizations to align on a shared mission and the impact and value of money of publicly funded projects. [00:08:38] Malvika brings in the stakeholders ensuring that users, communities, and patients have a say in AI development and empowering educators to incorporate AI, also she talks about working across different projects like Data Science Without Borders and BridgeAI, to accelerate AI's impact on health and SME's. [00:11:02] The conversation switches to embracing ethical AI usage and encouraging others to do the same. Kirstie details the ethical components of AI using the SAFE-D approach: Safety and sustainability, Accountability, Fairness and non-discrimination, Explainability and transparency, and Data quality, integrity, protection, and privacy. [00:17:17] Malvika talks about the importance of considering the societal impact of research at The Turing Institute, she highlights the differences between the EU AI Act and the open source community approach and emphasizes that users should know their rights regarding data collection and sharing. [00:19:49] Aida tells us about a case study on A/B street, an open source street planning tool. They partnered up with Bristol City Council and used this tool to facilitate community involvement in urban planning decisions. [00:23:52] Aida mentions having conversation she's been in has focused on at Turing on democratizing technology to reach a broader set of end users. [00:24:14] Dawn loves Turing's collaborative approach and acknowledges the challenges in making AI and data science intuitive for everyone. [00:24:54] Kirstie discusses the difficulty of meaningful stakeholder engagement. She talks about the importance of being willing to pivot project goals based on community feedback. [00:26:51] Alice brings up CHAOSS metrics and inquires how they fit into The Turing Institute's work. Malvika explains that CHAOSS metrics is one of the only metrics that help them for understanding equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in community health. [00:31:00] Dawn highlights the need to combine quantitative metrics with qualitative research. Kirstie shares that data scientists often don't see their work as part of open source or community led projects. Aida comments on using CHAOSS metrics to justify the impact of open source research funded by taxpayer money. [00:36:05] Dawn asks about the future focus areas for The Turing Institute. Kirstie mentions the BridgeAI Initiative to support SMEs in the UK in leveraging data and the expansion of The Turing Way Practitioner Hub to support experts in organizations and foster global knowledge exchange. [00:38:28] Aida shares her excitement about a potential incubator at Turing focused on pathways to impact for research. Malvika shares her excitement for professionalization and recognition of various data science roles. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:40:54] Dawn's pick is GitHub's GraphQL API. [00:41:21] Malvika's pick is celebrating 5 years of The Turing Way. [00:41:53] Aida's pick is the incubator she talked about earlier. [00:42:26] Kirstie's pick is the Organizational Mycology team: Dan Sholler, Beth Duckles, and Jonah Duckles. [00:43:30] Alice's pick is listening to some podcasts about nuclear semiotics. Panelists: Alice Sowerby Dawn Foster Guests: Aida Mehonic Malvika Sharan Kirstie Whitaker Links: CHAOSS (https://chaoss.community/) CHAOSS Project X/Twitter (https://twitter.com/chaossproj?lang=en) CHAOSScast Podcast (https://podcast.chaoss.community/) podcast@chaoss.community (mailto:podcast@chaoss.community) Georg Link Website (https://georg.link/) Dawn Foster X/Twitter (https://twitter.com/geekygirldawn?lang=en) Alice Sowerby Website (https://www.rosmarin.co.uk/) Aida Mehonic LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/aida-mehonic-5264613/?originalSubdomain=uk) Dr. Aida Mehonic-The Alan Turing Institute (https://www.turing.ac.uk/people/business-team/aida-mehonic) Malvika Sharan LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/malvikasharan/?originalSubdomain=uk) Dr. Malvika Sharan-The Alan Turing Institute (https://www.turing.ac.uk/people/researchers/malvika-sharan) Kirstie Whitaker LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstiewhitaker/?originalSubdomain=uk) Dr. Kirstie Whitaker-The Alan Turing Institute (https://www.turing.ac.uk/people/researchers/kirstie-whitaker) The Alan Turing Institute (https://www.turing.ac.uk/) The Turing Way (https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/research-projects/turing-way) Launch of the Data Science Without Borders Project (https://codata.org/launch-of-the-data-science-without-borders-project/) BridgeAI (https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/programme/bridge) ‘Using AI in the public sector: New comprehensive guidance'-The Alan Turing Institute (https://www.turing.ac.uk/news/using-ai-public-sector-new-comprehensive-guidance) AI Ethics and Governance in Practice-The Alan Turing Institute (https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/research-projects/ai-ethics-and-governance-practice) Operationalising the SAFE-D principles for Open Source AI-Open Source Initiative (https://opensource.org/deepdive/webinars/operationalising-the-safe-d-principles-for-open-source-ai/) A/B Street (https://a-b-street.github.io/docs/) ‘Street smart: putting neighbourhood design in the hands of Bristol residents'-The Alan Turing Institute (https://www.turing.ac.uk/blog/street-smart-putting-neighbourhood-design-hands-bristol-residents) The Turing Way Practitioners Hub (https://www.turing.ac.uk/turing-way-practitioners-hub) GraphQL API-GitHub (https://docs.github.com/en/graphql) Organizational Mycology (https://orgmycology.com/about/) American Hysteria Podcast-Talking to the Future: Nuclear Semiotics (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-to-the-future-nuclear-semiotics/id1441348407?i=1000655384185) 99% Invisible Podcast: Ten Thousand Years Episode 114 (https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/ten-thousand-years/) Special Guests: Aida Mehonic, Kirstie Whitaker, and Malvika Sharan.

At the Local Elections, interesting things have been happening for the Green Party. They continued to rise in terms of councillors, gaining 74, and came very close to gaining the Bristol City Council. However, the most interesting result could be incoming. With all the Councillors in teh newly created Bristol Central constituency now Green ones, with two more contituencies targeted. Continuing our Election Fever miniseries, we ask the question can the Green Party replicate gains in Westminster?

Neil Maggs sits down with Mark Weston, who was first elected as a councillor nearly 20 years ago, and has led the local Tory party for a decade. On the eve of the local elections, they discuss the Tories miserable national polling, the so-called 'war on motorists' being waged by Bristol City Council, and the cultural divides between Bristol's inner city and suburbs.Subscribe to The Bristol Cable on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen: Bristol Unpacked with Watershed CEO Clare Reddington on cinema, class and council cutsAs Bristol City Council slashes spending on venues including arthouse cinema Watershed, Neil asks its boss Clare why funding the arts matters, and whether the sector's reputation as catering mainly to the well-heeled is justified. Over the past year Clare Reddington, the chief executive of Bristol's flagship arthouse cinema Watershed, has not been shy about fighting her corner in the midst of a tough financial environment.Back in the summer Clare, who has been at the venue for 20 years and in charge for four, sounded a warning that indie cinemas' business model was under threat from soaring inflation and the big streaming operators gobbling their market share. This month she blasted Bristol City Council bosses for lacking a "clear cultural strategy" after they cut funding from Watershed as well as other renowned arts centres including the Old Vic theatre.With the cash-strapped local authority struggling to keep crucial services such as social care afloat, is this simply entitled moaning from a venue – and sector – seen by some as catering mainly to well-heeled cinephiles still able to afford £6 pints alongside their culture fix? Or does that viewpoint itself represent a bad case of inverted snobbery by suggesting that only the middle classes enjoy a bit of high art?Why does it matter that the arts get funded, even while public services are getting sliced left, right and centre? Is the picture in Bristol really bleaker than in other provincial cities? And do the market pressures facing the wider cinema industry – which have seen big operators closing their doors here recently – present an opportunity for canny independents to grow their business and boost their inclusivity?As 2023 draws to a close, join Neil and Clare for a wide-ranging chat over these issues in the final Bristol Unpacked of the year. We'll be returning right after the Christmas break for the rest of the season, so stay tuned. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Budgets are tight at local authorities across the country and this week, Bristol City Council launched a consultation on what it calls its ‘Fair and Affordable Care Policy'. Some residents fear the policy, if implemented, could see them relocated to care homes if that's seen as “best value” to the wider community. We speak to Mark Williams, a Bristol resident and part of the Bristol Reclaiming Independent Living group and Mikey Erhardt who is a campaigner from Disability Rights UK. Strictly Come Dancing is back for 2023 and, for the first time, the opening episode was audio described as it was being broadcast. We take a listen to it, and Emma looks at the reaction amongst the blind community on social media. And it's been five years in the making, but a brand new whodunit has been released in London. Imposter 22 is co-created by learning disabled and autistic actors. We speak to Charlene Salter who has been involved since the beginning. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Emma Tracey presents this week's show with members of the production team putting in an appearance. Sound recording and mixing by Dave O'Neill. Produced by Beth Rose, Emma Tracey, Jack Taylor, Drew Hyndman and guest Keiligh Baker. The editor was Damon Rose. Exec editor Jonathan Aspinwall Tell your smart speaker “Alexa, ask the BBC for Access All” and you'll get the very latest edition. Or subscribe to Access All via BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. On the X platform we're @bbcaccessall, Instagram bbcaccessall and you can email accessall@bbc.co.uk

Only 18 B Corp breweries in America, Mango opens first store in Texas, Schumer seeks federal funding for semiconductors in New York, NatWest seeks permanent CEO successor, Bristol City Council grants new license to Spiegeltent, Bertelsmann Investments to invest $700 million in Chinese start-ups, Berkshire Hathaway reports highest-ever quarterly operating profit, Be Still Getaways turns property management side hustle into $3 million business, Harvard places greater emphasis on life experiences in admissions, Australia plans new laws to crack down on misconduct by tax advisers.

Dr Chrissi McCarthy is the founder and Managing Director of Constructing Equality. Over the past decade and a half, she has formulated and implemented research-based methodologies to bolster equality within diverse organisations. Her client portfolio spans prestigious institutions including the National Health Service and Bristol City Council.  Chrissi's PhD explored equality, fairness and inclusion and fed directly into her work with Constructing Equality.   In this episode Chrissi shares a very honest account of her PhD journey and the challenges she faced along the way.   Chrissi comes from a non-traditional academic background and she acknowledges how important the support of mentors has been for her studies.   Chrissi explains the mindset shift that she underwent - realizing that the PhD is about learning rather than having all the answers - and the possibilities that opened up for her.   We discuss taking an interruption of studies and Chrissi talks about her own experience - including feeling like a failure - and the way in which the break allowed her to return to the PhD in full force!   We finish with reflecting on the importance of acknowledging vulnerability on the Phd journey.   You can find out more about Chrissi's work here:  https://www.constructingequality.co.uk/ If you would like a useful weekly email to support you on your PhD journey you can sign up for ‘Notes from the Life Raft' here:  https://mailchi.mp/f2dce91955c6/notes-from-the-life-raft

Dating back as many as 500 years, Yew Tree Farm is now Bristol's last remaining working farm.Once under threat from development, there is hope that houses will not be built on the land, with an extra layer of protection recently granted thanks to the farmland no longer earmarked for housing in Bristol City Council's new Local Plan.In Episode 71, Catherine says that Yew Tree Farm is "a forgotten little piece of Bristol but I think it's the most special piece of Bristol".

In 1895 a bronze statue of slave trader Edward Colston was erected on top of a stone plinth in the centre of Bristol. Colston had made large donations to charities, schools and hospitals in the city, and certain businessmen saw him as a philanthropist. A plaque beneath the statue described Colston as one of the “most virtuous and wise sons of the city”. But there was no mention anywhere that he made his fortune as a slave trader. 125 years later, in 2020, the statue was still there despite many petitions to Bristol City Council for it to be removed. Then, during a demonstration, the statue was toppled and thrown in the river. Four young protesters soon find themselves in court and at the centre of an intense political and legal debate. On this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss whether it is ever right to break the law and what the law itself has to say about this controversial case. CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Louisa Field Assistant Producer: Kate White Editor: Anna Lacey Music: Matt Chandler Academic Consultants for The Open University: Dr James MunroCommissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland#BadPeople_BBC

Coming up in this week's episode: Interserve fined £4.4 million after breaches of GDPR and deficiencies in GDPR training, PFS data breach, Bed Bath and Beyond data breach, See Tickets data breach, Bristol City Council data breach, Tata Power data breach, MyDeal data breach update, Drizly data breach resolution has an unusual twist, High Court claim for non-material GDPR damages following a data breach referred to the Small Claims track, Ascension St Vincent data breach, Hoyoverse data breach, Medibank data breach update, Thomson Reuters data breach, Medlab data breach, GDPR causes outburst of strong language at Laois Council, Hungarian DPA rules on joint Data Controller liability, EU Digital Services Act coming into force in early 2024, Microsoft and German authorities clash over GDPR, UK Cybersecurity industry edges towards creation of a Chartered Professional Standard for Cybersecurity

Bristol's electorate has spoken: the role of city mayor will be dropped when Marvin Rees finishes his term of office in 2024. It will be replaced by a committee system in which decisions will be ratified by groups of councillors rather than by a cabinet appointed by the mayor. Supporters of the change hope it will allow for a more democratic form of government.   In this 55-minute podcast, EG's guests discuss how Bristol reached this point and what it means for development in the city. Will it slow things down or will it help pave the way for getting Bristol's future growth right? Joining associate editor Julia Cahill are: Jonathan Lambert, director, development, Savills Bristol  John Savage, executive chairman, Bristol Chamber of Commerce & Initiative  Christine Townsend, councillor – Green Party, Bristol City Council 

Two temporarily sited artworks by leading contemporary artists Ivan Morison and Heather Peak were unveiled on 19 August in Bristol. Overstory, a pair of site-specific suspended structures featuring microscopic imagery of trees, will hang above Broadmead highlighting the importance of urban tree cover. Overstory gives a view into the microscopic world of trees and asks visitors to celebrate and consider how they are folded into our lives through their presence around us, their functions within our shared ecosystems, the stories they tell, and the role we can all play in creating and protecting natural spaces in our cities. The artwork has been produced and curated by PONY, and commissioned with The Natural History Consortium, being delivered as one of the activities under the City Centre and High Streets Recovery and Renewal programme, funded by Bristol City Council and the West of England Combined Authority's Love our High Streets project. Ivan Morison and Heather Peak's previous works in Bristol include Black Cloud in 2009 and I lost her near Fantasy Island. Life has not been the Same in 2006. Trees have underscored the artists' practice for over 20 years, and the artwork's title is inspired by the 2019 Pulitzer Prize Winning novel by ecological author Richard Powers; focusing on the deep importance of trees and the fight to preserve them. Although a work of fiction, the book delves into the science of trees and the realities of their endangered existence. Overstory encourages the public to look consciously at the trees around them, they may be surprised by what they see, and are naturally drawn towards. Visitors to Broadmead can learn how to create, protect, and explore woodlands and forests in the region; and are encouraged to venture outside this summer and discover the local parks, wildlife reserves, and older neighbourhoods to experience the diversity of native trees around Bristol and the stories they tell about the City.

This week, we're joined by Paul Barnard MBE MRTPI, Service Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure at Plymouth City Council. Decisions of the Week: R (oao Park Lane Homes) v Rother District Council et anor [2022] EWHC 485 (Admin) a decision of the High Court dismissing a challenge to Council's decision to accept the recommendations of the examiner into the draft Burwash Neighbourhood Development Plan and to proceed to a neighbourhood planning referendum. Decision of an inspector dated 9th March allowing an appeal by Summix FRB Developments Ltd against the refusal of Bristol City Council to grant permission for a development of four buildings for flexible commercial floorspace, part 5,7,8 & 14 stories for B1, B8 and sui generis student related uses including 595 bedspaces in flood zone 3a. Decision of an inspector dated 8th March 2022 allowing an appeal by Bloor Homes & al on a 26 ha allocated green field site against the refusal of Rochford District Council to grant an outline permission for the demolition of two properties to form access onto Ashingdon Road for 662 new dwellings, in circumstances where there was no 5 yr HLS. Decision of an inspector dated 7th March 2022 dismissing two appeals by Dunmoore Properties Ltd for permission for up to 30 dwellings on greenfield land on the edge of Pewsey, one refused & one not determined by Wiltshire Council. Issues relating to impact on AONB, mixed & balanced communities & compliance with the development plan.

Welcome to the sixth audio edition of the Bylines Network podcast. Thank you to all of our writers for penning these great articles, to our readers for recording them, and to Julian Greenbank for editing! Please find the articles compiled for this edition linked below: 0:28 Bristol City Council approves its Clean Air Zone - Julian Greenbank (West England Bylines) read by Julian Greenbank  7:16 Sunderland's local hero, Martin Longstaff, gets a surprise call to support Deacon Blue Graham Clarke (North East Bylines) read by  10:03 Would you walk across hot coals for Peter? Anna Girolami (Central Bylines) read by Maddy Griffiths 

Craig Cheney is the local lad and councilor for Hillfields that is the controller of the purse strings at Bristol City Council. After 12 years of central government-imposed austerity, that purse is much smaller than it needs to be. Now as the council is planning for the new year's budget they need to fill a £23 million sized hole in the finances. With the threat of cuts and sales of council assets, Neil and Craig discuss the challenges of local government finance and what that means for Bristolians, whether so-called 'town hall fat cats' should take a cut and if the council is getting the best deal from Bristol's status as an increasingly attractive and wealthy city. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the seventh episode of British Murders Season 4, I tell the story of Lee James and Bijan Ebrahimi.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣Bijan arrived in the UK as a refugee from Iran in 2000 and settled in South Bristol.⁣⁣⁣He received horrific abuse, both physical and verbal, from his neighbours at several different housing estates.⁣⁣⁣On July 13, 2013, Bijan was kicked to death by his neighbour Lee James after incorrectly being branded as a paedophile by the other residents.⁣⁣⁣Lee James was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years.⁣⁣⁣⁣This case is notable for the lack of support Bijan received from both Avon & Somerset Constabulary as well as Bristol City Council.⁣⁣Follow British Murders on social media:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/britishpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/britishmurdersTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@britishmurdersTwitter: https://twitter.com/britishmurdersYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BritishMurdersPodcastMerchandise available here:https://teespring.com/stores/britishmurdersSupport the show on Patreon for early access to ad-free-episodes:https://www.patreon.com/britishmurdersMake a one-off donation here:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/britishmurders All episodes are available on my website:https://www.spreaker.com/show/british-murdersWould you please send any British murder case suggestions to:britishmurderspodcast@gmail.comIntro music:David John Brady - 'Throw Down the Gauntlet'https://linktr.ee/davidjohnbradymusicMy recording equipment:Shure SM7B Vocal Microphone: https://amzn.to/3F1JkkjCloud Microphone Cloudlifter CL1: https://amzn.to/2XZicC8Focusrite Scarlett Solo USB Audio Interface: https://amzn.to/3kKCLL2Rode PSA-1 Professional Studio Boom Arm: https://amzn.to/3zHJOs8Purchase 'The Serial Killer's Book of Haiku' by Rose Bundy here:https://amzn.to/3lYRMbuRecorded using:AudacityiPhone XREdited in:AudacityDaVinci Resolve 17Mastered in:AuphonicReferences:Bijan Ebrahimi death - a timeline of events. (2017, July 5). ITV News. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2017-07-05/bijan-ebrahimi-death-a-timeline-of-eventsDearden, L. (2017, December 18). ‘We're extremely sorry': Murdered Iranian refugee Bijan Ebrahimi failed by police and council's “institutional racism.” Independent. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/bijan-ebrahami-refugee-murdered-iran-killed-paedophile-bristol-avon-somerset-police-council-gang-a8116341.htmlFootage of Bijan Ebrahimi shown during police misconduct trial – video. (2015, December 21). The Guardian. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2015/dec/21/bristol-ipcc-bijan-ebrahimi-murder-lee-james-police-misconduct-trial-videoGrandison, S. (Director). (2021). Murdered by a Mob: The Killing of Bijan Ebrahimi [TV Movie]. Zeppelin Films, Channel 5 Television.Grealish, S. (2021, May 19). Who was Bijan Ebrahimi and what happened to him? The Sun. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14992272/lee-james-bijan-ebrahimi-2/Hayhurst, C. (2016, January 22). Police officer sacked after being convicted of misconduct over vigilante murder of disabled man wrongly labelled a paedophile. Mirror. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-officer-sacked-after-being-7226826Morris, S. (2013, November 28). Bijan Ebrahimi: softly spoken brother who suffered horrendous bullying. The Guardian. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/global/2013/nov/28/bijan-ebrahimi-murdered-victim-impact-statementMortimer, C. (2016, May 4). Two police officers sacked over murder probe into man killed by vigilante. Independent. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/bijan-ebrahimi-two-police-officers-sacked-over-murder-probe-man-killed-vigilante-a7012096.htmlPeachey, P. (2013, November 28). A death foretold: Vigilante Lee James' warning to police days before he murdered disabled man Bijan Ebrahimi after he was wrongly outed as paedophile. Independent. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/death-foretold-vigilante-lee-james-warning-police-days-he-murdered-disabled-man-bijan-ebrahimi-after-he-was-wrongly-outed-paedophile-8969034.htmlRobehmed, S. (2013, November 3). Bijan Ebrahimi case: Three police officers suspended over failure to help innocent man branded a paedophile, beaten and set on fire. Independent. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/bijan-ebrahimi-case-three-police-officers-suspended-over-failure-help-innocent-man-branded-paedophile-beaten-and-set-fire-8919445.htmlSafer Bristol Crime, Drugs and Alcohol Partnership, Safer Bristol Executive Board, & McCallum, D. (2017, October). Multi-Agency Learning Review Following The Murder of Bijan Ebrahimi. Safer Bristol Partnership. https://www.bristol.gov.uk/documents/20182/35136/Multi-agency+learning+review+following+the+murder+of+Bijan+Ebrahimi

Cumberland Lodge Fellow Adenike Adewuni is joined by T/DI Vicky Lewandowski (Operation Innerste National Lead, Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit), Becky Lewis (Strategic Safeguarding & QA Service Manager, Bristol City Council), and Sarah Spain(Children's Social Care Lead, NTS, Home Office), to discuss issues of child trafficking in the United Kingdom and share some good practice approaches to respond to the sources of harm.

Carla Denyer, an elected councillor in the city, has just won the leadership of the Greens alongside Adrian Ramsay. With Labour shifting to the right, and concern about the climate crisis starting to become mainstream, Denyer thinks this is the moment for Greens, in the UK and beyond. But can they get out of their pigeon-hole and reach a wide range of society? Will internal divisions rock the party like they have others? And what does this all mean for Bristol? Join Neil for an in depth interview on Carla's background, politics and plans.An audio excerpt of a council meeting is used courtesy of Bristol City Council. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The move to online, will improve training programmes and support at-home working, this week's Highways Voices has heard. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/8a20e395-3951-42c4-ad27-84e7223dc698 (Listen here). These are the thoughts of one of this week's guests, John Nightingale, Director of training specialist JCT Consultancy and organiser of the annual JCT Traffic Signals Symposium. He said: "Developing proper online training isnt just about setting up a Teams or Zoom account, you have to put a lot of effort into the way these courses are structured and then you can actually replicate a classroom experience with a great deal of success by being innovative." Further to that, Mr Nightingale and this week's other guest, Jackie Davies, Principal UTMC Engineer at Bristol City Council have collaborated to develop a new online training programme aimed at helping support traffic signal engineers to get the best out of their traffic sgnals systems. You can find out more by listening to the podcast. Mr Nightingale said this was driven by a dramatic decline in skills. " Traffic Signal departments and roles have been decimated through voluntary early retirement and through budget cuts because of outsourcing, as a result, the numbers of the peoples in signal department has been dropping. And even then what you'll find is that that signal engineer is left there has been given additional responsibilities. So, there really isn't a manpower and there certainly isn't that that sort of skill base where you would learn from the older, more experienced engineers, and many people are really out on a limb."

Carlos Shanka is a Biology student at the University of Bristol in Tanzania, South African. He was recently elected as Chair of the Sustainability Network of the Bristol Students Union, a Consultant for sustainability research for the Bristol City Council and the Bristol Green Capital Partnership, the President of the Bristol University Sustainability Team, a Global Shaper, an initiative of the World Economic Forum, and the Coordinator for Spain at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Youth, also known as COY16. Carlos is from Spain and he is extremely passionate about sustainability. He is currently undergoing a journey of discovery while contributing to fixing global issues such as climate change, environmental sustainability, and social inequalities, based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Carlos started volunteering on environmental projects in the Canary Islands, in Lanzarote, and enjoys transforming his ideas into a reality.

Climate change is rising up organisations' agendas, and a good example of this is cities declaring climate emergencies and net-zero or carbon neutrality goals. Targets, visions and aspirations are great, but they need to be backed up with a clear strategy, plan and action. In this episode, we’re delving into cities and the growing number of net-zero declarations, looking at what’s actually going on, and what we can expect to see in the next years. Host Jon Slowe is joined by Sandra Fives, CEO and Co-Founder at Urbanomy, a subsidiary of EDF; James Sterling, Communications, Engagement and Partnerships Manager at Bristol City Council in the UK; and Delta-EE expert Alix Weil. Visit www.delta-ee.com/talkingnewenergy to catch up on all our episodes.

Jude D'Alesio is a conservative candidate for Bristol City Council, local councillor and chairman Bristol University Conservative Association. In this episode we discuss how to get involved in your local politics, the disenfranchisement young people face, as well as the policing bill that was give police more powers to regulate protests and the foreign policy review. Find Jude here: https://twitter.com/Jude_DAlesio Jack's Twitter: @JackStreet01 Brett's Twitter: @brett_lee712 https://twitter.com/DemographicaUK https://www.instagram.com/demographicauk https://www.demographicauk.com/ Credit to our editor, Gabriel Hunt - @GabesEdit The podcast is available on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and Google Podcasts!

Carl and Callum discuss the heart and soul of cancel culture, the woke Twitter mob, Bristol City Council's bid for reparations, and what reparations would even look like in the modern era. Full reading list available at: https://www.lotuseaters.com/the-podcast-of-the-lotus-eaters-81-04-03-21

Coming up in this week's episode: Update your Employee Privacy Policy to account for Covid19, Retail and Leisure venue considerations as England Lockdown ends, Update on Manchester United data breach, Spotify changes passwords after data breach, Sophos data breach, Carrefour fined for multiple GDPR breaches, NHS Highland data breach, Bristol City Council data breach exposes details of Special Needs children, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust has second data breach at Winchester hospital, Headlam Group data breach, New Zealand users hit by Australian Nitro PDF data breach, Vodafone fined for multiple GDPR breaches, FCA and ICO remind businesses that they work together

Thank you for listening to the What Works for Children's Social Care podcast - COVID-19 special. In this episode we are delighted to be joined by Rachael Pryor, Head of Service, Inclusive City and Virtual School Headteacher at Bristol City Council. In this episode, Rachael discusses how lockdown helped herself and her team think differently about how they organise their time more effectively, in particular with children who are being educated outside of the local authority. Rachael also considers the complexities of assessing when it is right for children, families and carers to take up the opportunity to return to school. Listen to the episode to hear more about how Rachael and the HOPE School team are working to encourage positive cultures in schools, so they are inclusive and understanding of attachment and trauma. Follow the HOPE School on Twitter @HOPE4CiC If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for upcoming topics, please get in touch by emailing info@whatworks-csc.org.uk You can also follow us on Twitter @whatworksCSC

The famously humorous Hartcliffe local was a city councillor in the 1990s, and then getting re-elected in 2016, bringing professional experience to the role of city council cabinet lead for housing.Credited with doing a good job but now standing down to lead a large housing association, Neil Maggs asks have the council cosied up to big business and developers too much, or is that the only way to begin to address the housing crisis, how democratic is Bristol City Council, and where Labour will go next in the city. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode Liverpool’s first black Lord Mayor, Councillor Anna Rothery, joins Bristol City Council’s Deputy Mayor Councillor Asher Craig to talk about the response their respective cities have shown to the Black Lives Matter campaign, their own personal experiences of racism and what plans are in place for each city to tackle racial inequality.

This week I spoke with Pete Insole, Historic Environment Officer for Bristol City Council, to discuss the historical mapping tool ‘Know Your Place’. We also talked about the historic development of Bristol and about planning the future of the city.

Knowle Westers sorting out their housing. Recorded with a live audience in the prototype We Can Make House, in this episode, hosts Makala Cheung and John Bennett chat with Knowle West residents, Don and Charlie, about how homes need to change to meet the changing needs of families. Get stuck into this episode's game 'Who's in the house? BINGO'. Get to know our guests. Discover the results of the show's (very technical) opinion polling system 'snog, marry, avoid' as it is used to review some radical projects and policies out there in the world that are trying to improve neighbour relations during the home-building process. | Artist Danielle Doobay wraps up the show with some initial ideas for an artwork inspired by the show. The final artwork is available in The We Can Make Chat Show limited edition postcard packs here: https://nobindings.bigcartel.com/ | The We Can Make Chat Show brings together people from the garden city neighbourhood of Knowle West in Bristol, UK, to chat about how they are sorting out their housing. | Over four episodes, Knowle Westers explore how communities can get beyond the housing crisis. They share personal stories, uncover inspiring housing ideas from around the world, and think about what would work best for Knowle West. | Artists were invited to sit in on the recordings, and created poetic and visual responses to the discussions, captured in a unique collection of postcards that are available to purchase in shops and online. | The Chat Show is part of the wider We Can Make project, which is developing citizen-led approaches to creating affordable homes by working with the assets and knowhow of communities. | The We Can Make Chat Show is brought to you by We Can Make, No Bindings, Knowle West Media Centre and White Design, and, made possible with support from Bristol City Council, Arts Council England and the Nationwide Foundation. | www.wecanmake.org/ www.nobindings.co.uk/ www.kwmc.org.uk/ www.white-design.com/

Knowle Westers sorting out their housing. Recorded with a live audience in the prototype We Can Make House, in this episode, hosts Makala Cheung and John Bennett chat with Bristol builders, Aaron and Jordan from Modern World Builders, about the importance of negotiating and communicating with neighbours when it comes to building new homes. | Get stuck into this episode's game 'Find that number'. Get to know our guests. Discover the results of the show's (very technical) opinion polling system 'snog, marry, avoid' as it is used to review some radical projects and policies out there in the world that are making use of local construction resources. | Artist Gaby Bran wraps up the show with initial ideas for an artwork inspired by the show. The final illustration is available in The We Can Make Chat Show limited edition postcard packs here: https://nobindings.bigcartel.com/ | The We Can Make Chat Show brings together people from the garden city neighbourhood of Knowle West in Bristol, UK, to chat about how they are sorting out their housing. | Over four episodes, Knowle Westers explore how communities can get beyond the housing crisis. They share personal stories, uncover inspiring housing ideas from around the world, and think about what would work best for Knowle West. | Artists were invited to sit in on the recordings, and created poetic and visual responses to the discussions, captured in a unique collection of postcards that are available to purchase in shops and online. | The Chat Show is part of the wider We Can Make project, which is developing citizen-led approaches to creating affordable homes by working with the assets and knowhow of communities. | The We Can Make Chat Show is brought to you by We Can Make, No Bindings, Knowle West Media Centre and White Design, and, made possible with support from Bristol City Council, Arts Council England and the Nationwide Foundation. | www.wecanmake.org/ www.nobindings.co.uk/ www.kwmc.org.uk/ www.white-design.com/

Show #631   Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Monday 4th November 2019. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story to save you time.   Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.   A MESSAGE FROM TRY EV   "Try EV aims to transform the car purchasing process, educate on owning an EV and ignite EV interest. Try EV promotes “electrify to buy”. It is a platform to enable customers to learn, compare, customise and experiment with EVs before making a final buying decision. To scale the business growth, the brand is raising funds to invest in “pop-up” retail facilities, to attract key talent, to facilitate partnerships with major leasing companies, OEMs and charging networks and to refine marketing and promotion efforts.  The revenue model incorporates memberships, sales commission, test drive fees and credit lines. Starting in London initially, additional revenue is expected from activities related to after-sales engagement."   crowdcube.com/tryev   PRODUCTION OF THE VOLKSWAGEN ID.3 STARTS IN ZWICKAU From VW: "Today saw the official start of series production of the ID.301. The first car in the new generation of electric vehicles (EVs) – a white ID.3 – rolled off the assembly line watched by Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and Group CEO Dr. Herbert Diess. The Volkswagen Group plans to sell some 22 million EVs worldwide by 2028, thus helping EVs make the breakthrough. Zwickau has a key role to play in this endeavor: For the first time, a large car manufacturing plant is being entirely converted to e-mobility, with investments running at €1.2 billion. Zwickau is already scheduled to produce some 100,000 electric models next year. From 2021, up to 330,000 EVs will leave the assembly line each year, making the site the largest and most efficient EV factory in Europe and a trailblazer in the transformation of Volkswagen’s global production network. With the phased transformation of the Zwickau factory, Volkswagen is fully converting a large car manufacturing plant to e-mobility for the first time. Some €1.2 billion is being invested in the conversion. In the final expansion stage from 2021, six MEB models from three Group brands will be built in Zwickau. Qualification measures are preparing all 8,000 employees for EV production and working with high-voltage technology. In total, the Zwickau team will have completed some 13,000 training days by the end of 2020, thus ensuring future-proof jobs at the Zwickau plant."   "The Volkswagen ID.3 will be available with 3 battery options: Standard range: 45 kWh (usable) and 330 km of WLTP range, Mid range: 58 kWh (usable) and 420 km of WLTP range, Long range: 77 kWh (usable) and 550 km of WLTP range" says Pedro at PushEVs: "The Chinese battery maker CATL intends to start European production by the end of 2020 near Erfurt, capital of the German state of Thuringia. My guess is that CATL will produce the standard range battery pack, therefore I don’t expect the entry-level variant to be available in 2020. the Volkswagen ID.3, it seems to be the only electric car with production figures that could match the Tesla Model 3 in 2021. Most electric cars have ridiculous production figures that prove that they are just vanity projects and automakers aren’t serious about them."   "According to industry analyst Matthias Schmidt (schmidtmatthias.de), today the production rate on a single morning shift is about 30 cars per day. It will gradually increase over the ramp-up phase to not encounter any setback along the way, towards up to 800 cars per day using one production line over three shifts from Spring 2020." says InsideEVs: "Interestingly, when the second production line goes online, up to 1,500 electric cars will be produced over three shifts. That should be enough to fulfill the target of producing 330,000 MEB-based BEVs annually. Volkswagen is also testing production of two other models in Zwickau: SEAT el-Born -- Volkswagen ID.4 (Volkswagen ID. CROZZ concept). An Audi model is expected in summer 2020 (using a second production line). That leaves us with two more free slots."   Gus at InsideEVs also had an interesting take on why it's taking so long: "The ID.3 production started eight months before the promised delivery date, or with four times more anticipation than a regular car would require. the plant is not entirely dedicated to EVs nowadays. Coincidence or not, deliveries for the ID.3 will start precisely when the production of combustion-engined cars stops there. That is when the rest of Zwickau's conversion to e-mobility will take place. We have contacted Volkswagen and got one more reason for the production to start so early: the German carmaker wants to get the ID.3 right in every sense. In order to do that, it will count on its employees. "   https://pushevs.com/2019/11/04/production-of-the-id-3-starts-in-zwickau/   https://insideevs.com/news/380318/vw-id3-production-30-day/   https://insideevs.com/news/380506/vw-id3-delay-reach-market/   VW CEO DIESS SAYS BATTERIES ARE BETTER THAN HYDROGEN “At Volkswagen’s ceremony celebrating the start of ID.3 production, CEO Herbert Diess made several comments on the electrification of the industry. In particular, he stated that batteries, as opposed to hydrogen, are a quicker and cheaper way to reduce automotive industry emissions. He also called for a price on carbon and committed to reducing his company’s fleet carbon emissions by 30% by 2025, and to zero carbon by 2050." reports Electrek: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel also spoke at the event. She called for the German government to increase electric car incentives and set a target for the country to install a million public charging stations by 2030 to fuel 7-10 million German EVs by the same year."   2020 VW E-GOLF ELECTRIC CAR RANGE FALLS "For its last year, though, the e-Golf loses a little bit of range—2 miles, to be exact. " says  Green Car Reports: "The official EPA range for the 2020 e-Golf falls to 123 miles, from 125 miles for the 2017-2019 editions of the model. Likewise, efficiency figures for the model change significantly—from 119 MPGe (28 kwh/100 miles) to 113 MPGe (30 kwh/100 miles). Spokesman Mark Gillies confirmed to Green Car Reports that there is no change for the 2020 e-Golf, versus 2019, and that it comes down to changes in EPA testing procedure. So real-world range between vehicles of the two model years should be identical."   https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1125806_2020-vw-e-golf-electric-car-range-falls-just-before-id-ev-range-rises   BMW X3 PHEV BREAKS COVER WITH 292 HP, UP TO 20 MILES ELECTRIC RANGE "While the automotive world is awaiting the debut of the all-electric BMW X3 next year, the Bavarian company has quietly introduced a plug-in hybrid powertrain for the premium SUV. Initially previewed earlier this year, the X3 xDrive30e is set to enter production at BMW’s Spartanburg plant next month and go on sale worldwide in the spring of 2020." according to Motor1.com "Integrated into the transmission is an electric motor capable of pushing out 109 hp (80 kW). A number most customers will probably be more interested in is 20 – that’s how many miles (32 kilometers) the plug-in SUV could travel solely on electric energy before the combustion engine kicks in, according to BMW USA's estimates."   https://www.motor1.com/news/380196/bmw-x3-xdrive30e-unveiled/   DIESEL BAN FOR BRISTOL APPROVED "Bristol will become the first city in the UK to ban diesel cars from its streets, to tackle illegal levels of air pollution. Bristol City Council voted for the plans to remove privately-owned diesel cars from the city centre between 7am and 3pm each day." says Chris Lilly for Next Green Car: "The proposed scheme still needs government approval, but is set to start in 2021. Any diesel vehicles entering the zone within that time will incur a fine. Vehicles such as those used by the emergency services will be exempt from penalties, while commercial vehicles will have to pay to enter the area. Number plate recognition systems will be used to enforce the system, though details of how much fines are set to be are yet to be decided. Should the zone come into force in 2021, it is expected that air pollution levels will drop to compliant levels by 2025."   https://www.nextgreencar.com/news/8785/diesel-ban-for-bristol-approved/   QUESTION OF THE WEEK The MYEV.com Question Of The Week…   What do you prefer, the carrot or the stick? Ie incentives for EVs or penalties for polluters   I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the 255 patrons of this podcast whose generosity means I get to keep making this show, which aims to entertain and inform thousands of listeners every day about a brighter future. 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It would mean a lot if you could take 2mins to leave a quick review on whichever platform you download the podcast. And if you have an Amazon Echo, download our Alexa Skill, search for EV News Daily and add it as a flash briefing. Come and say hi on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter just search EV News Daily, have a wonderful day, I’ll catch you tomorrow and remember…there’s no such thing as a self-charging hybrid.   CONNECT WITH ME! EVne.ws/itunes EVne.ws/tunein EVne.ws/googleplay EVne.ws/stitcher EVne.ws/youtube EVne.ws/iheart EVne.ws/blog EVne.ws/patreon   Check out MYEV.com for more details: https://www.myev.com

Marius and Steve from Bristol City Council will be talking about city’s innovative approach to open data, with a focus on air quality data. Marius will describe the council’s engagement projects and collaboration with city partners and the role of open data in delivering on the commitments in the Mayor’s One City Plan as well as Bristol’s new Smart City Strategy. Steve will explain the context of air quality management in the city as well as the technical aspects of integrating a range of real time air quality data sources onto Opendatasoft’s platform and developing engaging information products based on the air quality data. About the speakers Steve Crawshaw is the council’s air quality officer. He has worked for Bristol City Council for 21 years and is currently supporting the development of the council’s Clean Air Plan. Marius Jennings is the council’s open data lead. His work has focused on the delivery of various smart city initiatives across the sub-region.

Knowle Westers sorting out their housing. Recorded with a live audience in the prototype We Can Make House, in this episode, hosts Makala Cheung and John Bennett chat with Knowle West residents, Becky and Jenny, about the importance of negotiating and communicating with neighbours when it comes to building new homes. | Get stuck into this episode's game 'Say yes to the new address'. Get to know our guests. Discover the results of the show's (very technical) opinion polling system 'snog, marry, avoid' as it is used to review some radical projects and policies out there in the world that are trying to improve neighbour relations during the home-building process. | Poet Sam Grudgings wraps up the show with some lines inspired by the show. The full poem is available in The We Can Make Chat Show limited edition postcard packs here: https://nobindings.bigcartel.com/ | The We Can Make Chat Show brings together people from the garden city neighbourhood of Knowle West in Bristol, UK, to chat about how they are sorting out their housing. | Over four episodes, Knowle Westers explore how communities can get beyond the housing crisis. They share personal stories, uncover inspiring housing ideas from around the world, and think about what would work best for Knowle West. | Artists were invited to sit in on the recordings, and created poetic and visual responses to the discussions, captured in a unique collection of postcards that are available to purchase in shops and online. | The Chat Show is part of the wider We Can Make project, which is developing citizen-led approaches to creating affordable homes by working with the assets and knowhow of communities. | The We Can Make Chat Show is brought to you by We Can Make, No Bindings, Knowle West Media Centre and White Design, and, made possible with support from Bristol City Council, Arts Council England and the Nationwide Foundation. | www.wecanmake.org/ www.nobindings.co.uk/ www.kwmc.org.uk/ www.white-design.com/

Knowle Westers sorting out their housing. | Recorded with a live audience in the prototype We Can Make House, in this episode, hosts Makala Cheung and John Bennett chat with Knowle West residents Gillian and Lewis about the realities and workarounds when it comes to affordable homes. | This episode's game 'Closest Wins' introduces the shocking stats around affordability. Get to know the guests and discover the results of the show's (very technical) opinion polling system, 'snog, marry, avoid', which is used to review radical projects and policies out there in the world that trying to address the fundamental housing issue of affordability. | Poet Sam Grudgings wraps up this episode with a few lines inspired by the show. The full poem is available as part of the The We Can Make Chat Show limited edition postcard collection, which you can purchase here: https://nobindings.bigcartel.com/ | The We Can Make Chat Show brings together people from the garden city neighbourhood of Knowle West in Bristol, UK, to chat about how they are sorting out their housing. | Over four episodes, Knowle Westers explore how communities can get beyond the housing crisis. They share personal stories, uncover inspiring housing ideas from around the world, and think about what would work best for Knowle West. | Artists were invited to sit in on the recordings, and created poetic and visual responses to the discussions, captured in a unique collection of postcards that are available to purchase in shops and online. | The Chat Show is part of the wider We Can Make project, which is developing citizen-led approaches to creating affordable homes by working with the assets and knowhow of communities. | The We Can Make Chat Show is brought to you by We Can Make, No Bindings, Knowle West Media Centre and White Design, and, made possible with support from Bristol City Council, Arts Council England and the Nationwide Foundation. | https://wecanmake.org/ https://www.nobindings.co.uk/ https://kwmc.org.uk/ https://www.white-design.com/

Coming up in this week's episode of the GDPR Weekly Show: UK ICO found to have no privacy notice for their own employees, Data breaches at the Home Office affect EU residents seeking settled status and in a separate breach, those affected by the Windrush scandal, The winner of the GDPR DPO of the year award, Notes from the GDPR practitioners conference, Bristol City Council data breach, Apple Pay, Google Pay and GDPR

Here's the full interview that featured in Episode 5. Bronwen speaks to Tristan cork about reporting on the Bijan Ebrahimi case, institutional racism and what he learned during his time reporting on a such a horrific crime. We go into deeper detail about Bijan's history in the 10 years leading up to his tragic death and how the police failed Bijan multiple times.Listen to EPISODE 5: Murdered by a NeighbourJoin the Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/unbelievableTrueCrimeListen on:Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2RFDUGBAcast: https://bit.ly/2Mp8kaxStitcher: https://bit.ly/2T6PLdLGoogle: https://bit.ly/2T6PLdLArticles & ResearchWhat life is like in Capgrave Crescent four years after Bijan was murderedSeven years of abuse and discrimination, the horrific story of BijanDisgraced policeman jailed for gross misconduct over Ebrahimi murderInvestigation into how Bristol City Council staff dealt with Bijan EbrahimiIPCC Commissioner Jan Williams says Bijan Ebrahimi 'failed completely' by policeNo officers from Bristol City Council who dealt with murdered Bijan Ebrahimi have been disciplinedCouncil to launch internal investigation into Bijan Ebrahimi’s murderTwo Bristol police officers sacked following the murder of BijanBristol men Lee James and Stephen Norley jailed Bijan Ebrahimi IPCC investigation: 'Residents feel guilty for not stepping in' For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

In the context of reduced council budgets for delivering services, despite increasing demand for them, should the council shift from a paternalistic role to a more facilitative one? Hear the five principles for a successful relationship between councils and communities as set out in the New Local Government Network (NLGN) and Local Trust's 'Rebalancing the Power' report, published in September 2018. The conversation also touches on potential new ways of distributing social funds post Brexit. Download the report: http://localtrust.org.uk/library/research-and-evaluation/rebalancing-the-power Participants: Trinley Walker, NLGN. Bob Thust, Local Trust. Isobel Edwards, Gloucester City Council. Carl Kroon, Arches Local Big Local. Shana Roberts, Brookside Big Local. Jessica Studdert, NLGN. Jo Sergeant, Bristol City Council. Stephen Perez, Arches Local Big Local. Chaired by: Matt Leach, Local Trust.

This week's episode of the Bristol Live podcast focuses on how our reporters work when big news breaks. Breaking news is always a huge part of the newsroom environment, so reporter Krishan Davis joins us in the studio to explore how we cover major incidents. From road traffic collisions to serious crime or major fires, there is always something happening in Bristol and our reporters always have their ear to the ground.  Also on this week's episode of Inside Bristol Live, reporter Alex Wood returns to discuss the fate of the Channel 4 HQ.Bristol was in the running to become the new home of the broadcaster, bringing all the perks along with it. Sadly, the city missed out on its chance of a new Channel 4 headquarters - but all is not lost. Alex talks about what the decision means for Bristol, but also how important campaigning journalism is in local news. And finally on this week's show, political editor Esme Ashcroft talks us through some of the controversial plans to cut down in Bristol's traffic congestion nightmare. Anyone travelling by car in Bristol will know that reducing the traffic on our roads is essential, but Bristol City Council's proposals are likely to run up against some stiff opposition.  Links to this episode's stories:Bristol shortlisted for Channel 4 creative hub after losing out on HQ decisionYou might soon be charged to park at work in BristolEverything we know after dramatic police chase ends in crash at St GeorgeIf you'd like to follow us or any of the reporters featured in today's episode, here are the links:Inside Bristol Live: @IBLpodcastHost Alex Ballinger: @ambhackEsme Ashcroft: @EsmeAshcroftAlex Wood: @MrAlexWoodKrishan Davis: @Krishan_Davis For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Hi politics fans! Welcome to episode four of Never Mind the Ballots (@BallotsPodcast). This week we have Bristol City Council’s Lib Dem group leader Anthony Negus and director of tech firm One Big Circle, Emily Kent.Hosted by political editor for Bristol Live, Esme Ashcroft, Emily kicks off the episode with a discussion on what makes Bristol a good place for start up firms and whether local businesses can be a pioneer for equal working. Anthony talks through his idea on how Bristol City Council could work with supermarkets to reduce food waste and their carbon footprints.Esme rounds off the show by asking the pair for their opinions on the fate of Bristol’s library service. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Hi politics fans, and welcome to episode three of Never Mind the Ballots.This week we have Bristol City Council’s Green group leader, Eleanor Combley, and communities activist, Desmond Brown sharing their insights in to local stories.Hosted by political editor for Bristol Live, Esme Ashcroft, Eleanor kicks off the episode with a discussion on the importance of gender, disability and race representation in politics.Desmond chats through institutional racism in Avon and Somerset Police and Bristol City Council.And Esme rounds off the show by asking the pair for their opinions on the fate of Bristol Arena, where it should be built and if the Temple Quay site should be used for a unicorn farm.You can follow the podcast on Twitter (@BallotsPodcast) for more insights and behind the scenes information.You can also follow Esme (@esmeashcroft) to get more news about the stories she is writing and issues she is covering.Please rate, review and subscribe to Never Mind the Ballots on your preferred podcasting app. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Welcome to episode two of Never Mind the Ballots. For the difficult second show we have leader of Bristol City Council’s Conservative group, Mark Weston, and former Mayoral and Bristol South candidate for the Green party, Tony Dyer. Hosted by political editor for Bristol Live, Esme Ashcroft, Tony kicks off the episode by discussing the two potential sites for Bristol’s long-awaited arena. Mark chats through his concerns about the changes to Bristol City Council’s constitution and what it might mean for democracy in the city.Esme rounds off the show by asking the pair for their opinions on the departure of former council chief executive, Anna Klonowski, who left with an alleged £70,000 payment. You can follow the Never Mind the Ballots on Twitter (@BallotsPodcast) for more insights and behind the scenes goings on. You can also follow Esme (@esmeashcroft) here to get more news about the stories she is writing and issues she is covering.Please rate, review and subscribe to Never Mind the Ballots on your prefered podcasting app. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Hello, and welcome to the very first episode of Never Mind the Ballots. We kick this series off with a pair of political heavyweights - Bristol City Council’s cabinet member for housing, Paul Smith, and former Bristol Mayor George Ferguson. Hosted by political editor for Bristol.Live, Esme Ashcroft, Paul launches the show with an in-depth discussion on the history of social housing in Bristol and what role it will play for future generations. George talks about the impact of high-rise buildings in Bristol and what it might mean for the character of the city. Esme then rounds off the episode by asking the pair for their opinions on the controversial Metrobus project, which officially launched this week. Remember you can rate, review and subscribe to Never Mind the Ballots and follow the show on Twitter via @BallotsPodcast For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

This week Bristol Live reporter Tristan Cork talks me through the catalogue of delays and mistakes plaguing the city's ambitious MetroBus transport project. Then fellow reporter Joe Smith discusses his coverage of the notorious bike gangs and explains how he fell victim to them on his first day in Bristol. And finally political reporter Esme Ashcroft investigates Bristol City Council's new plans to use council housing to tackle the housing crisis.Stories included in this episode:Three years after Metrobus M2 work started it's delayed again because bus wheels do not fit guide railsHere’s how many stolen bikes police have recovered in the last 12 monthsBristol City Council ‘turning the tide’ and building more council housesNew episode every Friday.Follow us on Twitter @IBLpodcast and host Alex Ballinger on @ambhack.Produced by Matt Aldus (@mattaldus) For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Rich talks about fire, chocolate, mythical islands, slavery and Bristol City Council. Music: Funkeriffic Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ For some interesting academic work on Bristol's slave trade: Madge Dresser, Slavery Obscured: The Social History of the Slave Trade in an English Provincial Port. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

In this episode: Rife Magazine is a new online magazine written by young people in Bristol for young people in Bristol, covering arts, entertainment, events, lifestyle, social issues, politics and Bristol itself. It is run by Watershed and funded by Bristol City Council. In this month's edition of the Watershed podcast, Rife Magazine Editor Nikesh Shukla and Project Manager Vanessa Bellaar-Sprujit present the team of young journalists working with him for the next six months. Shanai, Ryan, Adibah and Jon tell us what they were doing before they joined Rife, what they'd love to come out of the project, and why it's so important. We also hear about the regular features you can expect from the journalists, such as What Grinds Our Gears and Little Ryan's 30 second film reviews. Follow updates from the team at @rifemag.

‘Walk2School' is a song written by Whitehall Primary School pupils as part of a road safety campaign with Bristol City Council. Check out their music video here.

‘Walk2School' is a song written by Whitehall Primary School pupils as part of a road safety campaign with Bristol City Council. Check out their music video here.

Hints and Tips for Media Appearances and Public Speaking. This week; Politics; Politicians; Simon May; Bristol City Council; Explain the Evidence; Spread your Publicity Far and Wide; Optimised for...; An Interview with the Most Watched Man on the Planet, Judson Laipply