Podcasts about qmu

Practice makes perfect - discussing creative practice research at QMU. In this episode of the Queen Margaret University podcast series, members of the QMU Creative Practice Research Cluster discuss different interpretations of creative practice research and how art can "count" as research. Topics covered include the difference between art and research, advice for researchers and students considering working in this area, and personal experiences of balancing multiple identities such as practitioner, artist, researcher, academic, and pracademic. This podcast features contributions from Lecturer in Media Practice and doctoral candidate Andrew Rooke, Assistant Lecturer and filmmaker Regina Mosch, Lecturer in Drama and Performance Bianca Mastrominico, and Reader of Arts Management and Cultural Policy Dr Anthony Schrag. 

Today Elaine chats with Scottish based artist Katie Slater and Rona Johnston about their new show Mary: A GIG Theatre Show. They talk about finding other creatives you click with, their passion for music and theatre and their joy at discovering the marrying of the two in Gig Theatre. We also talk the inspiration for the show and there is a little unmixed snippet at the end of the episode of one of their original songs. Mary: A Gig Theatre Show - theSpace - Symposium Hall - Annex Dates: 12th-17th August @ 10:25 pm Tickets available here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/mary-a-gig-theatre-show MARY: A Gig Theatre Show Blending rich spoken word with haunting original music, Mary: A Gig Theatre Show retells the story of Mary Queen of Scots. Performed by a live band of actor-musicians, the show searingly questions the treatment and portrayal of women historically and today. Writer/lead performer Rona Johnston and director Katie Slater began creating Mary in 2022, before developing it for Gateway Festival in November 2023, and now Bedfest! The 5 actor-musicians of Mary devised the band arrangements in rehearsal, so are also integral to the making of the show. All are Edinburgh-based emerging theatre makers with musical backgrounds. They are Hester Irving (Fiddle/Bass), Laura Coull (Drums/Bass), Alli von Hirschberg (Guitar), Izzie Atkinson (Singer) and Jodie Kirkwood (Singer). Katie Slater Katie is an early-career director and musician (drummer) from Dalkeith, with a BA Hons Drama degree from QMU. She is passionate about making theatre where music is central to the storytelling, Her recent assistant directing projects include The Girls of Slender Means (Royal Lyceum Theatre), Pushin' Thirty (A Play, A Pie and a Pint) and The Winter's Tale (Theatre in the Garden). Her recent directing projects include Mary: A Gig Theatre Show (Knot Tied Theatre),Bohemia (Edinburgh Footlights) and Pilgrimage (Veto Theatre). She is also a member of the 2024/25 Wonder Fools Youth Board. Alongside working on theEdinburgh Fringe run of Mary: A Gig Theatre Show she is assistant director on The Events at Cumbernauld Theatre, supported by an FST bursary. Rona Johnston Rona is an Edinburgh-based singer/songwriter with an interest in female and queer led stories and productions. Recent credits as an actor: Pilgrimage (Veto Theatre with Paradok), Bohemia (Footlights Show Choir), Oliver (Captivate Theatre) Recent gigs as a musician: Solo sets at Sneaky Pete's, The Caves, Three Sisters. Rona often plays at local open-mics and fundraising events, you can find out what she's up to on her music Instagram page @ronarobertsmusic EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2024 LIVE PODCAST REQUEST https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YVQ1q1cVkPmqqQ_q6VP24-r44dfr7CZkonoxpRZHa88/edit EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2024 SCOTTISH BASED ARTITS PODCAST & BLOG REQUEST FORM https://forms.gle/6obqxzCCWyY9aVSS6 Please Note: podcast slots are not assigned on a "first come, first serve" basis. We select podcast guests based on relevance to our listenership. HIPA GUIDES: HIPA GUIDES OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Email – persistentandnasty@gmail.com Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE

Queen Margaret University (QMU) has a proud history relating to food, cooking and nutrition dating back to its inception in 1875. In this podcast, lecturer Donald Reid interviews Dr Ana Tominc, Reader in Media and Communication at QMU and Dr Kevin Geddes, QMU MSc Gastronomy graduate, about food and cooking programmes on TV – where they started in UK and across Europe, their development, and how they have grown in popularity to become an important part of modern culture.Dr Tominc specialises in food, media and communication, and in 2022, she edited a collection of essays and articles on food and cooking in early TV in Europe (Routledge), which was shortlisted for MeCCSA Outstanding Achievement Award 2023. Dr Geddes, whose recent PhD from Edinburgh Napier University looks at early food TV in Britain, was a contributor to the book.ook.

10th March 2024 The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast EPISODE 348: Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett of Komoot SPONSOR: Tern Bicycles HOST: Carlton Reid GUEST: Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett LINKS:  https://www.the-spokesmen.com/ https://www.ternbicycles.com https://twitter.com/CarltonReid https://www.komoot.com/user/655260825794 https://jkbsbikeride.com TRANSCRIPT Carlton Reid  0:13   Welcome to Episode 348 of the Spokesmen cycling podcast. This show was engineered on Sunday 10th of MARCH 2024. David Bernstein  0:28   The Spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast is brought to you by Tern bicycles. The good people at Tern are committed to building bikes that are useful enough to ride every day and dependable enough to carry the people you love. In other words, they make the kind of bikes that they want to ride. Tern has e-bikes for every type of rider. Whether you're commuting, taking your kids to school or even carrying another adult, visit www.ternbicycles.com. That's t e r n bicycles.com to learn more. Carlton Reid  1:03   I'm Carlton Reid. And this is the fourth in a five part series digging into bike navigation apps. There have been shows with folks from Ride With GPS, Bikemap, Cycle.travel, and today it's the turn of Komoot. although as you'll soon hear, in this nearly 90 minute chat with Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett, we also talk a great deal about travelling the world by bike. And that's before, of course, there were smartphone apps to guide you. Jonathan, welcome to the show. And presumably you're you're in London, Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  1:51   thank you very much for having me. It's a real pleasure. And yeah, I'm in London, South London to be precise on a very beautiful sunny February morning.  Carlton Reid  2:01   It's kind of nice in Newcastle as well. So we're blessed. Now the reason I said that was because a your name. So we can get looking we can discuss that in a second and you can show me how you're you can tell me how to pronounce your, the Danish part of your name correctly. But also because cuz because we're talking here about Komoot and Komoot is a German company. But first of all, how do i pronounce your name correctly?  Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  2:29   My name is pronounced Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett. And it's actually not a Danish surname. It's a Faroese surname from the Faroe Islands. So I am I a half British, my father's English my mother is Danish, but my mother is half Faroese, her grandma, my grandmother's from the Faroe Islands, and the Faroe Islands for anyone listening who isn't sure exactly where they are, is a bunch of islands about halfway between Scotland and Iceland. And on the southern most of those islands, called Suðuroyu. There's a kind of like a mountain ridge, behind the village where like my gran and her family are from called CamScanner. And that's where that name is from. So yeah, it's it's ferries surname via Denmark. Wow. Okay, good explanation. Carlton Reid  3:26   And because I didn't know any of that, I then didn't go back and check on your, your global world. Crossing cyclist. So I noticed that you went from Iceland? Did you go via the Faroe Islands at all? Yeah. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  3:45   So many, many years ago. Now, I spent three years cycling around the world, which was a whole kind of story in episode in itself. And at the very end of that, I wanted to go and seek because my great grandmother was still alive at the time, and she was alive and kicking the pharaohs. So towards the end of this, this, this free journey, I really wanted to go to Iceland cycle there wasn't particularly advisable in the depths of winter, but had a wonderful time nonetheless. And from there, you can take a ferry to the pharaohs. So I did go. I did after sort of not really seeing any family for about three years. I did go and see my great grandmother, which was amazing. It's an incredibly beautiful place. By that point, I had seen an awful lot of devote the world and the pharaohs. You know, just like truly spectacular. And it was really wonderful that I got to go and see my great grandma because she passed away a few months later. So it was all kind of perfect. A really nice kind of like final stop before I returned to the UK. So Carlton Reid  4:52   I will admit I haven't read every single one of your blog posts from back then but I'll go backwards and I'll go back and read that one because I'm sure that Under brilliant because I hadn't spotted the Faroese part. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  5:04   Yeah, it was a really lovely thing that I got to and then at the very beginning of my, the very beginning of this huge cycle, I left home said goodbye to my dad, my mum lives in Copenhagen. So I started that cycle around the world. I mean, at the time I had, I had no idea. It would be that big a cycle. I was just trying to see how far east I could get. But I wanted to go and visit my mum in Copenhagen. So that was kind of the beginning of the journey. So it was quite nice that I had like pitstop early on, you know, visiting family and it was quite nice that again, towards the very end, I also had a pit stop visiting fan for going home. Carlton Reid  5:42   That's your mum also came out and visited you like you as your beach bumming whether that was in somewhere in Indonesia or was in Thailand. Yeah, that's Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  5:50   right. She came and visited me in. I guess I was in in Thailand, often having seen her for probably a year and a half at that point. So we had a little, very nice, relaxing beach holiday, catching up, and most importantly, not doing any cycling at the time. Carlton Reid  6:07   And I'm sure she's treating you as well. It was, yeah, yeah. Know that for a fact, because we treated our son when he was doing stuff like that. Right. So let's get back to what we're meant to be talking about here, Jonathan, that is Komoot. So before we do that, I mean, give us the history of Komoot, because, you know, would you have used it on your? So yeah, this is 2015 to 2017. Yeah, yep. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  6:37   So I think I was unfortunately, I was a little bit too early. Cuz it's been around the apps been around for about a decade now. Set up by six, six friends from Germany and Austria. They have, I guess they will kind of united by a love of both tech. And also nature, they will come from the fringes of like, beautiful parts of Europe. But a very clever bunch. Yeah, excited about like the future of tech and where it intersects with, like, you know, all aspects of reality in our day to day lives. So Komoot is a German company. But going back to your your opening comment is a German company, but we consider ourselves very much a global or at least a European company, people, the people who work for Komoot are spread out across all of Europe. So we have quite an international outlook on the world, I would say. Carlton Reid  7:39   Was that right from beginning? Or was it very localised to begin with, and then only gradually did become international? Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  7:45   Definitely, it was a gradual thing. I think Komoot I can't quite was before my time, the point because Komoot's fully remote. So one point switched and thought, Well, why not sort of recruit from across the entire continent instead of one country. And for a good number of years Komoot has been conscience consciously, international. So like had the app, the product translated to English a long time ago, we now have it available in half a dozen languages. So like, that obviously takes time and resources, but it's quite important for us to allow as many people as possible around the world to like, understand and interact with and interact with the app. So in terms of my own journey in cycling, I was kind of a bit too early on in the process is quite, it's quite funny actually, when I, when I first left, I really was not a cyclist. In 2015, when I left home, it all came together very quickly. And this was sort of the blogging, end of those blogging, glory years, I think around 2010 to the mid teens. So anyway, I found some resources online, and people were saying, Oh, you can buy a cycling computer and use that. I didn't really have much cash at the time. So I picked the cheapest cycling computer that looked like it might do the job. And it was this. This Garmin device, I can't quite recall what it was called. But you couldn't load base maps onto it, you could create a route somewhere and export a GPX file and then you could have this line to follow it. And I I was just following the North Sea coast coastline, on the way up to Scandinavia. And I spent a lot of time getting very lost. And after about three weeks on the road, I met someone who was was like, you know, you can just use your phone for this. And I didn't have mobile data across Europe. It was like before, it was quite so easy to connect to everywhere. But it hadn't even occurred to me that I could use my phone as a GPS device that it had this functionality, which feels a bit silly in hindsight, but why would I have I lived a sort of normal city life where I was always online at the time. And I hadn't realised that I could download load these map files from Open Street Map. And so I could kind of work out where I was at all times. So when I had that revelation, it was kind of blew my mind and things became a lot easier. And as we might discuss later, fast forward almost 10 years, it's now even easier than ever to have this these good quality maps offline and also to sync them with devices. But it's funny to look at where computers now, compared to my very rudimentary experiences, yeah, almost a decade ago. Carlton Reid  10:30   So the first time I came across, Komoot in certainly, you know, seared into my consciousness when my son was cycling back from China. Yeah. And I had all sorts of other ways of doing routes. But he was insistent that he was using Komoot. So all the way back from from China in some pretty hairy paid places, but parts of the world some of which I can see that you've cycled through as well. He was using Komoot and I need to ask him why he was he was using it but he did found it find it very valuable and certainly very valuable in those hairy parts of the world because it was drawing down some pretty ok maps. And it was giving him obviously really good information. So here's the pitch. Jonathan, why why use komoot? Why Why would world tourists use Komoot and why would that non well tourists want to use Komoot just you know, bumbling around the the Yorkshire lanes or the Norfolk coast towards why those two users might might wait. They want to use Komoot. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  11:41   It's really that's really cool to hear that just used Komoot for that. I've watched his like video of that long journey. It's so amazing. And they're very nice to Komoot was able to help that little bit. And I know that you've travelled a lot by bike as well, I think is funny. You know, especially with bikes, and especially with bike touring, it's been around, you know, it's been a thing for a very long time. It wasn't really that long ago that people were relying on paper maps. But that's in the same way that people used to, you know, drive around with British people with A to Z you know, in the car. And that already feels like such a such an outdated thing. I think a lot of very young people will this is probably a fact that a lot of young people don't know how to read maps in the same way that older generations do. So I would say for bike touring, it's, it's kind of like I sometimes why would you not embrace the technology that we have now, when I was cycling around the world, I did not really do any complex route planning on my phone. But now, we have commute and some similar apps and products. It's incredibly easy. The commute app is really intuitive, the algorithms are very sophisticated, it's very easy to find multiple options, but to find very suitable options, from A to B, even in parts of the world, where some of the map data is, is less comprehensive. And you can do all of this from your phone really easily. You don't have to drag paper maps around, you can very easily forecast how long it will take to get from A to B, you can very easily find out where might be a nice detour to take. There's just a lot less guesswork involved. So for the bike tour, it's a really powerful tool. But I would also say for the recreational user popping around the local lanes in the British countryside, for example, or a beginner, we have, we have a lot of tools that make it really easy to find a suitable route based on your ability. So while we have the route planner, which is great for finding ATV rides, whether that's like 100 miles, or whether that's 2000 miles across a continent, for the casual users who are doing like, you know, regular recreational loops. On our discover interface, we have, within just a few clicks, you can find routes that are based on your preferred sport type, whether you're gravel riding or road cycling, if you like hilly, hilly routes or flatter routes, or whether you're a hiker as well, because we accommodate for, you know, hiking as well. So you have these options that are tailor made for your needs within just a couple of clicks. And you can go and someone who's cycling across a continent probably understands how maps work probably enjoys looking at them, probably enjoys the process of, of stitching a route together. But for a lot of other users. That's not a priority for them. They just want to spend the time outside, having a good time without anything to worry about. Carlton Reid  14:55   There are a number of navigation apps some some of which seem to you know, be very popular in North America. Akka and some that are more popular in, in Europe. So that ecosystem seems to be very, very healthy. There are a number of apps going for the same kind of thing you know, from, you know, including one man bands like Cycle.travel. So, all of these different apps that are out there, how are people choosing? Do you think people are going through a list? And they're gonna go, Oh, I've tried that one, try that we're all like this one? Or do you think they just find one? And then they just keep on using that one come? What may? How do you think this ecosystem works? Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  15:39   Gosh, that's a very good question. And a very big question. I think for a lot of people, it's probably a question of what they used first. And that's, that goes beyond just these, like app based kind of routing platforms, if someone is very used to using was successful, use paper maps for decades, or if someone in the UK is, you know, swears by Ordnance Survey. And they've always had, you know, good experience doing that, there'll be unlikely to change unless you give them a very compelling argument or a good example. So I think a lot of people, what they first start using, becomes the thing that they become familiar, familiarity is so important, same of a lot of like tech or products that we use day to day, we're quite hesitant to change our routines. I also think within that ecosystem, people's preferences probably change quite a lot based on if they have a bad experience as well. Same with all types of different, you know, products that we consume, you know, there's probably many things that you've used day to day for years, and suddenly when it breaks or something goes wrong, you decide I want to try something different. And then I would also say the local element probably plays a significant part in it. You mentioned in like other regions, or for example, North America, the market is in a different, like perhaps different status for us or you know, different other products that are available for people, I think a lot of it depends on the local side of it has to do with your peers. So like who you explore with you trusting your your recommendation of those you go out with, or the people who give you a great experience outdoors. But also whether or not the product is is localised and translated into your language that also makes a big difference people find rightly so it's reassuring when the product is as easy to understand gives a different level of trust. So I think those are a few of the factors, that that kind of changed the state of play. But overall, I would say that it's really, it's a good thing. There are a lot of incredible, incredibly bright minds and have great innovative companies in a kind of overlapping space, often with a slightly different objective. And, you know, that's, that's just great for the consumer, because it means that we're all kept on our toes, constantly looking for ways to improve those Carlton Reid  18:08   variety of companies out there, some are chosen by for instance, you know, cycle travel companies. So when you go on a on a cycle holiday, they will, they will choose to partner with a navigation app company, and then they will send you all the routes on that. So you're basically you're almost tied in on that particular holiday to that particular navigation app. Good thing, bad thing. So is that something that it's incredibly important to discover who are actually giving these links out and and calm them? Because you know, you go on a North American owned psychology company in say, Italy. And even though you're in Europe, you're using in effect and American app, because it's an American company that's leading those tours. So is that something that you are you as in Komoot? Or your your, your your colleagues and commute are actively trying to partner with these key companies? Yeah, Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  19:15   there are. I mean, there are a lot of ways that we might sort of acquire new users. And by that, I mean, like reaching people and giving them their first experience on commute, those kinds of partnerships. I guess they probably represent like a smaller percentage of the ways to reach people. But that doesn't mean that they're not important. Particularly because if that partner whether it's a tour operator, or you know, a hotel or someone who's running a hotel, or even an event organiser, if they trust in Khumbu, and you know, I would say in Europe is you're far more likely to find that stuff that information presented to you via commitment than anyone else. That's great. because it's just reassures the, you know, the user that people look for that kind of reassurance from those those kind of places of authority. So those partnerships are really important to us. And we do work with a lot of tourism organisations, maybe even like hotels, tour operators, we do have quite a lot of active partnerships. And it's great for us because we reach that audience. But it's really good for us, we put a lot of effort into the people that do choose to work with us on educational tools, so that they understand it coming inside out, and can then give their users good experience. And that remains like super important for any of those types of partnerships Carlton Reid  20:39   can notice. If you get a bradt guidebook, a cycling guidebook, and it's you know, to the lanes of East Anglia, or whatever have you Yeah. Well, you're flicking through this, this book. And there's a little QR code. You open that up, I know, there's your route in Komoot via the Bradt guidebook. So what else have you got? Who else are you apart from Bradt, what else you out there in like a published terms? Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  21:10   Well, it's just a good question off the top of my head. And when I struggle to think of them, but quite a lot of I mean, of course, is difficult because we are so you know, across the whole of the continent. There are some amazing publications and magazines that we've partnered with across Germany, France, Italy, Spain. And I think one thing that's really nice at the stage that commutes that is, particularly within certain segments, in Europe, we are, it would almost be strange for the user to have the route presented to them in a different way. Because they're so familiar with commute. That's what they use for their group rides. That's what they use for the events they sign up to. That's what they do for their day to day riding. And so a lot of those partners like they will present stuff on Komoot, regardless, like we'd always like to help them present the stuff in the best kind of best way possible. But they're still going to be reaching out and using Komoot, simply because it's a really nice, easy way to share and present routes with your kind of users or participants. Carlton Reid  22:16   And what do you do for Komoot? So what is the community part of your job title? What is what is? What does that involve? Yes, so Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  22:25   I'm the global community manager komoot. The global part is, well, global, but it's in particular, it's about the gaps between. So we have a team of community managers spread out. In some of the markets where we have more kind of community oriented stuff going on, we have more people. So there's, there's a couple of two or three people in Germany, we have a couple of community managers in the UK, I'm kind of filling in the gaps between a lot of the markets that are growing for us, but aren't quite at the same same kind of stage just yet. And then the community, part of it is kind of two things. One thing is our external partnerships. So that could be with events and event organisers that could be with the kind of inspiring individuals that we work with, because they have, you know, a great platform, or they have a very inspiring story to tell, or they're great at motivating people that that follow them. And then on the other side of that, I have a lot of focus, particularly these days on our core community. So Komoot is, while we're really lucky that we have such a huge audience, audience, we've got about 37 million users. So there's a lot of people. And not all of those people are, you know, active every day or using commute to connect with other people and share their stories within the community. But we have millions of people who are and I spend a lot of time, as do my colleagues on how do we give these people? Like how do we reward them for their contributions? How do we motivate them to share more? How do we make sure that people are getting fed the right inspirational content based on their preferences? So elevating our kind of, and looking after our core community is also a significant part of my role. Carlton Reid  24:22   So can you is it gonna kind of go slightly backwards into your background as well, if you if you are going to set out on a kind of track that you started in 2015? Are you going to do that now? For instance, could you open up Komoot and say, you know, do me a route from London all around the world back again? Or do you have to do it in stages? How would you use if you're going to be doing it again? How would you use commute? Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  24:55   I think I think doing a route around the world probably possible but That's an awful lot of information for for one file. So I will probably break it down into smaller segments, which is to be fair, exactly what I did when I cycled around the world, and what most people probably would. And so when I when I left home, and sometimes thinking about cycling around the world is quite kind of overwhelmingly big kind of concept to navigate. But I would break it down into really small parts. So I knew that I wanted to cycle from London to Copenhagen. I knew that I wanted to visit a friend in Amsterdam, for example. So to begin with, I would focus on how do I get from London to Amsterdam, that's a kind of more sensible, you know, if you break it down to blocks, the whole thing becomes a lot more manageable, both in terms of logistics, but also mentally. So I will do the same on Komoot. One thing that sets you apart from some similar, some similar platforms is that we have a variety of different sport types you can choose from. So if you go on the route planner, you'll see that even for cycling, there's a few variations. There's like road cycling, gravel riding, bike touring, mountain biking. And that's really important because well, even even within bike tours, people have different preferences. If someone wants to get to Amsterdam, in you know, two or three days, on a road bike, credit card, touring, staying in hotels, they might want to be thinking, you know, they want to have the mindset of a road cyclists, they want to choose quick, efficient routes, they're on 25 mil tires, they don't really want to be going down toe puffs, no matter how they're graded. So these different algorithms think slightly differently, which I think is is really important. I would personally I would, for the way I was touring leisurely, I would be on the bike touring mode. But no, that's it's just important to point out there's different types based on your kind of bike and you're writing preferences. We have a tool called the multi day tour planner, so I could pick from London to Amsterdam. And then I could divide it up into let's say, I want to do it in four days, or I know that I want to do about six hours of cycling a day, I can divide it up and it takes into account the elevation on the way. So it has like a kind of consistent breakdown, which is really helpful when you're trying to forecast when you might get to a certain location. The other tool that I would definitely would be using on the route planner. One of our features is the sport specific overlays. And then you can overlay the long distance or National Cycle routes, which is super helpful. I do this and I'm always toggling between these wherever I'm out hiking or cycling, it just means at a cursory glance, I can see the long distance routes. So for example, I was at the time following loosely one of the EuroVelo. The common which number is the one that goes up along that coast. Well, I can see that overlaid on the map. And so I can compare that against the route that I'm plotting, I can make sure that I'm like loosely following it that that makes a real big difference. Both when I'm long distance touring, or if I'm even just kind of out exploring in the south of England. So those are a few of the main tools that I would use. The final thing I would add, I wouldn't have such a rudimentary cycling computer, I would still have, I'd still have one. The Garmin that I have now is far more modern and has base maps. And we actually have an app designed for Garmin specifically. And with that, I can create the date the routes on my phone. And I can just press one button send to device and I can load up the IQ app on my Garmin device. And the route will just go bing. And here it is. And if I want to change my route, halfway through the day, I can now just update it on commute on the app on my phone and press updates. And I'll get a little notification and my route will be updated. So if I wanted to cut my day short, we'll go to a different hotel or campsite an evening. And that feature is so cool. And I think if I'd had that all those years ago, there would have been a lot less faffing involved, which would have been wonderful. Carlton Reid  29:14   Yeah, I use that the other day, in fact. So I had a Garmin unit and I had I was navigating with Komoot hadn't actually changed the route because I just got on my bike after 70 miles because the wind was about 50 miles an hour ahead of me. But still, I was using it and it was neat that so I agree. So the map, I've got the app open here now and in other apps, you have a choice of quite a few maps. But here I don't I see the the Komoot map. I see a satellite map but then there's no like Ordnance Survey for the UK. So because your is that because you were an international brand and that's just what on market, yeah, there's no point just offering an OS just for one market. I mean, Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  30:03   you could obviously you could argue for it. And in the UK, a lot of people aren't really familiar with and put a lot of trust into Ordnance Survey, commutes sort of core foundation revolves around OpenStreetMap, we are such committed believers of the Open Street Map Project. And it's really at the core of everything we do. And we are constantly looking for ways that, you know, we can help to enrich the data that's there or help to facilitate improvements to it. And you're right, I think, because we are active in so many different countries, we could protect, we could try and add all of these different national maps. But the the user experience would become quite convoluted. You know, if I travel a lot using commute, I quite like knowing that I can get my head around the commute render of OpenStreetMap, which is our like, primary map, and then we have satellite map. I like being familiar with it, I like knowing that the sort of routing algorithms will give me consistent results in different places. And that's quite important to ask that we still give people like a quite a not simple, but like, you know, familiar user experience that doesn't become overwhelming or confusing for them. But we really, we really, I should stress that we like, especially in the markets where we are most active in the quality of the OpenStreetMap data is is really amazing. And it's always improving. And it always is, yeah, enough for us to give people a really good experience. Carlton Reid  31:40   Maybe it's it's an age thing then because I mean, I grew up with OS maps, maybe people who are younger than me and not so hide bound, you know, as you could you have seen before, you know, people are no longer using paper maps, if I've grown up as a user of paper maps, and I no longer use paper maps, but I use the Ordnance Survey maps on my, my phone, it generally tends to be if I'm like trying to visualise an area, then me will as somebody who has grown up with that kind of Ordnance Survey mind map, I would I would default to Ordnance Survey as that's how I explain, you know, my, my where I am. So to me that's like, wow, I need I need, you know, I need iOS to know exactly where I am. It's great to have the Open Street Map. It's lovely. And the commute version of it. But still like, Yeah, but where am I? And I need that something's very familiar. But that might just be you know, people have an older generation. And that that is obvious to my son to Josh, that had zero relevance. And he probably wouldn't know his way around and OS map, but you don't know his way around, you know, the Komoot map really well. So do you think that's just telling me Jonathan, is this just me? Is it just me because I'm very, very old? Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  33:00   If I frame my answer, as well, to be careful, I think your Ordnance Survey specifically as a very particular place in the British sort of, well, the psyche of how we spend how we map the country, is equivalent in other countries. I'll give you an example because I sometimes almost feel like as a outdoorsy person who likes Grim Adventures and is British and spends a lot of time exploring the British outside. I, you know, I should be more familiar with Ordnance Survey I confess, I have grown up in London. I didn't kind of do much outdoorsy stuff at school. Honestly, I've never really used Ordnance Survey I am, when when I started to explore, there was sort of these phone based solutions available for me right away sort of 10 years ago, revolving around OpenStreetMap. I do spend a lot of time hiking and walking for leisure. And I've just never found that I that I needed it. I'm super familiar with OpenStreetMap. I'm now an expert in how Komoot works. And so it's just funny, I think it's like different types of people, for sure, especially in the UK, but I would say also globally, is just very different, like different generations who have grown up, especially have the sort of, you know, even for example of Google Maps is sort of omnipresent in our exploring of the world and navigating I'm talking about everything now from public transport to driving. And even like the sort of sat nav, the satnavifacation, I'm sure that's not a word, but how we drive a car around the world has now had a massive influence on on people hiking and cycling. A lot of people would prefer to hike with turn by turn instructions on their phone and find that far more easy to get their head around than navigating from a paper map and pen The people could argue that that's, that's not as good. But I think if you embrace, you know, the quality of the map data and you embrace it, this actually helps a lot more people explore because there are less boundaries or sorry, less. Yeah, sort of less friction points. So less obstacles for them to to get over to outside. I'm not sure that's necessarily such a bad thing. Carlton Reid  35:23   And let's go slightly backwards in that. The name Komoot is a pun on commute. So when it was originally developed, was it as an internal city thing? Or was it always, you know, this is meant to explore the world with or was that explore the world with just something that came afterwards and is the name a bit of a misnomer, Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  35:56   is actually a bit of a misnomer, partly because it's actually like a Komoot is derived from, I think it's called the Valsa dialect, which is the region that the founders are from and it's just like as far as I understand it, a casual greeting means something like simple and practical. And so it's a it's actually slightly misleading, because that's the origin of Komoot, obviously, was Carlton Reid  36:22   Nothing at all to do with commute. Well, Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  36:25   I don't, I mean, it's not sure if it's a good or a bad thing that they're so similar, but that's the origin of the name Komoot. It doesn't, and the sort of the product and the philosophy doesn't come from commuting at all, it's about spending time outside. Of course, you could probably interpret that in many ways. Perhaps this is an alternative way of you know, commuting in nature. As it happens, many people use commute as part of their commute within town because they want to find a more scenic way of getting from A to B. But that's not the that was never the objective of the company and and still that isn't the case. Carlton Reid  37:05   Right? Interesting. So I got that wrong that Well, Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  37:10   I also had one for a very long day if that makes you feel better. Carlton Reid  37:15   It does Thank you very much. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  37:17   I'm afraid now that you'll really struggle to pronounce Komoot without saying Komoot because it's only a matter of time before for that becomes a riddle itself. Carlton Reid  37:26   Well, of course Google isn't I think it's a mathematical term isn't it? So would have been familiar to some people but most people it's not it's not familiar terms. It's just these unusual term. So anything that's slightly unusual is better for a website you know name so the fact that you kind of spelling this and you people think it means there's but doesn't but they remember anyway so that's that's the trick just remembering it. So if it's if it helps some people doing all that must be Komoot Oh, yes, he spelt with a K. And other people's know it as a, you know, a greeting in a certain language. That's also okay. So it's however you get your name remembered? Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  38:03   Yeah, very much so. Carlton Reid  38:06   So at this point, I'd like to actually cut away and let my colleague take over and we'll be back in a few minutes. So take it away, David. David Bernstein  38:16   This podcast is brought to you by Tern bicycles. The good people at Tern understand that while a large cargo bike can carry oodles of stuff, many of us prefer something a little more manageable. That's why they've come up with the HSD e-cargobike for folks with big aspirations to go car free, delivered in a compact size, with its rear shock, 280 kilos, and a combined hauling capacity of 180 kilos. The robust new HSD is stable and easy to manoeuvre, even when under load. And with its Bosch eBIKE SYSTEM tested and certified to meet the highest UL standards for electric and fire safety you'll be able to share many worryfree adventures with a loved one whether it's your kiddo or Nan. Visit www.ternbicycles. That's te r n turn bicycles.com to learn more. Carlton Reid  39:17   Thanks, David and we are back with with with Jonathan of Komoot we've discovered that it doesn't mean commute and that's it you want it to mean commute. It can mean whatever you want. But Jonathan is he's the community Global Community Manager for Komoot and he's if anybody's going around the world on their bicycle or wandering around the world on the bicycle and they wanted to use commute then then clearly Jonathan would be a good guy to to learn from Andy certainly in a pretty good job for for the kind of company commute is because Jonathan, you went round the world well, we have touched on this but now let's let's explore this in in greater detail. So we've got the Komoot out of the way. Let's let's, let's talk about what where you've come from and why are you working for for Komoot? So we laughed before. Could you mention the fact that when you started, you were much of a cyclist? And I was kind of thinking, Yeah, that's right, because of what the amount of kit you took to begin with is the kind of the classic. And I made this exact same mistake when I started my cycle touring adventures many, many, many years ago, you take too much kit. So you had an enormous amount of kit. And you had a kind of an old school bike, you were you on steel, you're on a bicycle that I would have been familiar with in the 1980s, you know, a Dawes Super Galaxy,  classic touring bike of a while ago. And then you you you've, you've clearly learned a lot. In that time that you're away, but you started reading your blog, you basically picked this bike, you didn't seem to know much about cycling, and then like, a week later, you're, you're off touring the world. So describe it. Have I got that? completely correct, you were pretty much a novice, and then you went cycled around the world. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  41:18   That is, that is pretty much it. It's almost embarrassing to admit how little preparation or knowledge I had prior to leaving, but I think I was just blessed with youthful naivety time, and I didn't have high expectations at all, I just wanted an adventure. And there are very few simpler ways of finding one than grabbing a bike and kind of just heading off without a plan. Carlton Reid  41:44   Or when it's classic, absolutely classic, the way the way that kind of developed. But let's let's find out what were you doing at the time? How long were you expecting to do? You didn't have any plans at all. We literally tried to go around the world, we didn't know how long was going to take? Or were you just going to cycle and see where you got to and then just what you might give up at some point. What What were you doing? How old were you and what were you doing at the time. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  42:08   So if I rewind a little bit further, we touched upon it at the beginning of the call. I grew up I grew up in London, but my my Yeah, my father's British, my mother's Danish. We never cycled or I never cycled for fitness. I never cycled for leisure or for exploring. However, I did grow up riding bikes, it was just very much like a functional tool to get around. London is not bike friendly city. But it's a very practical city to get around and manoeuvre by bicycle. So I grew up cycling. I studied music at university. And when I returned to London, I wasn't entirely sure what to do next, like I'm sure plenty of young people. Now, early 20s have the same sort of existential crisis. I was quite fortunate that I'd been working the whole time I was studying and, and while I had an awful lot of debt, I had somehow ended up with, you know, a few grand in the bank accounts saved up so I kind of had this incredible, I was in this incredibly privileged position where I could kind of yeah, go and explore a little bit without having to take the next the next most serious steps in life. I had always travelled a lot that had been a high priority for me, I had done a bit of long distance walking, I was kind of prepared for another long hike. And then kind of had this this moment, this epiphany I suppose, where I thought well, what about cycling that could be I was really interested in human power, not human powered, rather, I was interested in overland travel. So I became kind of fixated by this idea of, of cycling and then bike touring. And, and these were, I think, a wonderful period on internet where you could find all these incredible blogs that were so relatable and so inspiring and so informative as well. And so the sort of recommendations I found online, people said, those galaxies a good bike, found one on on eBay bought it was a good pannier to take Balsam or leave panniers from Argos and got all of this around Christmas. And I left two weeks later and the plan at the time, I'd been sort of telling my peers and family I was gonna cycle to Australia, but it was it was a it was a pipe dream. But it was kind of a joke as well. It was a good way of like picking something so outlandish that people wouldn't take it seriously at all, which was fair enough given that I had never cycled further than about 10 miles. And so I I set off as I said to go and visit my mother, and I said if if this goes well, I will continue heading east and I had a fantastic first month and I continued writing to Turkey. I became very good at living, I would say extremely cheap on the road. I realised that I could probably get quite a long way. And, and yeah, I ended up going all the way to Australia, by which point I was completely broke. But I got a job and worked for a few months there. And then at that point, I, it became very clear to me that I wanted to continue and make it around the world cycle. And so I did that. And Nick got home, just under three years after having left probably having clocked around 50,000 kilometres, which is kind of a mind boggling number when I say out loud, Carlton Reid  45:32   huh? There's some people kind of do that in three weeks. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but they do it fast. And, you know, some Komoot users, Markus Stitz, for instance, did on a single speed, etc, etc. But you took three years. Now, it's not that you weren't doing some big mileages, you know, there was there was, you know, I read on your blog, you know, some days you're doing 145 kilometres. And then other days, clearly, you're, you're just doing nothing, because you're just enjoying the location. So you never had any plan to do it in a certain amount of time, you would just basically ebb and flow. It was just whatever the live through it you you kind of did that. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  46:17   Yep. And thank goodness, I personally like that. Because otherwise, I think it would be overwhelming to think about and those people who cycle around the world planning on it or trying to break records, I think it must just require so much. That's no fault and pressure, I really was just kind of going for a ride, there was never any pressure, no expectation. If I went home, whenever I was bored, that would have been fine. No one would have judged me. So I was really making up as I went along. And when I left, I had absolutely no plan to spend anywhere near that long on the road knows that I have any plans to cycle all the way around the world. I am a Tura. At heart cycling at that pace is and I've done a lot of more, sort of a dyno extreme bikepacking. I've done a lot of ultralight cycling, I've even tried a few ultra endurance races. But touring at that kind of pace, for me is just the most kind of beautiful ratio in life. Hmm. Carlton Reid  47:20   So notice, you've done the Transcontinental. So you have done these, these, these races, but your forte is basically just pootling along. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  47:30   Definitely. And if I if I continued to my cycling trajectory in between cycling around the world, and ending up doing what I'm doing currently at Komoot, when I returned home, having spent all of this time on the road, I actually worked as a bicycle courier in London for a short period, which was there's no better way to re calibrate and reintegrate into city living having spent so much time on the road and to get paid to cycle around delivering stuff and exploring, you know, a city even if it's your home city by bike. And I then started working at a company called Apidura. And I know that you're familiar of a producer, because I believe you interviewed the founder of Apidura in this past few years. And I was there for a few years. And that was really, I mean, obviously made sense. I had a lot of touring experience. But that was in 2018, which was really when this hugely significant kind of shift in interest from bike touring to bikepacking. Which you can interpret in many ways. But, but this this shift was really kind of about to explode, and then get even more exaggerated through the pandemic. So I, I had learned so much about travelling by bike and then I learned so much about the benefit of ultralight cycling and these new packing systems that were so different to taking for panniers on a loaded bike. And so I spent four years at the Jura did the roller coaster that was COVID 19. And and that was sort of the segue that led me to Komoot because Komoothas been so involved with bike packing bikepacking as an established but also an emerging sport in the last few years. Because Carlton Reid  49:19   you looking at your your bike setup. Back then with the with the Dawes Galaxy, and the bags you had on that was very much old school. And then I can completely identify with that because I'm clearly old school. And that's where I started. So you know, for panniers at least loads of stuff and caring too much, etc, etc. And you look at that now and you think no, you would have the upward Eurostyle you know you'd have the bike packing bags, you probably wouldn't be carrying quite as much Kip, although some of the place you went to. You know I'm thinking of you like your Australia video. and stuff where you're obviously having to pack. I mean, when you go across the desert, you having to pack you know, an enormous amount of water, you've got to have all of the bug kit, you know, you've got to have all of the stuff that's protecting you from the nasties. So you had some times you have gotten better how many it's not an old school versus new school thing. It's just you have to have a lot of kit in some places and and there's no two ways about that. You know? Even if you're doing a transcontinental style, you know, fast route across somewhere, you would still need a fair bit of of kit. But when you were when you started out, okay, actually good point. Did you finish on the same bike? Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  50:43   I did, I finished on the same bike and I still ride that same Dawes Galaxy as my day to day pub, one around bike. Carlton Reid  50:51   Excellent. So it's but it's like Trigger's Broom, you've got you know, you've replaced tonnes of things, or it's still largely the same bike Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  50:58   is the same frame, the same fork. And that is nice. All That Remains of the original bike. Carlton Reid  51:05   So that's pretty good going well done Dawes Super Galaxy.  Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  51:09   Yeah, there's a lot to be said. Having modern bike so us so reliable in general. But yeah, I'm very much of the steel fan club. That bike has a lot of battle scars, from various sort of unfortunate collisions with other vehicles or just the road or ice. But it's still yet it's still going strong. And, and you're right, I've had the been very lucky to experience travelling by bike in very different forms from the kind of old school bike touring sense where you carry basically your entire house, to super ultra light, you know, bike travel, where you just have a bivy bag, and you sacrifice all levels of comfort. I've also done a lot of off road sort of mountain bike touring, I think the thing that I find so wonderful about bicycle travel in general, is that there's always a new way to do it. And there's absolutely no right or wrong way of doing it, I think it's very easy to get caught up in the the idea of I must be a lightweight bike packer, or I must do it in this particular way. But really, there's no right or wrong way of doing it. We're all very different, we all travel for very different reasons. And there's different ways of, of packing for it. And, and even if I refer back to commute and the way that we're set up, we give people the tools to, to pick, you know, they can pick the fast road route, if they want, or they can pick the meandering route, they can pick the most direct one, or they can pick the most leisurely one up over the mountains. I think this whole kind of space is really set up for the user to be able to customise you know, what they're doing, and how they're carrying it based on what their objectives is. And I think that's what's really kind of charming about the whole two wheeled travel thing. Carlton Reid  53:02   See, I'm a historian of many things, but including cycling, and Thomas Stevens, if you hadn't if you've come across that name in in the past, but he was basically a big wheel rider. So what would people would call Penny farthings. And this is 1880s. And the kit he had, the amount of kit he had and how it was packed is very much like bikepacking You know, it's the big pannier bags, that's pretty much the 70s and 80s thing, you know, really, really old and I was calling that old school, but genuinely old school. So 1880 stuff is you know, Apidura-style, incredibly lightweight, hard to carrying anything at all kind of touring. So that's that's kind of where cycle touring started. And we've kind of come full circle in many ways. And so people are going out there with incredibly minimal bits of of kit and somehow surviving. So when you did your your your your cirumnavigation, and you had all this enormous kit, where you jettison bits as you're going along. And just in case you didn't you don't really need this you pick it up basically you became an expert. Just cook you're having to carry this stuff. And because you haven't to carry it, you quickly learn I don't need that Chuck it Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  54:30   Yeah, and I did get rid of an awful lot of stuff. I had some some very questionable belongings with me. Like I had my my, I mean, I was on quite a budget when I left and and while I was going so it's sort of just what am I sacrificing a bit of weight for a cheaper option, but I had like my, my mother's old coat which was this like not anything resembling a down jacket, this monstrous thing that took up half a pannier. I had a pair of jeans with me to wear like when I was off the bike. So much unpractical. kind of clothing thing, I even had like a sort of smart casual shirt, I thought I would like to dress up like a non bike person when I was in town for a weekend, or things that I would never do now. And I did get rid of a lot of this stuff slowly. And as time went on out kind of improved things a bit as they broke. But then there was a lot of things that I wouldn't change, like I travelled with, I mean, I had like a cutting board with me so that I could chop vegetables up when I was camping, and had little film canisters, filmed of spices and a proper source bird. And so I could like, eat well, and, and I wouldn't, again, a lot of bikepackers could turn a nose up at that and think God's this person's just sort of like a moving kitchen. But I you know, for such a long period of the bike, I wouldn't, I wouldn't change that at all. And on and I know that the sort of, especially at the moment with the sort of influences bikepacking has had on on taking existing cyclists and making them realise what they can achieve on the bike. I still am a big believer in taking a bit more stuff if your legs can handle it. And if you're not in a hurry, you know, riding up a mountain with the extra weight on your bag, it's not going to do your fitness any any disservice. If you can get up it. I think a bit of both comfort is quite okay. And while in general, I'm a minimalist these days, I think there's plenty of space for carrying a few extra luxury items whenever you're travelling. Carlton Reid  56:30   But did you come back? Not you but did the bike and the kit come back a lot lighter. So by the time you'd finish, because I know you you'd have to badmouth the bags that you had. But you certainly changed your your your bags halfway around because of various reasons. And other notes on your blog, you do kind of, say a few choice words about the brand you had. But did you come back with? Did you come out with a lot more lightweight than you went? On much more lightweight? Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  57:00   I would say I might have shaved off like a kilo. Like in general, I pretty much had the same amount of stuff with me. And yeah, it couldn't have bothered me that much. Because otherwise I would have gotten rid of an awful lot of stuff. So no, I actually, I actually think I returned with a fairly similar amount of weight on my bike. That's Carlton Reid  57:22   interesting, because that's totally opposite to the way I did it. So when I started out, I had so much kit, I had like a wooden hammer for hammering in the tent pegs I had, like, we just get a rock, you know, I had so many things that I just I was chucking stuff you know, from the very, very start and you've kind of quickly got used to you know, what was necessary and what wasn't. And you don't know that until you're actually on the road. So I was ended up with with a lot less kit. So I taught myself minimalism, just because, cuz, whereas you're saying you don't, it doesn't matter, you can just pedal up a hill, I was the opposite as like, No, I'm not the crane brothers. Famously, when they went up Kilimanjaro and their stuff, they they would, you know, drill holes in toothbrushes, I was never that extreme. But I would definitely want to be lightweight, as much as possible. And so I am kind of interested in taking a chopping board. So I wouldn't have done that. This is interesting about how different people approach these things. And like, I have come down to the minimalist and caring such a little like I wouldn't, personally I wouldn't, not even going on like a camping trip. Now. I won't take cooking equipment, for instance, I will generally buy what I need, and eat that and then have to then scrambled to get, you know, fresh supplies. And I know it's much more efficient to take rice and what have you and then be able to boil this up. But to me just carrying any amount of cooking equipment to me in my head, just that's too much weight, I can do this much lighter. And clearly you're you're not you're a different each to their own, isn't it? It's just different people want to do different things. And that's fine. Definitely. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  59:22   And we need to make sure that we always sort of accommodate that. Because people are so different. And and I think it's difficult, you know, in life, for example, in the cycling industry, it's a consumer driven industry, we need to convince people we brands need to convince people that they need to do things in a different way or a better way or an improved way. But really all of it comes down to like giving people options so they can do things in the way that they want to do it. And you know, there is absolutely no reason why one type of bike travelling is superior than another. They are yeah complete The different ways of doing things for different people. So ever people navigate in one particular way, if they choose one kind of route, it's not about that it's about giving people the options. And the same, like if someone wants to go on a road bike really fast with nothing on their bike, that's totally fine. And if someone wants to chuck for massive panniers on their bike, they'll probably be a bit slower. But that's, but that's totally okay. Carlton Reid  1:00:26   And so what are you doing now? During what what? How would you describe your riding, and your adventuring now, Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  1:00:33   my, I still try. And when I travel, I always want to be on a bike. If I'm not on a bike, I've fully compromised a little bit. But I also like spending time walking around being a normal person, especially if I'm on holiday with my with my girlfriend. But I do try and have one or two bike trips, big bike trips a year. Over the last few years, I've developed a sort of real love for exploring, I guess, capturing the essence of a big adventure closer to home. But in general, I'm sort of a casual cyclist I like to get out for provides every once a week if I can. I think working at QMU is quite is wonderful, but a bit dangerous for someone like me who enjoys spending time looking at maps, because the list of places to visit is evergrowing. But commute has this amazing interface. We have this route planner, which is wonderful gives people all these advanced tools to make informed decisions about where they're going and how they get there. But we also have this discovery interface where you can have these these created routes for you based on your sort of parameters, the smart, this kind of smart solutions, and does have a really big impact on me, since we launched it last year, I'm much more inclined to take a train out from London to a random station and say, load it up on commute and say, Hey, I'm in a new area. I've got three hours, give me something. So while I'm going on less epic adventures, and finding new kind of creative ways of exploring familiar places. I'm doing that a lot at the moment. And I'm extremely excited about doing more of that as the weather improves. Carlton Reid  1:02:19   And is that a curated thing? Or is that an algorithm thing. So Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  1:02:24   it's a kind of a combination of stuff. commute, we have so much user data, because we have millions and billions and billions of of users, the number of recorded tours is kind of such a big number. It's it's kind of hard to get your head around. So we're able to give people these. These like personalised suggestions so I can take the train out if I'm with a no fun with friends go out for a walk at the weekend, I can look at which train line takes me to a village that looks somewhere Scenic. I don't own a car. So I can just say I'm at this station, it will see where the people who use Komoot are heading when they record their tours. So it's very easy to get a feel for where people actually walk. Where do people go for their recreational weekend straws. And it will give me a clever or suitable solution to get kind of onto that, navigate the route and then return to the train station. And it's incredibly clever how it works. If I go on where I live now and say I want to go for a four hour cycle, starting for I live. I've lived in London for a long time and I've cycled in London for a long time. I know what all of the common roadie routes are that people take wherever they're going off to Windsor or Kent or sorry, Essex and, and if I let Komoot do this for me automatically. It's kind of amazing how it basically gives me the routes that people most commonly do. But it won't just give me three or four options, it will give me hundreds of options, which means I can go out for a new ride. And I can always find something that's slightly different to what I've done in the past. And I find that really inspiring for my, like motivation to explore. Carlton Reid  1:04:12   And then if you were in Iran, would it do the same? Or was it does it need that you know, lots and lots of people have done this before or kind of just glower three people who've done this, okay, that'll be the route we curate for this. This person has just ended up in Iran, for instance, such as yourself a few years ago. Yeah, you Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  1:04:28   need to have the use of data because it's based on what people actually do. So if we didn't have that it wouldn't we only want to do it when we're confident we give people a good experience. Otherwise, no one benefits from it. You can obviously still use the route panoramic, your own tool in Iran. The what I would say in certain regions where there is less user data, we have an editorial team that make it they're the the we create the content so we'll find what are the classic like walking routes based on like variety of sources, we have an extensive editorial team that will add this content. And they will add suitable highlights, which is what we call the contributions that the community creates to add on to the map. So that this is an amazing viewpoint, this is a great cafe to stop out if you're a cyclist, this is a really beautiful, rich line stroll. So we will help to populate the map so that the people who are used to kind of a circular thing, the better the map data is, the better that the attributions are on commute, the more local people will find, have a good user experience. And then the more they use it, the more they'll contributes. And that's how we kind of launch in in new places where there's less of an active community, if that makes sense. Carlton Reid  1:05:48   Yes, your heat mapping then, in effect, so you're you're working out where people are going, and you see you perhaps, you know, and your your fellow app. This this ecosystem we talked about before, you know, where people are cycling, you know, like the Strava, type heatmap. Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  1:06:06   Exactly. So we can I mean, it's all obviously, like, it's only when people choose to share stuff publicly. It's all like completely anonymized. But you know, we have so much data, we're just trying to harness it. And yes, we do know where people cycle we have that information that's great is quite hard to sort of digest. But if you can take that and turn it into something actionable, the end result for the user is that they can say, I'm a beginner, I've got two hours, I've got a new phone mount to go on my handlebars, I can select this tool, I can just press go. And I can head off and have an amazing bike ride for two hours. And we can be really confident that it's going to be suitable because that's what other people are doing when they, for example, select bike touring as a sport type. And the same for hiking, we won't have people won't be walking down the road, because we'll only be looking at data that's come from hikers. It's a very Yeah, it's an incredible solution is very clever. And I think it's just a great way of mobilising people, whether they're like really experienced cyclists who are just looking for something new and and bored of doing the same kind of loop over and over again, or newbies who need their handheld a little bit. And once I have a solution that they can just go off and do with five minutes of planning instead of an hour of planning for a two hour excursion. Carlton Reid  1:07:33   Now right now the bike and I don't know how much you know, this, but the bike industry, certainly in the UK, and in many other places in the world is is suffering just incredibly bad. It's just it is it is dire out there at retail. It's dire out there for suppliers, you know, post COVID, we basically just got a huge, huge, low a complete slump. You know, I did a story on Forbes of the day talking about how to 40 year low in the UK. You know, the last time we were as low as this in bike sales was in 1985. So 39 years. And that's that's that's pretty poor. Do. Do you recognise that? Is that something you can look at and say, oh, people aren't writing as much? Or is that just purely at retail and people still riding that is not buying? Jonathan Kambskarð-Bennett  1:08:24   Is a good? It's a good question. I actually saw that Forbes article and is it's definitely bleak reading. But I've worked in the bike industry for a number of years. It's like, I know many people who share the same kind of anecdotal experiences that things are changing. It is a problem with retail and definitely like have these hangover kind of effects from the pandemic that still making it really hard for people to forecast well. And, and it's just been so unpredictable for a few years now. Komoot is lucky because we don't deal with a physical product. But we are subject to the same the same kind of you know, these kind of cultural shifts, whether people are collectively interested in exploring or cycling, we're not immune to that we might not have the same issues that a bike manufacturer has, but we still get impacted by the same changes. And it's hard for us to predict these major shifts in usage in the same way that it's hard for an

On the podcast this week jD is in conversation with Pavement super-fan Alan. Listen in as they discuss his Pavement origin story and analyze song number 42 on the countdown.Transcript:Track 1:[0:00] Previously on the Pavement Top 50.Track 2:[0:02] All right, that was the fifth track from Bright in the Corners, Old to Begin.It's our third song from Bright in the Corners on the countdown so far.Of course, number 50 was Blue Hawaiian. And just last week, we listened to Embassy Row at number 44.So here we are with Old to Begin. In Josh and Pittsburgh, what do you think of this as track number 43?I love it. I love it. It was in my top 20. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah.I was kind of sitting at my desk at work thinking about where I rank these songs and set you back, set you back, set you back. Just kept ringing in my head.It's not, you know, it's probably lower down in my 20, but it's in my 20.Track 3:[0:52] Hey, this is Westy from the Rock and Roll Band Pavement, and you're listening to The Countdown.Hey.Track 1:[1:01] It's J.D. here, back for another episode of our Top 50 Countdown for Seminole Indie Rock Band Pavement. Week over week.Track 4:[1:08] We're going to countdown the 50 essential pavement tracks that you selected with your very own Top 20 ballads.Track 1:[1:14] I tabulated the results using an advanced abacus and my toes, and all that's left is for us to reveal this week's track.How will your favorite song fare in the ranking? You'll need to tune in.Track 4:[1:26] Or whatever the podcast equivalent of tuning in is.Track 1:[1:30] To find out. This week we're joined by Pavement superfan.Track 4:[1:33] Alan.Track 1:[1:34] So there's that. Alan! Hello. How are you doing, motherfucker?I'm very good, motherfucker.It's a bit cold here. Yeah, brother. Yeah, man. It's good to have you here.Thank you. It's lovely to be here.Where where are we talking to you from right now so i i am a glaswegian i'm a scotsman but i, uprooted to finland uh eight years ago so we live on the west coast of finland so kind of likein in the glasgow of of finland i would say the glasgow of finland glasgow finland yeah man so it's a very cool very cool place then because glasgow is very fucking cool Yeah, this is very,very cool just now, literally, because it's minus 25.So what is the closest city?Next biggest one here is probably Vasa. Okay. Population size.My Scandinavian geography isn't what it should be, but... We're about...[2:34] Three and a half hours on the train from helsinki so oh okay we we are we're quite quite probably about two thirds of the way up if you if you drive for another three hours thenyou're starting to hit like the arctic circle okay wow yeah that's that's wild that is so wild yeah well let's talk about pavement absolutely talk to me about your experience with payment oryour pavement origin and story yeah so i was one of the people that first heard pavement uh on the john peel show on radio one would have been um i don't know if you know who johnpeel is he was like a seminal he's a really really important dj in the uk um he just had the most eclectic eccentric taste of music so it'd be a bit of heavy dub reggae one minute some youknow post-industrial the next and And then he basically would just.Track 4:[3:32] He would put anything on and he just.Track 1:[3:35] He was a massive pavement fan as well.Track 4:[3:37] So I would have heard him on his show. I had a great friend called Mark Porchani, who was, in those days, he was an avid cassette taper of all the radio shows.I believe that he still has his archive stretching back then.Track 1:[3:52] So he might be someone that would be good for you to speak to.Holy shit. Yeah, man. That would be cool to get digitized. Yeah.Track 4:[3:59] Man.Track 1:[3:59] Well I can we can speak after this but I'll I'll yeah I think he would be someone really fascinating for you to speak to as well anyway digressing so yeah so I would have heardPavement on John Peele but then I missed their I think it was 92 they toured Slatted and Enchanted, and they played at Strathclyde Uni Strathclyde University in Glasgow, but I missedthat gig by a couple of days oh man yeah man yep same thing happened to Nirvana when they played the QMU in Glasgow I missed it I bought the single, three days after they playedyeah, good luck but I mean I got to see Pavement on all the other tours after that you did?Yeah yeah so oh you're a turbo fan man awesome man yeah yeah so Crooked Rain, and then yeah Breaking the Corners and.Track 4:[4:55] Hi what do you think it is about the uk that that really um they adopted pavement in a way in a way that the rest of the world just didn't you know like they were popular in the us ofcourse and popular in canada but it seems like the uk and scotland like it's much bigger than that yeah it's it's exactly that it's almost the same way people are about like the rocky horrorshow.[5:25] So i'm i'm a huge fan of the rocky horror show huge fan of pavement and it's kind of like it for a long time like in the mid 90s it was certainly it was like a barometer you know touse of okay these people seem kind of cool do you like pavement yes awesome you know so it's like like not not being like you know cool and elitist but just kind of okay these are peoplewho are obviously switched on they're probably into the same kind of literature and other bands that we would like so then it's just i think they were just such a are they still are they're justan amazing stepping stone into so much other you know literature and and architecture and psychology just the the subject matter of the songs once you actually delve through the lyricsit's yeah it puts you on a lot of different nice paths i would say yeah but i think especially like so i'm from glasgow so as you've experienced a glasgow audience we're very vocal and wereally we really attach ourselves you know it's the cities you know there's a lot of uh emotion there a lot of it's centered towards football teams but it's also bands we really really love ourbands.I'd say the next kind of Samoan city is probably like Manchester or Liverpool where it's the same kind of vibe as Glasgow.Track 1:[6:45] Wow. I visited both on my UK tour when I followed Pavan.I didn't tour, but I followed their tour. I went to Manchester.I was only there for like 30 hours, so I didn't get to see much, but I saw a show.So that was cool. What was your favorite tour that you saw them on?Track 4:[7:06] It would have been Brighton and the Corners because they played at the Glasgow School of Art.Track 1:[7:16] Okay. So I was studying just around the corner from it at the time.Track 4:[7:20] So I went up to the art school and I knew the guy called Simon Fox.Track 1:[7:27] Who was the entertainment officer there.Track 4:[7:29] So he was the one responsible for booking all the bands for that year.And I said to him you know like I'm obviously a massive fan is it possible to maybe see the guys before the sound check you know just just to say hi and stuff and he was like well wecan't do that but because we knew each other as well so he was like, do you want to come to the after show and I was like yeah, so yeah so yeah so there was a bunch of us went and Ithink it was five of us that went there and then And watched an amazing gig, a really, really great gig.And then we went to the after show afterwards and got hung up with them.I had a chat with Malcolmus for about two hours and just such, such engaging people.Track 1:[8:16] You know.Track 4:[8:16] And like met the whole band. Yeah.Track 1:[8:20] I had on like an old.Track 4:[8:21] It was a t-shirt that it turns out that Mark Ibold designed it.Track 1:[8:29] So I got it on the I got it on the Crooked Rain tour so it's like this kind of cross stitch thing, and then at the gig at the art school like, I bowed I was like can I buy that t-shirt off youbecause we don't have any left and I was like nah I love this man but they were just I mean I think they spent, easily five six hours just chilling with the fans in the after show and justbeing just really really nice guys and, And you nailed Malcomus down for that long. Yeah, yeah, man.Nicely done. I think I really annoyed, I don't know if you know.Track 4:[9:06] There's a really kind of very important band from Glasgow called The Pastels.Track 1:[9:11] So they were both on Geographic Domino at the same time.Track 4:[9:17] Okay.Track 1:[9:17] Yeah, Domino. So Pastels were the support band.Track 4:[9:20] Oh, okay. For that gig. And then Stephen.Track 1:[9:24] The singer, so he was talking to Malcomus and I came down the stairs was in Spotted Malcomus and I think I kind of interrupted him being a bit of a fanboy and I think Stephen gota little bit annoyed at me Stephen Pastel got a little bit annoyed at me but you know I think I've, we've made up since then I'm sure so well I mean.Track 3:[9:45] Man yeah so what was it about that show other than meeting the band or was that was that why that was the the show is it because you met the man, no i mean i think i bumped intohim again after other gigs as well and like, i just think it was uh it was that i think that that was peak i think that was just it was like they were just completely riding the zeitgeist and yeahthey were they were on their absolute a game you know and just yeah i just i just felt like they could have you know i can, thrown out a can down a set of stairs and it would still theywould still have got something really musical from it and you know just create some wonderful piece of music so what's your record which which is your record the one that you cleave tothe most right, tough call right sophie's choice yeah totally man but the track that i always go back to is here, like yeah but actually that's just my go-to and i was actually i was playing i'vegot two kids i've got a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old and uh i was playing it and my daughter was like is that your band and i was like no no this is uncle steven and his band it's uhit's not us but we would maybe aspire to being a tenth of that or even 1% of that.Track 4:[11:09] I think that's I think it's the same for a lot of people who've got so much attachment to that track but it's the same as any song really I mean it's for me having grown up you knowthat was my kind of teenage formative years.[11:26] Late teenage formative years in the early 20s and, just so many memories memories on you know when i bought that record or you know any of the records and you knowremembering being at different friends at their house and sticking vinyl on and listening to it for the first time and people there was a a guy uh i think his name was dawson he was acomplete metalhead uh he was a friend of a friend and he was like what is this you know and i was like oh this is paving this is a new record and he was he was hooked you know fromfirst listen yeah man we we just put it on.Track 1:[12:01] I think it was.Track 4:[12:02] Um, it was crooked rain put on and just, you know, play that four or five times in a row.Track 1:[12:08] And he was, he was like, this is awesome stuff. And then from that, that's a fucking record.Track 4:[12:12] Yeah.Track 1:[12:12] Yeah. I mean, that's fine.Track 4:[12:14] It's that they are just such a good, great gateway band.Track 1:[12:17] You know?Track 4:[12:18] I think they're like now I would say, the band that I'm probably equally as passionate about after them would be the Super Furry Animals Oh cool.Track 1:[12:31] I'm doing a podcast about them next week. Awesome man Awesome.Yeah It'll be out in the fall, that podcast will be out in the fall but I'm doing it next week It's like anyone who's never heard them before they're so lucky because they've got such a,beautiful back catalogue you know such a wealth of material there as well well we'll have to talk about them when we get off the get off the podcast yeah definitely because i would like toget your take what do you say we get to the main course and we we listen to track number 42 no no no all right just like all right we'll come right back after this break with more from alanand we'll talk Talk about track 42.Track 5:[13:23] Hey, this is Bob Mustanovich from Pavement. Thanks for listening.And now on with a countdown.Track 2:[13:31] 42.Track 6:[13:34] Hey, do you need a reason? Is there a separate season?Track 1:[16:37] Okay, track number 42, Easily Fooled, comes from the Rattled by Da Rush EP, and it's the third track on that EP, and it later appeared on the Sorted Sentinel edition of WowieZowie Reissue, along with its EP bandmate, False Scorpion, and it was track number 22 on that second disc of the Sorted Sentinels collection, the reissue.So Alan yeah my man what do you think of Easily Fooled love it love it love it love it it's on like I said to you off off air it's, probably one of my favourite tracks alongside here yeah it'sjust such an amazing track love the, the meandering nature of it just really.[17:26] Acerbic lyrics and yeah like it's awesome awesome track to jam along to, yeah I bet I bet it would yeah because it is very, jammy isn't it yeah absolutely and it's it's one of thoseones most of their stuff the more you listen it's like a lovely painting it's like an an aural painting it's the more you listen to it there's a new layer there's like a little little piano in the leftspeaker then there's a little guitar scrape in the right and you don't really notice maybe the first couple of listens and you hear these lovely, almost I think it's Malcomus kind of doing somekind of faux, mick jagger kind of high you know like vocal harmonizing rooms it's just it's just all these love you can just imagine them in the studio you know like or you know anothertrack another track another track you know and it's rare for them right yeah well yeah i think yeah apart from when like stanovich putting on they don't seem like studio builders to methey seem like one one take wonders you know yeah yeah i think it depends on the record so the fact that he's singing backup vocals with himself is wild.I love it. That whole single EP.[18:40] Awesome awesome yeah it has my it has my favorite line as well but yeah uh it takes centuries to build in seconds to fall oh just lovely lovely poetry yeah so yeah it is there'sthere's some real lovely uh and i love the rhythm yeah i love the rhythm of his lyrics i don't need a time i don't need an internal cuter yeah right like and the timekeeper part strikes mebecause the song starts with just bass guitar and vocal and then in the like third line of the song the drums come in yeah and it lifts the song like it just lifts it even more yeah that's just thestunning i think you can also hear in like the the latter parts of it it's like it's almost like like it's the kind of genesis for folk jam as well.Track 4:[19:39] Especially some of the vocal deliveries and some of the guitar phrase and the drums.It's like, I only noticed it like last night when I was listening to it.I was like, fuck, that sounds a lot like, I think it's more about the bit of, in folk jam when he starts talking about Irish folk tales scare the shit out of me.Track 1:[19:57] It's that.Track 4:[19:58] Those kind of phrases, you can hear like the, almost as if it's like a quick sketch and that then developed into that track.Track 1:[20:08] That's a...Yep, sorry, everyone froze there, sorry. No, it's okay. It's part of doing this with people from all over the world, right? Yeah.The United Family of Pavement. Yeah. Yeah, like I say, it's so nice to talk to somebody, because I did the whole first part, the whole first season of the show by myself.So it's so cool to hear people's pavement stories and what they think of these songs. Yeah.Track 3:[20:41] Where do you think um what do you think about where it falls easily fooled number 42 it's your favorite song so i'm guessing you wish it were a bit higher top top three and it's topthree for you oh fuck yeah i would say grounded grounded here and easily fooled would be very very tough top three place for me wow so you must be a bit disappointed that it's 42 no it'sif someone here if someone's introduced to it that they've never heard of before then that's what matters it's pavement doesn't matter where it goes they're all fucking number one so youknow, yeah man there is no, bad pavement track even Westing by Musket and Sexton there's a lot of difficult pieces on that but even then there's no bad track on that either no I agree Iagree.Track 1:[21:38] Those first EPs are very different.I like more melodic stuff, but you get that. You get Box Elder right away.Which is fantastic. So dude, you're in a band. Yeah, yeah. Hi.I'm going to do a Pavement pod list again this year. Yep.Where I get people to cover Pavement songs songs and send them in and then i release i release it yeah as awesome as a podcast yeah that's going to come out in july so get cracking onthat.Track 4:[22:23] I'm trying i i'll need i'll need to get in touch with andrew graham and then pass if he doesn't know about you already then i'll connect you guys up um but i think he's he's he's afascinating guy he's got such a yeah again a very um broad musical taste as well like you know he's a thanks i find that pavement fans usually do have pretty broad musical taste yeah yeahyou know they're they're more accepting and they're more open to listen to new and different things yeah yeah but i think i mean i think it's lovely now seeing them because i went to thethe the reunion um yeah gigs on 2010 and that's like it was just amazing to see this new at least one new generation coming up you know and you're going fuck you know like as as cultishas they were the first time around it's great to see them kind of getting their juice you know and like actually you know, making a bit of money off it you know and like just agreed 100 likei hope this is fun in their retirement absolutely man but i don't know if you know the story but well one of the rumors of why why they did the whole reunion concerts, was apparentlyBob.[23:47] Stanovich was like a fucking degenerate gambler and he got in deep to the wrong people for a lot of money and then he approached the guys and went the only way we can makefast cash is if you know these concerts, and he went fuck it we'll do like five to begin with and that'll cover it and then we'll see how it goes and then just snowballed from that holy shityeah but again you don't know if he's, obviously he's a bit of a character so I mean that was it came from his mouth in an interview so you know you don't know if he's the king of bullshitor not so, that's rad yeah man, anything else you want to add about Easily Fooled?Track 1:[24:31] If you've not heard it before go and listen to it and if you've heard it before go and listen to it five more times and just absorb absorb absorb yeah and just and read read the lyrics it'si mean read the lyrics on their own and their own merit and then and you know really listen to them and the kind of cadence and the delivery and and the track when they're when it'splaying yeah Yeah.Lovely, lovely messages. And yeah, it's been great talking to you. Yeah, you too.Uh, that's all I got for you this week.So without further ado, stay cool and wash your goddamn hands.Track 3:[25:12] Absolutely, man. Hey.Track 1:[25:14] As we say here.Track 3:[25:15] Thanks for listening to meeting Malcolm. This a pavement podcast where we count down the top 50 pavement tracks as selected by you. If you've got questions or concerns, pleaseshoot me an email. JD at MeetingMathemist.com.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/meeting-malkmus-a-pavement-podcast/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The interviews in this episode were recorded at the conference of the European Music Therapy Confederation at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh in June 2022. Tilly Mütter is a student on the MSc Music Therapy Course at QMU. She completed her degree in music at Canterbury, where she first became aware of music therapy. After graduating, Tilly became the Music Lead at The Sunflower Federation Schools in Hertfordshire, for students with additional needs and profound multiple learning disabilities. This role inspired her to study music therapy. This episode was edited by Tilly from conversations with twenty-one music therapy students across Europe, sharing their journeys. She asked each person four questions: 1. Please introduce yourself: what course are you on? 2. What have you found challenging and rewarding about your course so far? 3. What have you enjoyed about the EMTC conference? 4. What advice would you give to someone wanting to study music therapy? She spoke to Folke Wiemann, Marie Winneke. Laura O'Neill, Harry Harris, Clare Woodham, Lona Frießner, Hannah Quigley, Dorothy Ogilvy, Megan Thomas, Lisa Johnston, Kelly Nga-Ying Luk, Erin McGonigle, Karen Biørnskov Christensen, Phoebe Janisch , Alice Paine, Emma Keeling , Hiu Tung Yan, Tao-Deva Stingl, Susanne Gruss, Calum Frame and Alphonso Archer.

We sat down with Prof. Paul Miller, the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) & Anti Racism Adviser to QMU's Principal, Sir Paul Grice, to talk about inclusive leadership. What does it mean and how does it apply specifically to QMU?In his role at the University, Paul is providing advice and guidance on the further advancement of equality, diversity and inclusion and fostering an anti-racism culture of understanding.***This podcast recording is part of a range of initiatives across Queen Margaret University to highlight and communicate the work being undertaken by Paul in his role as DEI & Anti-Racism Adviser to the Principal and the activities of QMU's Equality and Diversity Committee and the Race Equality Steering Group.In May this year, QMU launched its first Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing (DIW) Calendar, reflecting each month on key social justice themes. The calendar highlights key dates, related events and activities taking place both at QMU and in the wider community, as well as articles and reflections contributed by staff and students.The calendar is designed to act as the focus of communications, events and initiatives associated with its themes, which for this month of August is all about Fostering an Inclusive Environment.LINKS:Paul Miller's appointment to QMU: https://www.qmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2022/20220601-paul-miller-appointment/QMU's Equality and Diversity strategy: https://www.qmu.ac.uk/about-the-university/equality-and-diversity/QMU's Diversity, Wellbeing and Inclusion calendar: https://www.qmu.ac.uk/media/5lhbvhwh/qmu-equality-calendar-2022.pdf

How do we make decisions about faces, and why is this important in relation to police lineup procedures?In this episode of the QMU Podcast, Dr Stephen Darling from the University's Division of Psychology, Sociology and Education sits down with his colleague Dr Jamal Mansour to discuss her research in this fascinating area. Find out more about Dr Mansour's research at https://www.qmu.ac.uk/schools-and-divisions/psychology-sociology-and-education/mansour-lab.

Episode 27 of the Long Covid Podcast is a chat with Dr Jenny Ceolta-Smith, Occupational Therapist and Co-Founder of Long Covid Work & Occupational Health for Long Covid.In this episode we discuss the situation in the UK that sadly a lot of people with Long Covid are now in - what happens when you have to leave work? What options might you have, and what can you do afterwards? We have plans to do another episode in the future, so if you have employment questions, please do get in touch and we'll do our best to answer them.Links:ACAS    https://www.acas.org.uk  https://www.acas.org.uk/long-covidNational law centres (GM law)     https://www.lawcentres.org.uk https://www.gmlaw.org.ukEquality advisory service - https://www.equalityadvisoryservice.comGM law webinar "A Guide to Employment Law without Representation" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hykKCluupdk&t=4sLong Covid Work website  https://longcovidwork.co.uk QMU podcasts https://www.qmu.ac.uk/research-and-knowledge-exchange/qmu-research/covid-19/support-after-covid-19/support-after-covid-study-podcast-series/Help with benefits  https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/ FAQ sheet from Solicitor specialising in employment law **coming soon**Follow Jenny on Twitter @JCeoltaSmith Jenny's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-ceolta-smith-8521a532/  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Long Covid Podcast is self-produced & self funded. If you enjoy what you hear and are able to, please Buy me a coffee or purchase a mug to help cover costs.Share the podcast, website & blog: www.LongCovidPodcast.comFacebook @LongCovidPodcastInstagram & Twitter @LongCovidPodFacebook Support GroupSubscribe to mailing listPlease get in touch with feedback and suggestions - I'd love to hear from you! You can get in touch via the social media link or at LongCovidPodcast@gmail.comSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Longcovidpod) Support the show

How do we encourage more women to develop as entrepreneurs, and why do we need them? In this episode of the QMU Podcast, Dr Majella Sweeney, Head of the Queen Margaret Business School, talks to Carolyn Currie, the University's first Entrepreneur in Residence, about what barriers need to be overcome to encourage and support women to develop as entrepreneurs, the importance of female entrepreneurship to the economy, and QMU's ambitions to establish a Women's Business Centre.LINKS: Women's Business Centre – https://womensbusinesscentre.com Queen Margaret Business School – https://www.qmu.ac.uk/schools-and-divisions/business-school

Joining me on this week's show is the marvellous Scottish parapsychologist, Evelyn Hollow. Many people will have heard Evelyn as one of the main contributors to the Battersea Poltergeist Podcast on BBC Radio 4 earlier this year.  Evelyn joins me to discuss the show, poltergeist cases, why some sceptical explanations are bad science, her personal haunted history and we also touch on cursed and haunted objects too.  We cover a lot of ground across a wide range of paranormal topics and no doubt Evelyn is someone we are going to here a lot more of in the future. Evelyn was great company and has a sharp mind and a dry wit, so I hope you enjoy our conversation in regards to the paranormal.  Evelyn's site is here:   Our Patreon is now live, with bonus content, early release of the regular show, articles and more. Join here now for the flat fee of $4 a month which is a bargain! Don't forget, you can now show your support with our Merchandise shop on Redbubble! Check it out here! We are also now on Vburl - check us out here:  You can join us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel! Email us at mysteriesandmonsters@gmail.com with any feedback, guest suggestions or if you'd like to appear. All artwork by Dean Bestall and the show was produced by Brennan Storr of the Ghost Story Guys. #Batterseapoltergiest #Enfield #Ponterfract #Scotland #Ghosts #Ghost #Haunting #Haunted #Spirits #Edinburgh #DannyRobins #BBC #Parapsychology #QMU #Goblins 

THIS SEASON’S THEME: Cinematic Classics Welcome to episode 030 of Choose Film: A Reel Retrospective podcast. Rebecca and Gary are joined by fellow Podcaster Jamie Mackinlay (host of Just Get A Real Job podcast) to discuss the hilarious screwball comedy 'What's Up, Doc?'SYNOPSISTwo researchers have come to San Francisco to compete for a research grant in music. The man seems a bit distracted, and that was before he met a strange woman who has devoted her life to confusing and embarrassing him. At the same time a woman has her jewels stolen and a government whistle blower arrives with his stolen top secret papers.  LINKS IN CONVERSATIONTwitter @justgetarealjobTwitter @jammack2Insta @justgetarealjobInsta @jamie_mackinlay_ SHORT FILMSGrandpa - Drama Short Filmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA1lXeAmyvU&t=105sREBOOTED | Short Filmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rkn6rnsgc4Home (1998) - Morag McKinnonhttp://www.totalshortfilms.com/ver/pelicula/266JAMIE'S BIOJamie Mackinlay is a 24 year old Screenwriter, podcaster and all round creative from Fife. Jamie has been based in Edinburgh for over six year and studied a BA in Film and Theatre at QMU between 2014-2018. After a year out, working full time as a support worker, and as a freelance culture reviewer. Jamie went back to uni to study an MA in Screenwriting at Screen Academy Scotland. Since graduating Jamie has been involved in a number of creative projects and has worked as a Runner and Covid Supervisor on several short film productions and commercials.In November 2020 Jamie launched 'Just Get A Real Job' and is having a ball hosting and producing it.Getting the chance to talk with and showcase emerging creatives from across the world has been an absolute joy for Jamie so far and he is very excited about this ever growing podcast.

This QMU podcast discusses Queen Margaret University's research into the loneliness and isolation that our refugee community in Scotland has experienced during the pandemic, the real impact it has had on their lives and how it has affected their ability to integrate and contribute to their new communities. Importantly, we will look at the impact that loneliness and isolation can have on forgotten groups of people in society, and what lessons can be learned for the future to help support people with their integration into a new country, ensuring that they become valued and engaged members of society. Contributing to the discussion from Queen Margaret University's Institute for Global Health and Development are Senior Research Fellow Dr Alison Strang, Research Assistant Dr Nicole Vidal, and Lecturer Oonagh O'Brien. Dr Olivia Sagan, Head of the Division of Psychology, Sociology and Education at Queen Margaret University also provides an insight into the subject of loneliness.

In this weeks Scottish Memories we chat to Katrina Bryan. We chat to her about playing hide and seek in her car round about her home town, going to QMU to study acting in Edinburgh, and of course all the best pubs to visit in Scotlands capitol city.Broonford Merchandise available athttps://teespring.com/en-GB/stores/the-broonfordsIf you would like to support the channel our Patreon page is:https://www.patreon.com/thebroonfordsOur new Channel art was made byhttps://www.instagram.com/gannucciart/?hl=enTheme music created by Nick Cole-Hamilton, for more info visithttps://soundcloud.com/you-better-run-recordsFollow us on twitter https://twitter.com/the_broonfordsFollow us on instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/the_broonfords/Follow the dogs on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/i_have_2_dogs/#KatrinaBryan #Scotland #ninaandthenurons

In Episode 24, Jamie has a great catch-up with Basque Actor, Performance Artist and TV Presenter Itsaso Etxeberria Monreal about everything from her earliest creative memories, her time studying Drama & Performance at QMU, working in Theatre, her recent experiences as a TV presenter and much more.   Check out our website!: https://www.justgetarealjob.com   Donate to our Patreon page ☺️: www.patreon.com/justgetarealjob    Follow us on... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justgetarealjob/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justgetarealjob/    Twitter: https://twitter.com/justgetarealjob    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5jhVdYlNMU8jrFUQxShMit    Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/just-get-a-real-job/id1540434153    Artwork by Aimee Dinsdale: https://www.instagram.com/artbyaimeead/  Like and Subscribe ❤

In this episode, I share 4 main reasons why your manifestation hasn't shown up yet + some perspective shifts to help you stay aligned with calling it IN! DOORS ARE OPEN NOW for Quantum Manifestation UNIVERSE-ity (QMU)! I am so freaking excited to take a new group of amazing women on this transformative (and magical AF) 8 week Reality Shifting Journey with me! This is the last round of QMU for 2020, and we kick off the magic on 9/21! Doors are open throughout THIS WEEEK only. We will be spending 8 weeks together in this vortex, with a blend of pre recorded trainings AND LIVE Coaching calls + an amazing community of women on the journey with you, and TONS of bonus content when you enroll! Click here to learn more, read success stories, and sign up today!

The QMU Podcast is back after a summer break! In this episode, Keith is joined by the University's Head of Student Services, Jessica Lindohf, and Students' Union Vice-President Andy White for a chat about what students can expect when they set foot on campus this month and what's available to them from both the Uni and the SU. Our guests also share their top tips for making the most of the student experience, as well as their Netflix and board game recommendations for those upcoming autumn months.

Keith is joined by Dr Olivia Sagan, Head of the Division of Psychology, Sociology and Education and QMU's Wellbeing Adviser Louise Gill to talk about loneliness and isolation during lockdown, and how we can look after our mental health and wellbeing in these challenging times. They also give us their book recommendations and discuss how they have been keeping well in their spare time - from running, cooking and sketching to improving Spanish language skills and catching up on some trashy TV! Students can get in touch with the University's wellbeing service by emailing wellbeing@qmu.ac.uk. There are also links to helpful resources on the wellbeing section of the QMU website - https://www.qmu.ac.uk/study-here/student-services/wellbeing-service. Staff can access support through the ‘besupported' Employee Assistance Programme, their HR Partner or trade union representative, and can also find wellbeing advice on the QMU@Home section of the website.

QMU 4th year nursing students, Isabelle Mackie, Niamh McLeish and Gemma Ferris are joined by QMU's Division of Nursing Programme Leader, Lesley McKinlay, to talk about their experiences going from being on student placements in health care settings to being Band 4 nurses contributing to the COVID-19 effort.

Students' Union (QMUSU) President Chiara Menozzi and RES:LIFE Coordinator Alice Kerr join Keith to discuss support for students during the COVID-19 pandemic, popular items from the campus pop-up shop, Netflix Party, ABBA and more!

What if the limiting beliefs and stories about yourself that don't feel good, are just...all in your head?   That is what I am going to dive into in this episode, and share some ways that you can reframe those old stories, and accept a more empowering truth that serves and supports the reality you're creating. If you love this podcast, leave me a love note on iTunes reviews, and screen shot when you listen and tag me over on instagram @TheSpiritualBossBabe! Quantum Manifestation UNIVERSE-ity (QMU) is now open for enrollment and we begin on Monday 4/6!   There are only a few more days left to enroll! Learn more, read client success stories, and sign up at spiritualbossbabe.com/qmu

Queen Margaret University graduate and Students' Union trustee Keith Easton chats with our Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Sir Paul Grice, about the University's response to COVID-19 and how the QMU community can stay connected in these challenging times.

Took another digital jump across the pond to Queen Margaret University and spoke with their President, Mark, about their society that started just back in March! He's well armed with a network, information and the gumption to get this thing off the ground. Come find out more about what the UK, Edinburgh and Scotland have to offer in our world of collegiate esports. Mark's & QMU's info: https://twitter.com/qmuesports https://t.co/Vt9PmDOfXR?amp=1 https://twitter.com/AngstHD https://www.instagram.com/qmuesports/ https://www.facebook.com/qmuesports/ https://www.twitch.tv/qmuesports MisterrClouds info: https://twitter.com/TheMistrrClouds https://soundcloud.com/mistrrclouds Be sure to check me out on social media and leave feedback there or on the Anchor platform to be integrated into the podcast: https://linktr.ee/warlockrakaul https://anchor.fm/thesummoninghour/message Support the Podcast with a donation: https://anchor.fm/thesummoninghour/support --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thesummoninghour/support

Philippa Derrington leads the MSc Music Therapy course and is a Senior Lecturer within the Division of Occupational Therapy and Arts Therapies at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. She is one of the editors of the British Journal of Music Therapy, and passionate about promoting and developing the music therapy profession through research, practice and teaching. In this interview, Philippa talks about her music therapy work with adolescents at a social inclusion centre, attached to a mainstream secondary school. Although the work was primarily with young people in the centre, which became The Centre School in 2009 – a school for young people with social, emotional and mental health needs – she developed provision to a full time music therapy post and worked with students across both the mainstream and special schools. Press coverage of this work featured in The Times Educational Supplement and The Guardian. Philippa also talks about her PhD at Anglia Ruskin University, which set out to investigate the effectiveness of music therapy for young people at risk of underachievement or exclusion, and hereby acknowledges the support and enthusiasm of her supervisors, Amelia Oldfield, Tony Wigram and Helen Odell-Miller, as well as The Music Therapy Charity who funded the three-year study. Philippa continues to practise as a music therapist in a school for young people with complex social emotional and behavioural needs and since moving to Edinburgh in 2013, has led the MSc Music Therapy course through some major changes. Together with the Head of Division, Brendan McCormack, who is internationally recognised for his person-centred practice development and particular interest in the use of arts and creativity in healthcare research and development, Philippa is incredibly excited about the interdisciplinary potential within the School of Health Sciences and furthering new research opportunities for Music Therapy at QMU.   References McFerran, K. Derrington, P. and Saarikallio, S. eds. (2019). Handbook of Music, Adolescents, and Wellbeing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Tomlinson, J. Derrington, P. and Oldfield, A. eds. (2012). Music Therapy in Schools: Working with children of all ages in mainstream and special education. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Bev has over two decades of experience as a writer and broadcaster for web, tabloid, magazine, broadsheet, TV and radio. She founded the daily Razz pages for the Scottish Daily Record newspaper covering entertainment and has written for the Glasgow Evening News. A familiar voice on our radio and television Bev has appeared on BBC Radio Scotland, Radio Clyde, STV and so many more! Today, Bev blogs on her site www.theshowbizlion.com (check it out for all the latest news and gossip from Glasgow) and her Instagram stories are guaranteed to feature a familiar face or two. In this episode Bev tells Rosie and Kez about how far she will – and has – gone for an exclusive scoop. Her tales of celebrity encounters are not to be missed! What’s your Soundtrack? We ask QMU President Mata to share her favourite tunes from the QMU’s incredible music heritage, there’s so many to pick from! Listen out for: How One Direction took Bev’s career in a new direction, the time George Clooney was a true gent (which we all knew he was!) and our first adulting fail to feature an international superstar. Sound Tracks is supported by The Network - UofG's exclusive online community for students, graduates and staff. Join at bit.ly/TheUofGNetwork

The individual I have selected for the second episode is Kody Watson. Kody attended Laurier University, where he earned an honours BA studying kinesiology on the Dean’s Honour Roll. Following his BA degree, Kody earned a master of kinesiology at Laurier University; while being a teachers assistant (i.e. a TA), his thesis research focused on long term athlete development in youth Ontario soccer; his thesis has been presented at multiple conferences and his paper has received over 250 downloads online. Kody is currently completing his master of science (physiotherapy) at Queen Margaret University in Scotland. At QMU, he received the best level one pre-registration award. Kody represents QMU on the enhanced led institutional review board. Within the next few months, Kody will begin his research investigation exercise and age-related cognitive decline. After graduation, Kody plans on practicing physiotherapy in Canada, following the standardized Canadian examinations.