The Academic Adventures Podcast (2024)

I worked with Orla Kelly, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation (KE&I) Collaboration Manager for Scottish Universities, based at the University of the West of Scotland, and Adam Kosterka and Jen Black of Converge Challenge to help create The Academic Adventures Podcast, a 10-episode podcast series which shared stories of academic entrepreneurs in Scotland. The work was funded by the Scottish Ecosystem Fund 2023/24.

Orla, a former guest on the Research Adjacent podcast, approached me in late 2023 with the idea for a podcast series focusing on failure, lessons learned and bouncing back. Although some guests were willing to talk about enterprises that went wrong it turned out to be too narrow a scope for a whole season. Instead we simply decided to tell the real stories of people who combined academic work and entrepreneurial ventures in some way. The resulting guest list drew from institutions across Scotland and debunked the idea that entrepreneurship is only for the sciences including experts in music, physiotherapy, business, food and drink.

My role was to host the podcast, conduct the interviews, edit and produce the recordings, and create show notes and some social media assets. Jen Black took care of the branding and marketing while Adam and Orla identified and liaised with guests and coordinated the project.

We also held a celebration event in Edinburgh on 17 April 2024 which I chaired. On the morning of the event I delivered a resilience workshop for ECRs considering entrepreneurship for themselves.

Reflecting on the project Orla Kelly said “I think the Academic Adventures Podcast is a really special project, and I am so delighted you were willing to jump into the deep end with it.”

Listen to the podcast here or search for Academic Adventures in your podcast app.