In a world where knowledge is power and ideas have the potential to change lives, we’re here to challenge your perspectives and ignite your thirst for understanding.
Welcome to King's Conversations, a podcast brought to you by King's College London.
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Listen now on your favourite podcast platform via the links below.
Episode 1 - Culture Wars: The Role of Media in Social Justice with Dr Ruth Adams
Dr Ruth Adams guides us through the muddy waters of culture wars, from their historical origins to their tech-driven discussions today.
We touch on how societal views are reflected in creative media, ties between culture wars & politics, and whether art can truly be separated from a problematically perceived artist.
This episode of King’s Conversations covers:
- Whether cancel culture is effective, and separating art from artists
- Cultural conversations raised by the Barbie movie, from feminism to LGBTQ+ rights
- How social media has progressed the polarisation of opposing stances
- Governmental and political uses of culture wars
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Episode 2 - Mental Health in the Digital Age with Professor Sir Simon Wessely
Everybody has mental health, just as we all have physical health, but the ways in which we perceive mental wellbeing in the modern age are ever-evolving.
The pace at which this is happening owes itself to a number of factors, some less apparent than others, and Regius Professor of Psychiatry, Professor Sir Simon Wessely’s expertise in the area provides remarkable insight in this episode of King’s Conversations.
We hear from Simon as he discusses the intriguing link between films’ representation of PTSD and our experiences of it, how social media really affects our mental health, and the devaluation of common terms like OCD and bipolar.
This episode of King’s Conversations covers:
- The historically perceived stigma around the psychiatry field
- Social media’s impact on mental health compared to other stimuli
- Whether trigger warnings and avoiding conversations is effective
- The role of therapy and counselling after crisis events
- Fascinating links between PTSD and how flashbacks are represented in visual media
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Episode 3 - Can We Trust AI More Than People? with Dr Hana Chockler
Artificial intelligence systems have been indispensable for years, but the recent prevalence in the public eye is raising huge questions that’ll likely span decades to come.
Dr Hana Chockler joins us on this episode of King’s Conversations to walk us through the intricacies of AI systems, the technical challenges of such systems, and how they’ll impact the coexistence of tech and humanity.
This episode of King’s Conversations covers:
- The complexity of modern AI systems
- Human bias in data sets
- Trustworthiness and transparency
- Artificial intelligence as an enabling tool in healthcare
- Upcoming ethical challenges with AI use
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Episode 4 - Can We Stop Colourism? Unpacking and Exploring Skin Shade Prejudice with Dr Aisha Phoenix
Colourism is an important issue to tackle, and thanks to Dr Aisha Phoenix’s research with Dr Nadia Craddock, the UK has made more academic progress on this in the past decade.
In this episode of King’s Conversations we deconstruct the lesser-publicised issue of colourism, skin shade prejudice, the significant impact of colourism on physical and mental wellbeing, and what steps can be taken to change societal attitudes.
This episode of King’s Conversations covers:
- Colourism’s impact on young people
- The UK’s limited research on colourism prior to Aisha’s work with Dr Nadia Craddock
- Representation in the media as important for addressing colourism
- What data is needed to tackle colourism, and what methods are safest and most effective to achieve this
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Episode 5 - Harnessing the Invisible Expertise of Overseas Nurses with Dr Dilla Davis
The NHS recently celebrated its 70th anniversary, and an indispensable part of this workforce is made up of overseas nurses.
It’s a huge wealth of expertise upon which we can rely, and in this episode of King’s Conversations, Dr Dilla Davis joins us to share the oft-overlooked impact of overseas nurses, and how nursing & midwifery policies must change if we’re to empower them.
Dr Dilla Davis worked with Dr Agimol Pradeep BEM, liver transplant coordinator at King’s College Hospital on a groundbreaking campaign to help internationally trained nurses complete their UK nursing registration without language tests. Their work has been recognised by the Health Services Journal who awarded them Workforce Initiative of the Year and highly commended them in the NHS Race Equality Award Category.
This episode of King’s Conversations covers:
- Recognition of overseas nurses in the UK
- Challenging barriers to entry
- Myths surrounding the UK’s approach to nurses from international territories
- Next steps for utilising and harnessing the expertise of this nursing workforce
Watch above or listen anywhere you find your podcasts.