'If you believe it, you can achieve it'

The idea for a podcast started with a corridor conversation with Gaz (Professor Gareth Roderique-Davies) who updated me on the progress of their very exciting Alcohol-Related Brain Damage (ARBD) research project – one of many! After we finished talking, I instantly thought to myself: How would I have known about Gaz's work, if I hadn't happened to have had the conversation in the corridor? Then I looked at all the closed office doors alongside our long psychology corridor and thought – there's all sorts of meaningful research going on behind these doors. My mission was set!

The Psych Sofa podcast series captures six episodes with colleagues from our University of South Wales psychology family, where we capture impactful research stories in areas including: addictions, women's reproductive health, mental health and physical activity, educational wellbeing, the USW Early Intervention Service and health and housing.  

I am an academic so being in the spotlight (literally) and chatting to my colleagues in front of a camera, rather than to a class full of students, was a very new (but super enjoyable) experience to me. Coming to it as a completely naïve person who admires all the hard research work that goes on in our psychology department, I saw this podcast series as an opportunity for my colleagues to talk about their passion for research, and also to demonstrate that psychology really is everywhere around us! I saw my role here as being purely the facilitator of this knowledge: that's why you won't see me talking much (plus the fact that we were aiming for 20 minutes for each podcast episode, which was tough). 

I'm aware that what we have produced (I'm saying we, as this was a real team work!) is slightly different from all the other podcasts I have ever listened to on Spotify. There is still a thing or two I need to learn from Steven Bartlett. But my aim was to capture the fascinating research projects that are quietly ticking along behind those closed office doors, as well as the partnership work with some of the amazing external organisations and our dedicated psychology students, all the talks with the Government and practitioners all of whom work towards the same goal – to change people's lives for the better.

In terms of my podcasting advice, I'd say:

- do your research and prepare beforehand – I've had an informal chat with all of my guests before the podcast recording. This was useful as it enabled me to figure out the story which we'll be capturing, where I was able to guide the conversation accordingly. We also specified who the audience is (i.e. informed 16-year-olds in our case). I suppose this was also useful from the guest perspective, as they will know roughly what to expect on the day (minus the bright lights!).

- let your (interesting) guests talk about things that they are passionate about. This will mean that they can steal the show, share the most exciting stories (that would never get captured in academic journals) and become the podcast superstars, so you can just sit back, relax and listen to their captivating narratives.

- ensure that there is an overarching story and consistency throughout your podcast series, a golden thread, a glue, whatever it is, that helps it all stick together. It turned out that all the success research stories that we've shared on Psych Sofa had one commonality, which I haven't realised until the very last episode – they all started with saying 'yes' to new opportunities, which has opened a whole new world of networks, exciting research projects and life-changing paths. I can definitely relate to this, as I was once asked if I wanted to become a doctor one day (and do a PhD) – you may be able to guess what my answer to this question was…

All in all, I'm very grateful for this podcasting experience and all those who have supported me on this fantastic journey. I think that this podcast series just verifies that 'Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.''  (Napoleon Hill, 1937).