The Roey Grad Podcast

Roehampton Graduate School

Whether you’re deep in your PhD, considering postgraduate study, or simply curious about academic life, this podcast offers an honest window into what it means to pursue knowledge at Roehampton and what it costs. Produced by Roehampton graduate students, the podcast features interviews with fellow grad students, academics, providers of university services, and special guests.

  1. 6d ago

    Bridget Steenkamp: Facilitating child-led ecotheology

    Charles, Will and Aaliyah talk to Bridget Steenkamp, Pentecostal minister, community organiser, and, relevantly for the pod, DTh student in Roehampton’s School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Bridget’s research is an interdisciplinary endeavour, combining theology and early years education. It starts from Friedrich Fröbel’s conception of spirituality as ‘life unity’: connection to oneself, each other, the natural world, and the transcendent, to consider whether pre-school children (3-4 years old) can be co-researchers in theological enquiry.     Links mentioned:  More on Fröbel (Wikipedia)  The Froebel trust   The Godly Play foundation UK  Ecotheology (St Andrew’s Encylopedia of Theology)  Bridget’s Slow Workshops for Roehampton’s sustainability team (check out their episode earlier in the feed!)    Chapters  00:09 Introduction  00:39 Bridget’s thesis  02:51 Research co-led by children  06:00 Bridget’s data collection – in practice  08:01  Are young children closer to the divine?  08:52 What is ecotheology?  10:26 Presenting the children’s data  11:35 Defining “spirituality” in this context  15:51 Addressing the influence of the (adult) researcher  17:59 A natural spiritual sense in children?  20:09 Wrap-up    The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School.   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes  Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk

    22 min

  2. May 21

    Bonus: Benoît André (Extended Edit) - Exploring community in flooded areas using electro-acoustic composition

    A longer version of Charles, Aaliyah, and Will conversation with Benoît André, PhD student in Roehampton’s School of Arts. Benoît is a composer and sound-designer, researching flooding in Gloucestershire and West London, through the medium of sound. Specifically, electro-acoustic composition - less music than sonic art.  This episode is a chance to feature, in full, Benoît’s piece Skein #7, only showcased as an excerpt in the original episode.      We discuss this little-known art form, what it brings to an eco-sociological thesis, the impact of flooding on communities (which is not solely negative), and why, in these circumstances, it pays to have your mum own one of the few SUVs in the village.       Find more of Benoît’s work at  https://www.benoitandre.co.uk/electro-acoustic      Chapters  00:09 Introductions  00:57 Studying flooding through sound?  02:08 Electroacoustic composition  04:27 What does a thesis in Electroacoustic music look like?  07:16 An excerpt from Skein #7 (HEADPHONES RECOMMENDED!)  09:18 The Electroacoustic ‘scene’ (such as it is)  12:57 Skein #7 – in full!  18:20 Benoît’s other work, his background  20:39 What does data collection look like in such a project?  24:05 Implications for governance  26:03 Unexpected positives of flooding  28:35 Flooding and community impact  35:08 Wrap-up, and Benoît’s Forest Frivolity         The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School.   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes  Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk

    39 min

  3. May 11

    Ian Kinane: James Bond’s part in my academic career

    Dr Ian Kinane is the editor of the International Journal of James Bond Studies and an expert on all things 007. He is also a Reader in Literature and Popular Culture here at Roehampton. In this week’s show, he talks about his roots in Dublin, his tips on how to manage an academic career, and, of course, his take on Bond - or, more precisely, on the complicated relationship between Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, and the people of Jamaica.     Links:  Ian’s research profile  The International Journal of James Bond Studies (stop smirking!)   Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence (Bloomsbury, 2021)  Hampton Hill Theatre    The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School.   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes  Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk

    27 min

  4. May 1 ·  Bonus

    Bonus – Library (extended edit)

    This week, we revisit the conversation Charles and Will had with Sandra, Charlie and James from the University of Roehampton’s Library team. This longer edit includes considerations on privacy and data protection, which turns out to be a theme dear to both James and Will.     We also discuss whether every library remembers their first shushing, the intricacies of the inter-library loan system, and eldritch texts on loan from Miskatonic University...    Chapters      The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School.   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes  Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk

    49 min

  5. Trailer

    The Research and Innovation summit

    The wait is officially over, with the registration for the Roehampton Research & Innovation Summit now open!     This year’s programme brings together an inspiring mix of internal and external experts, each week will be giving you a snapshot of who will be presenting on the day.     You’ll also find two dedicated sessions crafted especially for researchers at pivotal career moments: one on career pathways beyond the PhD, and another on building the foundations of a successful post‑doctoral journey.   As places are limited secure yours before they’re gone!    Event Management | LinkedIn  The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School.   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes  Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk

    1 min

  6. Apr 17

    Dr Lisa Sainsbury 

    As an expert in the field, Dr Lisa Sainsbury says that “children’s literature is far more complex than a lot of people give it credit for”. In this week’s podcast, Dr Sainsbury talks about her passion for her subject and her roles in the university – as Research Programme Leader for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Associate Professor of English Literature. She offers some advice to post-graduate students on managing their supervisory relationships and talks about Roehampton’s unique approach to children’s literature.     Links mentioned    National Year of Reading  MA in Children’s Literature at Roehampton      Chapters      1.00 The job of Research Programme Leader  2.07 Contacts before arriving at Roehampton  3.32 The advantage of ‘milestones’ (RDComms) in post-graduate studies  5.23 How students have changed over the years at Roehampton  6.58 From Masters to PhD studies  8.08 Importance of community in academic life  9.11 Lisa’s PhD in children’s literature  10.44 History of Roehampton’s approach to children’s literature   12.04 Children’s literature today  14.51 Influence of Watership Down  16.30 What makes a good supervisory relationship?  19.02 Research students should make use of the wider university network    The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School.   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes  Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk

    21 min

  7. Apr 13

    Bonus: Josh (Extended Edit)

    This week features a longer version of Will’s conversation with Dr Joshua Sadler, who recently defended his Techne-funded thesis, “41 Minutes West: A Passage Towards the ‘Non-Man’, Through Learning Disability, Impossible Epistemes, and Unreal Ontologies”.    Sitting at the intersection of performance studies, critical disability studies, and epistemology, Josh’s work argue that people with severe learning disabilities are not just the victims of epistemic injustice, but of epistemic exclusion, in that the knowledge they produce cannot be expressed in the dominant epistemology of the academy.     Josh has done all his studies at Roehampton, he also works as a carer, now at the Grange Centre for people with learning disabilities in Bookham; in addition to this, he his lead facilitator Freewheelers , a youth theatre company of people with disabilities.    Josh is the Curator of the ‘Us and Them’ project, recreating Victorian photographs of people with disabilities with era-accurate equipment, in partnership with King’s College and On the Record was recently featured on BBC News.      Chapters  00:09 Introduction  01:16 Josh’s thesis  03:13 Josh’s participants  08:39 How did the thesis develop?  10:27 An epistemological challenge to Academia  16:01 Josh’s positionality  19:20 Josh’s journey to doctoral research  22:35 What’s next for Dr Sadler?  24:59 Finding moments of joy through the journey  26:58 Wrap-up      The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School.   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes  Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk

    28 min

  8. Apr 3

    Ben Keightley: The Representation of Women on Television

    Our guest this week make no apology for spending his study hours watching television – often Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. Ben Keightley’s PhD subject is the representation of women during what’sknown as the second Golden Age of Television. He’s challenging the conventional view of that period, which is often characterised by series featuring male anti-heroes – think Breaking Bad – with evidence that ensemble series featuring women were just as important and innovative.      Links:    Joel R. Campbell. Television’s Second Golden Age: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/televisions-second-golden-age-9781666947120/    Mick B. Brewer. And Just Like That … misogyny reigns supreme: disciplining womanhood in the critical framings of Sex and the City’s new chapter https://www-tandfonline-com.roe.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.1080/15295036.2023.2249541#abstract    Bill Mesce Jr. Inside the Rise of HBO: A Personal History of the Company That Transformed Televisionhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Inside-Rise-HBO-Transformed-Television/dp/0786497866      Chapters    1.00 Television’s Golden Ages  2.40 Women in the third Golden Age  5.40 Advertisers’ influence and subscription models  9.10 Do you just watch TV all day?  10.15 Male anti-heroes  11.30 TV as an academic subject  12.34 Impact of the streaming services  14.00 Challenging norms vs simple representation              The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School.   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes  Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk

    16 min
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About

Whether you’re deep in your PhD, considering postgraduate study, or simply curious about academic life, this podcast offers an honest window into what it means to pursue knowledge at Roehampton and what it costs. Produced by Roehampton graduate students, the podcast features interviews with fellow grad students, academics, providers of university services, and special guests.

Information

  • Creator
    Roehampton Graduate School
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    42
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Roehampton Graduate School
  • Show Website
    The Roey Grad Podcast