Technecast

The Untranslateables: a Techne Student-Led Conference Discussion

Happy New Year! We are kicking off 2026 with something different. In November, Techne held its annual Student-Led Conference in London, during which the Technecast team organised a discussion around the idea of untranslatability. We first hear from Felix, who came up with the idea for the session and provided our participants with a plethora of examples from different languages and disciplines. Then, we dive into the results of the discussion led by Adrianna. We are grateful to all participants for giving us some fascinating insight into the cultural uses of language. One participant even managed to smoothly tie the discussion to our conference theme (Gateways, Barriers and the Space Between - can you spot it?). You can find examples of words mentioned in the episode on our instagram page, @technepodcastTechnecast is a podcast series showcasing research from across the Arts and Humanities. It is produced by Felix Clutson, Adrianna Chmielewska, Isabel Sykes, Morag Thomas, Olivia Aarons, Eva Dieteren and Pragya Sharma. Fancy turning your research into a podcast episode? We'd love to hear from you at technecaster@gmail.com. 

Thomas Nixon-Roworth: Clergy and Lay Relations in mid 17th century England

In the latest - and last - instalment in our Heritage and Memory series, Adrianna Chmielewska talks to Thomas Nixon-Roworth from Sheffield University on his research into clergy and lay relations in mid-17th century England. In the first half of the episode, Thomas will be talking about the premise of his research and its main themes. Adrianna then talks to Thomas about the fascinating and complex series of relationships at St Stephen, Coleman Street parish in London. Thank you Thomas for your time and interest in Technecast!Technecast is a podcast series showcasing research from across the Arts and Humanities. It is produced by Adrianna Chmielewska, Felix Clutson, Isabel Sykes, Morag Thomas, Olivia Aarons, Eva Dieteren and Pragya Sharma. Fancy turning your research into a podcast episode? We'd love to hear from you at technecaster@gmail.com.

Ruby Hornsby: Can Humans and Robots Be Friends?

This week, we take a brief detour from our usual themes to explore a question at the crossroads of social ethics and technology: Can humans and robots be friends? We are joined by Ruby Hornsby, doctoral researcher at the University of Leeds, to explore this question. We discuss what friendship really means, why she argues it cannot exist with machines, and why it’s worth asking what friendship and human connection means in the digital age. This episode was hosted and produced by Eva Dieteren.------------------------------Ruby Hornsby is a final year philosophy PhD student at the University of Leeds funded by The White Rose College of Arts and Humanities. She researches whether humans can be friends with robots and, more broadly, she is interested in Applied Ethics, Ethics of AI and The Philosophy of Love, Sex and Relationships. Ruby is the post-graduate research assistant for Ethical Dating Online Project (link below),  a network of researchers focused on exploring the ethics of online dating. She is also the founder of Wiser Debate Club, a free monthly philosophical debate club for people aged 60+ which has recently been awarded funding to expand to various UK sites. ------------------------------Resources:BooksAlone Together (2011) by Sherry TurkleMachines Like Me (2019) by Ian McEwan Klara and the Sun (2021) by Kazuo IshiguroFilms/TVHer (2013), dir. Spike Jonze Black Mirror: "Be Right Back" (season 2, episode 1) and "Common People" (season 7, episode 1)Sex actually with Alice Levigne (Alex and Mimi):Eternal You (on grief bots)OtherAlaina's BlogEthical Dating Online | Insta: @ethicaldatingonlineCentre for Love, Sex and Relationships | Insta: @Leeds_CLSR------------------------------Technecast is a podcast series showcasing research from across the arts and humanities. It is produced by Adrianna Chmielewska, Felix Clutson, Isabel Sykes, Morag Thomas, Olivia Aarons, Eva Dieteren and Pragya Sharma. Fancy turning your research into a podcast episode? We’d be happy to hear from you at technecaster@gmail.com, on Instagram @technepodcast, or on X @technecast.

Viveca Mellegård: Nature - An Apprenticeship in Indigo Dyeing

In the first installment of our 'Nature' theme, Isabel catches up with friend of the podcast, PhD researcher and filmmaker Viveca Mellegård. She fills us in on how her PhD journey has been progressing, and shares an immersive soundscape of her practice with us.------------Image: Viveca MellegårdTechnecast music: Jennifer DovetonSoundscape: Viveca MellegårdLink to Episode 1 'Secrets of the Prize Papers' from the podcast On The Record at the National Archives: https://tnaontherecord.libsyn.com/secrets-of-the-prize-papers-trade-loot-and-letters------------This episode was hosted and produced by Isabel Sykes------------Viveca is a researcher and filmmaker and started her career making science and arts programmes at the BBC. She integrates film and photography as research methods with a particular interest in making the embodied aspects of craftsmanship visible. Viveca is doing a collaborative PhD with Royal Holloway, University of London and the Economic Botany Department at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Her research links Kew’s colonial era collections of Indigofera tinctoria from India to contemporary indigo production and dyeing in West Bengal. Her work aims to communicate the value of the knowledge and skills embedded in the craft of dyeing with natural indigo and to show how embodied practices can cultivate human-plant relationships. ------------Technecast is a podcast series showcasing research from across the arts and humanities. It is produced by Adrianna Chmielewska, Felix Clutson, Isabel Sykes, Morag Thomas, Olivia Aarons, Eva Dieteren and Pragya Sharma. Fancy turning your research into a podcast episode? We’d be happy to hear from you at technecaster@gmail.com, on Instagram @technepodcast, or on X @technecast.

Helen Williams: Heritage and Memory - Unfinished Business: Representations of Motherhood

Continuing our Heritage and Memory series, Adrianna Chmielewska talks to Helen Williams on her research into representations of motherhood. Helen Williams is a first-year doctoral researcher in creative writing at Brunel University of London. An experienced motherhood journalist, Williams is writing a novel based around her research on the ways relationships between generations of university-educated mothers and daughters are represented in contemporary British fiction. One of the texts she is focusing on is Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other. In this podcast, Williams presents a piece of creative criticism: a monologue in the voice of the National Theatre, a key setting in Evaristo's novel, comparing the structure of the novel to the architecture of the theatre.As well as reading a sample of her writing, Helen talks about her inspirations for the project and trends in matricentric literature today. All reading and viewing recommendations can be found on our Instagram @technepodcast. Technecast is a podcast series showcasing research from across the arts and humanities. It is produced by Adrianna Chmielewska, Felix Clutson, Isabel Sykes, Morag Thomas, Olivia Aarons, Eva Dieteren and Pragya Sharma. Fancy turning your research into a podcast episode? We'd love to hear from you at technecaster@gmail.com. 

Tom Hull: Heritage and Memory - Dr James Barry and Critical Fabulation

In our first episode on the theme of Heritage and Memory, PhD researcher Tom Hull from the University of Brighton talks to us about his research project. Tom's project uses a combination of archival research, literary criticism and creative writing to deepening our understanding of Dr James Barry. Dr James Barry was many things. He was a pioneering surgeon, performing the first successful caesarean section within the British Empire where the mother and daughter both survived. He was an army doctor in various occupied territories, and was complicit in the racialised violence of the British Empire. And he also happened to be a trans man. In this episode, Tom explores how we can both recognise a person from the past as a queer pioneer, and acknowledge that history has privileged them and silenced others - for example, Barry's Jamaican manservant and companion of 35 years, John, about whom so little is known. Using techniques and theories such as Saidiya Hartman's 'critical fabulation', Tom's project seeks to address these gaps in the archive both creatively and critically.  Technecast is a podcast series showcasing research from across the arts and humanities. It is produced by Felix Clutson, Isabel Sykes, Morag Thomas, Olivia Aarons, Eva Dieteren and Pragya Sharma. Fancy turning your research into a podcast episode? We'd love to hear from you at technecaster@gmail.com, or on Instagram @technepodcast. 

Women in Music Roundtable

In honour of International Women's Day, this episode brings together PhD researchers from a range of backgrounds to explore the role of gender in musical traditions and genres (from opera to classical to popular music). Join us as we celebrate the voices of women in music research, dive into everything from Kendrick Lamar’s iconic Super Bowl performance to Dolly Parton’s timeless legacy, and share a few of our personal listening gems along the way! You can find these gems in the accompanying Spotify playlist.About the participants:Adrianna Chmielewska is a first-year PhD student at Kingston University. Her research focuses on adaptation of literature into opera as a reflection of Italian cultural identities. Looking at the development of opera from the 17th to the 21st century, she investigates how turning stories into opera communicates with Italian culture and society. Adrianna sees opera beyond the elitist stereotype, as a persistent, vibrant and culturally rich means of storytelling.Emma Haughton is a third year student with techne at Kingston University. Her PhD focuses on the intersections of Musicology with English Literature, culture studies, and philosophy exploring women who wrote symphonies during the twentieth century. Her main focus of her thesis is exploring the symphonies of African American composer Florence Price through a postcolonial/transnational lens.Eva Dieteren is a second year Techne-funded PhD student at Kingston University London. Her research sits at the crossroads of feminist theory and popular music studies, with a focus on exploring concept albums through feminist, new materialist, and decolonial perspectives.Felix Clutson is a fourth year Teche PhD student at the University of Surrey. His research explores the production and translation of football museum texts, focusing specifically on the tension between the local representation and global reach of clubs.Isabel Sykes is in her third year of her Techne-funded Sociology PhD at Brunel, University of London. Her project investigates media representations of unpaid domestic labour alongside working-class women’s lived experiences of such work.This episode was produced and presented by Eva DieterenTechnecast is a research and practice podcast supported by Techne DTPThe music is composed and generously given by Jennifer DovetonIf you’d like to get involved or turn your work into a podcast, please get in touch with us - technecaster@gmail.com or via instagram @technecast

Technecast Cares: End of Year Roundtable

In our final episode of 2024, the team comes together for a roundtable discussion on the theme of ‘care’. Topics include: how can we practice self-care as researchers, particularly in the current turbulent HE landscape? What does care as methodology look like? And does care for ourselves or each other even matter while we are failing to care for our planet?------------Image: GoodFonMusic: Jennifer Doveton------------This episode was hosted and produced by Isabel Sykes------------Technecast is a podcast series showcasing research from across the arts and humanities. It is produced by Felix Clutson, Isabel Sykes, Morag Thomas, Olivia Aarons, Eva Dieteren and Pragya Sharma. Fancy turning your research into a podcast episode? We’d be happy to hear from you at technecaster@gmail.com, on Instagram @technepodcast, or on X (formerly Twitter) @technecast.

The Practice of Interviewing

This episode follows a workshop on ‘The Practice of Interviewing: Perspectives from Across the Arts and Humanities’ hosted by the Technecast team on 20 September 2024. First, you will hear from four Technecast members (Isabel, Felix, Olivia, and Pragya) as they share their own interviewing experiences. This is followed by four practice interviews by Gareth Hughes, Tom Railton, Julia Schauerman, and Emma Haughton. ———————This episode was produced and presented by Eva DieterenTechnecast is a research and practice podcast supported by Techne DTPThe music is composed and generously given by Jennifer DovetonIf you’d like to get involved or turn your work into a podcast, please get in touch with us - technecaster@gmail.com or via X @technecast

Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp and Edwin Gilson: Nature - Nonhumans and the arts

In this episode Edwin Gilson and Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp, both researchers exploring works of art involving nonhumans at the University of Surrey, join Felix for a conversation about our relationship with the flora and fauna around us. We discuss different approaches to art based on nonhumans, the social lenses humans look through at nonhumans, and how their relationships have changed over the course of their research. -------------------This episode was produced and presented by Felix ClutsonTechnecast is a research and practice podcast supported by Techne DTPThe music is composed and generously given by Jennifer DovetonIf you’d like to get involved or turn your work into a podcast, please get in touch with us - technecaster@gmail.com or via X @technecast