Bringing to light the behind-the-scenes of research on the first Tuesday of each month, the podcast will be a space to have conversations on concepts of identity, nationalism, race, ethnicity, gender, but also political economy, social inequality and education.

Our hosts Dr Sara Black, Lecturer in Education and Society, and PhD students Liam Cini O’Dwyer and Pippa Sterk, will ask their academic colleagues about their ambitions for social change, their research interests, and their theoretical and methodological approaches. They will attempt to discuss complex ideas in an accessible way that will humanise the research process and show that doing innovative social science requires accepting some trial-and-error.

Motivated by a strong sense of social justice, researchers from across the School of Education, Communication & Society (ECS) at King’s College London will talk about their projects across a wide range of fields – from sociolinguistics, youth work, education technology and its effects on social inequality, to post-colonial community building, health ethics, science and mathematics, sustainability and ecological approaches to education.

The guests will explain how they use theory as a tool to produce new insights, rather than as a dogmatic blueprint to superimpose on the world. In doing so, they will attempt to demystify research while offering a critical outlook onto the global 21st-century challenges we face.

Produced by the School of Education, Communication & Society (ECS) at King’s College London, It’s Just Research is executive produced by Sylvie Carlos, PhD student in ECS and audio producer.