We are most likely to think about environmental data as sets of facts, but have you thought of it as having a social life? In this episode, we explore how those who collect and prepare environmental data may not necessarily be the ones to use or benefit from it: Dr Tone Walford and Dr Cecilia Chavana-Bryant draw on their experiences of collecting data across the Amazon in Brazil, French Guiana and Peru, and more recently in Hampstead Heath in London, the UK, to consider more collaborative and equitable forms of environmental data. We discuss how bringing together anthropologists, artists, forest ecologists, remote sensing specialists, and the UK’s Ancient Tree Forum, is helping to frame alternative modes of collecting, accessing, and sharing environmental data. Tone Walford is a Lecturer in Digital Anthropology, based in UCL’s Anthropology Department. Their work explores the new forms of data politics that underpin current efforts in international observational science to measure, archive, and manage the Earth. Cecilia Chavana-Bryant is a forest ecologist and a National Centre for Earth Observation Postdoctoral Research Fellow, based in UCL’s Geography Department. Her work broadly focuses on the ecology and function of temperate and tropical forests canopies. For the podcast transcript, details of our other podcasts and activities visit: http://tinyurl.com/mubmxu4n

Date of episode recording: 2024-01-25T00:00:00Z
Duration: 00:32:32
Language of episode: English
Presenter:Lili Golmohammadi
Guests: Tone Walford;Cecilia Chavana-Bryant
Producer: Matt Aucott;Cerys Bradley

E-scooters and the transport related social exclusion E-scooters provoke a 'Marmite' love or hate response in many of us. Still being piloted across UK cities, they straddle an uncertain legislative space, with concerns around safety not far from the headlines. Yet there are other important questions raised by this still-emergent form of transport. In this episode, we speak with Dr Daniel Oviedo about the multifaceted dimensions of transport-related social exclusion: from affordability, to fear, discrimination and more. We discuss the conditions that may allow or prohibit people from using E-scooters – a form of transport important to social development, connection, and Daniel argues wellbeing. We explore how working with researchers from sociology, behaviour change, sustainable transport and industrial engineering – and various stakeholders with local authorities, TFL, and Innovate UK, helped to conceptualise a more inclusive policy approach for E-scooters. Daniel Oviedo is an Associate Professor at UCL’s Bartlett Development and Planning Unit. He specialises in the social, economic, and spatial analysis of inequalities related to urban transport and policy evaluation, with projects situated across Latin America, Africa, and Asia, as well as here in the UK.

For the podcast transcript, details of our other podcasts and activities visit: http://tinyurl.com/mubmxu4n

Date of episode recording: 2024-01-25T00:00:00Z
Duration: 00:25:28
Language of episode: English
Presenter: Lili Golmohammadi
Guests: Daniel Oviedo
Producer: Matt Aucott;Cerys Bradley

Children’s experiences of social media and unsolicited sexual images: Developing Better Digital Literacy In this episode, UCL’s Professor Jessica Ringrose shares her research on unsolicited sexual images on Snapchat, a social media platform which plays a central role in the lives of many teens. We discuss how this work uncovered high rates of non-consensual image sharing and led to the establishment of cyber flashing as a new criminal offence in the UK’s 2023 Online Safety Bill. We also explore how collaborating with young people, crime scientists, sex education charities, and policy makers, and the use of participatory arts-based methods, were key to uncovering children’s experiences of social media and achieving more equity and social justice in their lives. Jessica Ringrose is Professor of the Sociology of Gender and Education at UCL’s Institute of Education. She is a co-director of the UCL Centre for Sociology of Education and Equity and runs the Feminist Educational Engagement Lab with her doctoral students. She also co-runs the ‘Post-digital Intimacies’ research network, which looks at experiences in social media.

For the podcast transcript, details of our other podcasts and activities visit: http://tinyurl.com/mubmxu4n

Date of episode recording: 2023-10-10T00:00:00Z
Duration: 00:23:31
Language of episode: English
Presenter: Lili Golmohammadi
Guests: Jessica Ringrose
Producer: Matt Aucott;Cerys Bradley