The Speakezee Podcast: An Introduction

by Professor Bruce Hood

Hi, I’m Bruce Hood, a university professor and the founder of Speakezee – a platform that connects expert academic speakers with audiences. I also host this podcast, which features speakers from our platform – giving them an opportunity to talk passionately about their research for a worldwide listening audience who may not have the opportunity to speaking events.

Our universities are crammed full of brilliant people working on just about every imaginable problem. I’ve been in university all my adult life (yeah I know, get a real job) but I never cease to be amazed on the diversity of topics and ingenuity of the human mind.

This podcast features the best of these researchers who have taken the time and effort to present their work in 3 minutes or less, without slides and in language that most people should be able to understand. The format comes from a number of established speaking competitions – most notably the 3MT which came out of the University of Queensland, Australia some years back and continues to expand. I have been a judge on this competition and as a partner of Vitae – the organisation that oversees the professional development and training of researchers, Speakezee has co-sponsored the UK national finals for the past two years. It really is the best way to learn something amazing from the very people at the front line doing the work. There is just so much incredible content, that I wanted a way to share this with others which is why we have launched this podcast.

Listen in and learn at least three amazing things from three academic researchers. Most of them are finishing their Ph.Ds. so they really are at the cutting edge. You’ll learn about new technologies, old problems, new insights and all the facets of curiosity that keeps most of us nerds awake at nights. There’s something for everyone and even if you are not familiar with the topic or it’s not your cup of tea, then it is worth 3 minutes of your time to discover why others are so fascinated. Every so often there will be expert guests on the show who I invite in to provide their perspectives but for the moment, it is mostly me, just marveling at the human condition.

If you do hear someone’s presentation and have a question or want them to come and give a talk to your group (or even offer them a prestigious job interview!) then look them up on Speakezee and drop them a line.

Contrary to what our politicians think and say, people have not had enough of experts and all of our lives are enriched and better off for them. So tune in, pass the word on, and let us celebrate the brilliance and creativity of the human mind. As Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power.”

The Speakezee podcast is part of the Cosmic Shambles network.

Bruce Hood is an experimental psychologist who specialises in developmental cognitive neuroscience.  He is the director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre at the University of Bristol.  As well as publishing a number of successful popular science books on this subject, he also gave the 2011 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.