It’s safe to say that across 13 series and 4 years of working with the University of Portsmouth on their podcast Life Solved, we’ve forged wonderful working relationships and had the privilege of exploring a universe of diverse and exciting topics.
The University’s inter-disciplinary approach to research, and its dedication to spreading world-changing ideas with a wider public led them to dive into podcasting in 2020, when a global pandemic made it ever more important to share stories of hope, agency and human endeavour. Through the use of multiple production and story-telling techniques, the episodes used elements of narration, music, sound effects, acting and vox pops, amongst others, to make the programmes deeply engaging and immersive.
A small and agile team, stretching across marketing and communications for the university, quickly adapted to converting their stories to audio, using the technology they had to hand, and creating an imaginative suite of output that was more often than not tied to a topical news agenda.
Throughout the 13 series we’ve worked on together, the team have shown a tireless dedication for imaginative and adventurous audio, in recent times taking advantage of in-house recording facilities to take the quality of output to another level and investing in promotion to reach more and more curious minds.
As the University embark upon an exciting new series produced entirely in-house, we wish them all the best and are proud to have supported them in making audio such a successful part of their communications.
If you’ve not heard the podcast yet, you can catch up on all past episodes here – there’s a topic to interest everyone and provoke some thought!
A few thank yous now to everyone at the University we’ve had the pleasure of working with on the podcast through the years, including John Worsey, Sarah Steele, Rebecca Owen, Glenn Harris, Anna Rose, Robyn Montague, Emma Gaisford, Sophie Wagstaff, Kate Daniell, Emma Fields, Paul Gerard.
And all the fantastic academics who have shared their work, time and ideas with us.
Katharine and Rick