IOE Insights

In this episode of Academia et al, Zeinab El Khateeb speaks with Dr Gideon Sappor about the people and experiences that shaped his academic path. From his early ambitions in Ghana, Gideon traces the influence of his parents, his teachers, his PhD supervisor and senior colleagues who helped him understand how to develop and stay focused. He also reflects on inclusion, academic identity and the advice he would give to those beginning a career in research or higher education.More about Dr Gideon Sappor and his work: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/jun/village-behind-career-academia-et-alMore IOE Insights podcasts: https://uclioe.info/podcastUCL Institute of Education: https://ucl.ac.uk/ioe

In an increasingly digital landscape, what can teachers do to guide, safeguard and support their students?Teacher training is largely designed for an analogue world, but teachers now find themselves in exactly the opposite of that. Disinformation and misinformation are on the rise and conspiracy theories have become ubiquitous.In conversation with our hosts Mark and Elaine, Jeremy Hayward weighs up the consequences of all this for the profession and provides some much-needed practical guidance for teachers and leaders."I don't think we're adequately preparing young people for a life online... We need a real reform of the curriculum, and we need to spend more time reflecting on why we believe what we believe."Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/mar/disinformation-misinformation-and-conspiracy-theories-staffroom-s06e06More IOE Insights podcasts: https://uclioe.info/podcastUCL Institute of Education: https://ucl.ac.uk/ioe

What does a PhD journey look like when you paint it rather than write it?Louise and Tooba are two international doctoral students at the UCL Institute of Education, and in 2026 they are navigating the third year of their PhD programmes. Each month they will meet to sit down, talk, and paint. These sessions turn reflective conversations into visual stories, using art to bring their PhD experience to life on the page - their 'PhD Sketchbook'.In this episode they explore the beginnings of their journeys: the “seeds” that motivated them to start a PhD, their paths to London, and the small moments that help an unfamiliar city slowly feel like home, all shared over canvas and colour.You can see the artworks they created during this episode on the UCL IOE student blog, and on the IOE Instagram account.Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/mar/painting-our-way-through-research-belonging-and-london-phd-sketchbook Music featured: "Magic Escape Room" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

High school teacher Mustafa Sakarwala speaks with Nandini Adusumilli (PhD student at Sleep and Education Research Lab at UCL) about why sleep is a core foundation for children’s and teenagers’ attention, learning, and exam recall.Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/mar/sleep-memory-and-academic-performance

Peter tells the story of how he was diagnosed with dyscalculia at 10 years old.Liz and Helen chat with Peter about his dyscalculia diagnosis. They explore the barriers people face as children and adults to identifying this under-researched and misunderstood specific learning difficulty. Peter shares the impact the diagnosis had on his experiences at school, expressing feelings of shame, and his journey to come to terms with the diagnosis as an adult.Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/mar/i-saw-it-thing-be-ashamed-lived-experience-dyscalculiaImage: Emily Gee and Mia Borthwick meeting at the adults with dyscalculia lived experience event at UCL IOE. Photo courtesy of Elisabeth Herbert.

Scott and Mia discuss the negative impact dyscalculia has had on their wellbeing.Scott and Mia talk to Liz and Helen about the negative emotions they associate with mathematics in and outside of the classroom. They explore how this differs from the way adults without dyscalculia might feel. They mention anxiety, panic, shame, anger, and frustration, as well as low self-esteem that follows them long after they have left school. They share how their dyscalculia not only affected their learning at school, but also their experiences in workplaces. Finally, Scott and Mia describe how they put in the work to rebuild their confidence in adulthood.Full show notes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/mar/which-green-day-song-helps-you-get-train-station-time-lived-experience-dyscalculiaImage: Emily Gee and Mia Borthwick meeting at the adults with dyscalculia lived experience event at UCL IOE. Photo courtesy of Elisabeth Herbert.

What if we could trace the arc of a generation from the very beginning to understand how our earliest environments shape our adult lives? Coming up on Research for the Real World, we explore the work of the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies by following cohorts born in the 1950s all the way to a new generation arriving in 2026. Join our IOE researchers as they unpack decades of unique data to reveal how housing, basic skills, and geography influence lifelong outcomes, and discover how these insights are driving real-world interventions to tackle deep-rooted inequalities.Catch up on previous episodes: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/about-ioe/ioe-life/podcasts/research-real-worldMore IOE Insights: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/podcast