The GLaD Podcast

You think balancing babies and a career is tough; try recording a podcast episode about the topic! Kidding. Sort of. In this episode, Dani, Levi, and Rachel are joined by special guest, Elisabetta Pietrostefani, from the University of Liverpool, for a wide-ranging conversation about babies and (academic) work. The complicated decisions around whether and when to have kids. Things we wish we'd thought of. Tips for navigating different stages of kid and career. One of the most interesting things about this episode, we think, is just how tricky it was to navigate the conversation—an important takeaway lesson!

Happy new year!!! We know, we know, we’ve been in 2026 for a while already (already too long?). But this is the first episode we recorded this year, the first one with Levi as a dad (yay!), and one where the “year” itself will somewhat feature. So we find it apt to start with a cheerful approach. The reason behind this episode is that I’m such a sucker for “best of…” and “what’ll happen in…” compilations. Like the best sci-fi, they tell you a lot more about the present, its hopes and anxieties, than about the year they either review or speculate on. And that’s always interesting to me. So Dani spent most of December listening to “hot takes” from all sorts of podcasts… And here at GLaD HQ, we’re all made of the “hot take” stuff. So, possibly several weeks “late” (in time is overrated!), here it is: our hot takes for 2026.

Today, we’re joined by a close friend of the podcast (someone some of us personally credit with changing our lives forever!), Serge Rey, to talk all things open, open source, and academia. Serge is Professor for Geography at San Diego State University and BDFL for the PySAL project. He’s been one of the most outspoken voices advocating for closer adoption of the open source ethos in academia, so we thought who better to unpack the open conundrum.

Today we’re “repeating” special guest. We enjoyed so much talking to Wenfei Xu anbout mobile phone data in our last episode (Episode 25: What we talk about when we talk about mobile phone data), that we decided to bring her on board again. But there’s a twist: this time, we’re returning to our “A day in the life of…” series, where we explore the behind-the-scenes view of what it is like to be a GLaD researcher. Wenfei i Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. An urban planner by training, Wenfei has worked a lot with mobile phone data, but also has a super interesting story to how she arrived at that research interest. Come the fancy data, stay for engaging conversation about hopping between academia and industry, traversing disciplines, and… an Exhibitions entry in your CV.

AI is now definitely changing how we live our (geography) lives. Join Rachel, Dani, and Levi for a chat about how Artificial Intelligence is emerging in our GLAD lives. How is it being used "in the wilds" of teaching, research, coding, publishing, and beyond. Should you be farming out your peer reviews to a computer? Vibe coding with your friend Claude? Setting out on AI-generated running routes? And, as always, do we really need more papers faster than ever before? We chat through this, with some advice and reflections on where AI might change our own practice and how it's certainly changing the way academia (writ large) works. Let us know what you think at thegladpodcast@gmail.com. Did we miss something about AI that you now can't live without? Have we missed your favorite anecdote about a deluge of digital dreck? Send us an email! Resources we discussed: Nature's recent editorial on peer review and AIhttps://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00894-7 Harper Reed's post on how to code well with LLMshttps://harper.blog/2025/04/17/an-llm-codegen-heros-journey/ Ethan Mollick's "reasoned optimism" about thinking with AIhttps://www.oneusefulthing.org/ Simon Willison's blog tracking the frontier of LLMs https://simonwillison.org

Everything you (n)ever wanted to know about getting an academic job in geography or geography-adjacent fields. In this episode your friendly—and pretty experienced at applying for academic jobs—co-hosts talk through the academic job market. Where to look for jobs, timing, what to expect, and how to apply. Caveat: we're mostly familiar with the US and UK academic job markets and we stick to what we know best in this episode!

In this episode we talk to Geoff Boeing, streets and urban form expert, mastermind behind OSMnx, and urban planner. We talk (a lot) about disasters and cities, street networks, and open source software.

Today, we’re talking about what some would characterize the “topic” of the XXIst Century (others might perhaps not!): Digital Twins. Are we excited about them? Are our eyes so rolled that they’ll never recover? Or is this excited Vs eyeroll dichotomy not very helpful at all? Above all, what even are Digital Twins? Episode notes - Here is the Commentary Rachel mentions (free access): Malleson, N., Franklin, R., Arribas-Bel, D., Cheng, T., & Birkin, M. (2024). Digital twins on trial: Can they actually solve wicked societal problems and change the world for better? Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 51(6), 1181-1186. https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083241262893 - The DT project for a bridge in Amsterdam, by The Alan Turing Institute: https://www.turing.ac.uk/about-us/impact/bridging-gap-between-physical-and-digital - AI for continuous environmental project mentioned by Levi: https://waterinnovation.challenges.org/winners/ai-algal-monitoring/ - Larger scale aquatic “digital twin” project at Turing, mentioned by Levi: https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/research-projects/probabilistic-programming-aquatic-ecosystem-models

Today, we’re tightening our laces, checking our syllabi, and coming to terms with the coming term. Do you plan ahead? Or let the waves of work wash over you? Join Dani, Rachel, and Levi to chat about what it's like going back to school. As always, let us know what you think by emailing us at thegladpodcast@gmail.com. We read every email, and if there's anything you're keen to hear us discuss, we'd love to hear it!

Today, we’re giving you a sneak peek behind the editor’s desk at a peer-reviewed journal. Many academics publish, but organizing reviews, reproduction materials, and making the first (and final) call on a manuscript can be a very unique experience. We hope to answer your questions about life as an editor, and talk a little bit about efforts we’ve seen (or done) to make the process a little bit fairer, faster, and better. Let us know what you liked at thegladpodcast@gmail.com We love hearing from you about questions or ideas for who you'd like to hear on GLaD. Thanks for listening!

Today, we have a second “a day in the life of…” conversation, where we interview GLaD folks to get the scoop and the behind-the-scenes view on what it is like to live their life. This time, we’re chatting with Dr Darla Munroe. Darla is director of research at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, leading efforts to support and coordinate the collective body of knowledge produced through the Institute’s work and fostering research strategies to advance its policy and educational activities. She is a geographer with research interests in economic-environmental interactions, especially forested ecosystems at the urban-rural interface globally. Let us know what you liked at thegladpodcast@gmail.com We love hearing from you about questions or ideas for who you'd like to hear on GLaD. Thanks for listening!

Today, we’re trialing a new episode format: “a day in the life of…”, where we’ll be interviewing GLaD folks to get the scoop and the behind-the-scenes view on what it is like to live their life. Join us for a walk on the life of James Cheshire.