This week we’re talking about the latest research into teen girls and sport with Tanya Martin, Insight Manager at Women in Sport, a national charity that works to give every woman and girl the opportunity to experience the transformational rewards of sport.   Tanya Martin @Womeninsport_uk Women in Sport: The Impact of COVID-19 on Girls Lives and Physical Activity, 2021...

This week we’re joined by Nafisa Shafiq, Student Communications Manager at the University of Leeds. Nafisa’s experience across a breadth of sectors had always been driven by the desire for more inclusive communications, not just within her role in higher education, but in the wider sector and indeed her own career and this episode we talk about how student communications have faired over the past year and how she approaches tone of voice, communicating key messages and how to instill allyship...

This week we’re joined by Emma Leech, Director of Marketing and Communications at Nottingham Trent University. Emma’s career spans a breadth of Higher Education Institutions, with her teams winning a multitude of awards for their work in engaging young people. A founding chartered PR Practitioner, Chartered Marketer and Chartered Manager, she has also held industry positions including CIPR President in 2019. We talk about how campaigns in higher education have to work harder to engage young...

This week we’re joined by Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor of WONKHE, where he explores the latest research, analysis and policy making impacting students and higher education. A former long-standing director at the National Union of Students, Jim has also worked as CEO at the Students’ Union at UEA in Norwich and is also a fellow at the Royal Society of the Arts. In this episode we discuss some of the issues the pandemic has brought upon students and what the future may hold for the...

This week we speak with Dr Thomas Curran, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics. His research into the personality characteristics of perfectionism and cultural influences upon it have highlighted the growing impact of perfectionism on young people’s mental health, as well as what society needs to do to address it.    Dr Curran’s research and articles https://www.lse.ac.uk/PBS/People/Dr-Tom-Curran TED Talk on our...

We explore online life, pressure and perfectionism and its impact on bullying and mental health. Speaking to Sue Jones, Deputy CEO of global youth charity Ditch the Label. Its annual bullying report highlighted the 25% rise in bullying, attributing social media as a major cause, with 47% of young people saying they believe they were bullied based on their appearance. We explore what impact the pandemic has had on this and what we should consider as we build campaigns and initiatives engaging...

Dave Musson from The Access Platform shares his view on why peer to peer student content is the best way to reflect youth voice.  Hear about how his career has brought him to TAP, what makes for the best youth content and how to manage it without being overly prescriptive.  An experienced podcaster himself, on everything from Slipknot to his beloved Coventry Bears team, he also shares what he listens to for inspiration. We mention: Nike, Inspiration on TAP  , Reply All,...

We speak with Dr Emma Ross, co-founder of the Well HQ and former Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport.Emma has not only led research into the data gap that exists within high performance sport to better inform practice and performance of some of Britain’s leading female athletes, she has authored XX and launched the Well HQ to break down the barriers for women and girls when it comes to understanding women’s bodies and what this means for physical fitness and overall...

In order to influence behaviour, from the development of your campaign through to how your measure it's impact, has to delve deeper than 'likes' or 'reach' in order to be effective, not least when it comes to habits and behaviours that influence health. This episode we speak with Shayoni Lynn, founder of Lynn PR and industry expert in data-driven strategic communications and applied behavioural science. Having worked on numerous award-winning campaigns, including some that engage youth...

This episode we're talking all things behaviour change and health as we chat with communications specialist Leanne Hughes from NHS Lothian. We're starting this theme with perhaps the most tricky with youth audiences - sexual health.How to avoid embarrassing, offending, or missing the point all together when it comes to getting vital messaging out to influence behaviours with a youth audience when it comes to sex? She’s commissioned work including an over-sized cartoon willy running around...

When it comes to creating campaigns and advertising that lands with young people, you'd fall pretty short of the mark if you weren't talking about culture. This episode we're speaking with Amy Kean, not only has she had a successful career in the advertising, media and PR industry for over 15 years, she's a lecturer, author, columnist and recently founded her own agency, Six Impossible Things as well as the DICE charter to improve the diversity and equality of industry events. If you don't...

This episode we speak with Jay Richards, Co-Founder of Imagen Insights - who's main aim is connecting brands and organisations with Gen Z for brutally honest insights. Their 1700+ consultants get opportunities to work with organisations, often getting opportunity to work directly on specific projects and most importantly, getting valuable experience and being paid for it. We talk about the chances of this direct discussion allowing more creativity, whether brands are ready to hear youth...

A theme which runs through almost all other episode - the importance of working and creating with young people. But what does this actually mean and how can we better do this?We speak with Harry Beard, a 21 year old entrepreneur, named one of Ernst & Young's Best Student Entrepreneurs in their 'Founders 30' competition and co-founder of Future Labs providing 'Gen Z' consultancy expertise and reports and Prospect 100, an exciting competition spanning a breadth of genres, celebrating youth...

As the pandemic continues to force the digitisation of the student experience, what opportunities have presented themselves over the past year - and more importantly, what might stay? We continue to explore technology and the student experience but in this episode we speak with Nathan Monk from Smile, the award-winning digital agency working with universities and colleges on websites and creative tech solutions. We explore the opportunities for creativity and exploring ideas throughout the...

With millions of students around the world forced to learn at a distance during lockdown and many universities providing virtual solutions in the short term, how is technology aiding or disrupting the student experience – from recruitment through to learning?This episode we speak with Eric Stoller, a thought leader in education technology and the student experience. With a background in student affairs, academic advising, student experience, career development, digital identity, wellness...

The ‘youth vote’ is talked about regularly, often as an important group to get onside within any election – but what do political groups do to engage young people, listen, inform and influence? The podcast will explore this topic from a UK perspective in season 2, but we were fortunate enough to speak with Jessica Blair just before the US election and felt this episode was relevant to share with you now.Jess works for Civic Nation in the US, a non-profit organisation that works to build...

The Importance of parental influence of youth engagement: How much influence do parents have and how do you reflect this in campaigns to children and young people? This episode we're extending this to talk about the role of parents and teachers, two of the most significant influencers on children and young people in their day-to-day lives. Amanda Vernalls, Head of Research & Insight at the Youth Sport Trust (YST), talks about the importance of these influencers when it comes to perhaps...

The Importance of parental influence of youth engagement: How much influence do parents have and how do you reflect this in campaigns to children and young people?This episode we speak to Nick Richardson, CEO of Kids Insights, global leaders in kids’ market intelligence, looking at attitudes, behaviours and consumption of children and their parents, in order to translate that to inform business.As well as sharing reports on things such as how the world has changed since lockdown, what...

The Importance of parental influence of youth engagement: How much influence do parents have and how do you reflect this in campaigns to children and young people?This episode we speak to Simon Lucey, MD of the Hype Collective, a student marketing agency that works with a breadth of brands whilst creating opportunities for students - from work experience, society funding or brand partnerships. But what’s particularly convenient is that they also really talk to their student audience and draw...

Cat Prill, Marketing Coordinator at Lancaster University having worked at departmental, central and faculty level in a range of roles. All of this helps to position her skills in contributing to building the community the University has across its social channels. Cat works with the campaigns team at Lancaster, creating and amplifying fresh and distinctive content. An advocate for student voice, accessibility, diversity, visibility and representation in content, she believes the HE sector can...

This episode we speak to Emma Gilmartin, Head of Social Media and Student Communications at the University of Glasgow. We explore how to maintain an authentic voice across channels, why it's important to develop your community - particularly when issues arise -  and how all aspects of your community can play its part. Emma's award-winning activity at Glasgow University stems from the university's  drive to be recognised as "world changers" yet reflective and supportive of its existing...

Universities have a complex campus community to reflect when it comes to engaging current and prospective youth audiences. Azeem Ahmad has worked in digital marketing for a while, moving from agency to client side and then over to the Higher Education sector, working as Digital Marketing Manager at Staffordshire University. He shares how he used data to inform his approach as well as talks on another issue he's been talking about recently too.... the lack of diversity at event line-ups. We...

Mara is the Director of Digital Communications for global youth charity, One Young World. Valuing a youth audience is one thing, but empowering it to create change is what One Young World is best known for. We talk about how Mara landed at One Young World, ask for advice on how to help develop young people's voice through different lines of communications and asked how they've done this through lockdown as well as how to convert that interest into activism. We also ask for where she turns to...

Alistair has worked in digital marketing for over 6 years, predominantly within youth-facing organisations, including a number of universities. Currently working at Manchester University, he shares how he and his team reflect youth voice in the content they deliver, as well as value youth voice to shape the work that they do and inform how to get the tone right. We also find out what brand and campaign Alistair thinks do a great job of engaging a youth audience and what book and podcast he...