Create the Future

Two of our podcast hosts, Roma Agrawal and Guru Madhavan, sit down for a conversation about the Create The Future series. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The link between disability, design and engineering tells a complex story. Host Guru Madhavan welcomes two people who have thought deeply on the subject: Dr. Ashley Shew, is associate professor of Science, Technology & Society at Virginia Tech, and specialises in disability studies and the ethics of technology. Dr. Rory A Cooper is founder and senior researcher at the University of Pittsburgh Human Engineering Research Labs, and a world-renowned expert in wheeled mobility. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when a bridge collapses? Or a space mission ends in tragedy? You call in forensic engineers to investigate. Host Anna Ploszajski contemplates the nature of failure with Dr Sean Brady, who uses scientific and engineering principles to study structural collapses around the world, and who has acted as an expert witness numerous times. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over decades of space exploration, thousands of rockets have launched, resulting in a sea of debris circling the Earth. It's estimated that there are 30,000 objects over 10 cm, 500,000 marble-sized debris, and 100 million smaller than that. Episode host Anna Ploszajski bravely goes into the unknown, in conversation with: Mike Lindsay, Chief Technology Operator at Astroscale, a start-up seeking to make space more sustainable by pioneering clean-up tech. Hugh Lewis, Professor of Astronautics at the University of Southampton. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you have your morning shot of caffeine, do you stop to savour the engineering involved? Chemistry and mechanics are vital to the growing, roasting, grinding, brewing, and pouring ... Host Guru Madhavan - a tea drinker by trade - chairs a caffeinated conversation with: Professor Tonya Kuhl, chemical engineer and Co-Director of the UC David Coffee Center. Professor Jonathan Morris, author of Coffee. A Global History and host of the A History of Coffee podcast. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First described in sci-fi writing in the '50s, the revolutionary dream of 3D printing became a basic reality in the 1980s. One field that is truly has transformed today is that of assistive tech and prosthetics. Host Roma Agrawal is joined by: Willy Allègre, biomedical R&D engineer at Electronic Lab of Kerpape Rehabilitation Center. Enzo Romero, inventor and researcher building prosthetics that incorporate haptic feedback. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. The 2025 Create the Trophy Competition is now open! The competition gives young people aged 14-24 the opportunity to get involved, testing their design skills using the latest in 3D-design technology. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a year of elections around the world. How do engineering and design choices affect the candidates running and results generated in our elections? And why do we have far more channels to rate our Uber drivers than we do our politicians? Host Guru Madhavan chairs a political summit with: Charles E. Phelps, provost emeritus of the University of Rochester and expert in health economics. Eswaran Subrahmanian, research professor at Carnegie Mellon University and expert in decision support systems. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Super shoes are reshaping distance running. Thanks to innovative materials and construction, this new type of footwear is engineered to help runners go quicker with less effort. So how fast can we go in the future? And is it cheating?! Ready? Set ... Go! Host Roma Agrawal races through a fascinating conversation with: Jared Ward, long distance runner, Olympian, and BYU professor. Wouter Hoogkamer, researcher at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who studies human locomotion and biomechanics. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stronger than steel, more robust than concrete, more flexible than wood? Is bamboo the construction industry's new miracle material. And do bamboo buildings really perform better in earthquakes? Host George Imafidon constructs a fascinating conversation with Seb Kaminski, a structural engineering specialising in bamboo and seismic design. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find episode transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How might flocks of birds, nests of ants, and swarms of bees influence the future behaviour and self-organisation of robots? Welcome to the world of swarm engineering, where sci-fi meets bio-mimicry. George Imafidon hosts a soaring conversation with Dr. Razanne Abu-Aisheh, a robot swarms expert from Bristol University. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find episode transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robotic spacecrafts? Manned missions to Mars? Affordable tourist trips to the stars? New life found? What is the likely future of space flight? Host Guru Madhavan pilots a soaring, speculative conversation with: Charles F. Bolden Jr., who in 2009 was appointed NASA Administrator by President Obama, making him only the second astronaut to hold that position. Professor Dava Newman, aerospace engineer, director of the MIT Media Lab, and holder of the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics chair at MIT. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Could the creation of reversible glue unlock a new future for the way we recycle plastic bottles and their labels? Host George Imafidon gets stuck into a sticky conversation about glue with: Professor Mark Geoghegan, Roland Cookson Professor of Engineering Materials at Newcastle University Dr Adriana Sierra Romero, a nanotechnologist with a focus on polymer and polymer nanocomposites New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find episode transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cement production creates around 7% of man-made carbon emissions. Meanwhile, in the UK crumbling concrete is forcing schools to close ... So how big a problem is concrete, exactly?! George Imafidon gets in the mixer to discuss it with: Prof. Kevin Paine, Director of the Centre for Climate Adaptation and Environment Research at the University of Bath, focussing on the development of smart and innovative concrete technology. Dr Cyrille Dunant, Principal Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, working on zero emissions cement. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find episode transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The way we make music is changing. AI songs are everywhere - even The Beatles used the technology last year. So what does a digitised, computerised future mean for the fate of artists and their acoustic instruments? Episode host Anna Ploszajski - a materials scientist and keen trumpeter - faces the music with: Lex Dromgoole, audio engineer & CEO of Bronze AI. Tom Fox, instrument maker, music hacker, & creative director of Hackoustic. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do we fixate on plastic as the main waste issue of our time? Is all plastic bad? Have we got Bags For Life and paper straws totally wrong? Anna Ploszajski - materials scientist and storyteller - assembles her first edition of Create The Future with: Dr Alicia Chrysostomou, polymer consultant and author of Plastics: Just A Load Of Rubbish? Dr Kat Knauer, polymer scientist and CTO of the BOTTLE Consortium, who are focused on developing new chemical upcycling strategies for today's plastics and redesigning tomorrow's plastics to be recyclable-by-design. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From AR shopping to new age sustainable materials to wearable AI, the world of fashion tech is starting to look very vibrant. Host Roma Agrawal weaves together a seamless conversation with: Louise Katzovitz, clothes designer & mechanical engineer. Tanya Saha Gupta, fashion-tech entrepreneur empowering fashion brands with access to circularity. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens after we flush? Sanitary engineers might just be the unsung heroes of civilisation, ensuring the safe disposal of waste water and assuring a supply of safe drinking water. Host Guru Madhavan gets his hands dirty, discussing sanitation systems with: Pam Elardo, former Deputy Commissioner for New York's Bureau of Wastewater Treatment Andrew Russell, science historian and Provost at Suny Poly New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find podcast transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Graphene is the world's thinnest, super-strong, super-flexible material. It could have dramatic applications in everything from engineering tissue to making new technological devices. George Imafidon discusses the possibilities - and the possible drawbacks - of this wonder material with James Baker, CEO of the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) at the University of Manchester. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find episode transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In February, the 2024 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering was awarded to Andrew Garrad CBE and Henrik Stiesdal for their achievements in advancing the design, manufacture and deployment of high-performance wind turbines. Host Roma Agrawal talks to them about the political barriers they've faced, and the future of wind energy in the face of the climate crisis. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Find episode transcripts on our website. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the future, virtual models of our organs could aid the development of personalised medicine.⁠ These digital twins can be experimented on to identify the best possible treatment, without you having to go near a pill or surgeon’s knife. Host Roma Agrawal gets to the heart of the matter with: Roger Highfield, Science Director at the Science Museum, and author of Virtual You: How Building Your Digital Twin Will Revolutionize Medicine and Change Your Life. Dr Jazmín Aguado Sierra, the first engineer to model their own heart. See Jazmin's complex and beautiful large-scale virtual model at the Science Museum now. New episodes - conversations about how to rebuild the world better - every other Friday. Follow @QEPrize on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more info. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.