What is Hear This Idea?

Hear This Idea is a podcast showcasing new thinking from the University of Cambridge and beyond. It is hosted by two undergrad students, Fin and Luca.

This university, like so many others, is filled with academics who have fascinating things to say. We thought their work and research deserve hearing outside the lecture hall.

We want this podcast to be a starting point for more people to find out about these ideas, whether you are a student looking to learn beyond your course or just curious to learn something completely new. We also just wanted an excuse to talk to some interesting people for an hour.

So even if you’re not a philosopher, you might be interested in the ethics of future people, of how we measure happiness, or the philosophy of addiction and self-deception. And even if you’re not an economist, you may want to learn more about the Industrial Revolution and how women contributed to the birth of modern economic growth.

Each episode is an in-depth interview where we ask academics to explain their field and their research. If topics are technical or in the weeds, we ask them to walk us through it first. Every episode also has an accompanying write-up that we publish on our website. So if you find a topic that piqued your interest, you have an article filled with links, readings, and book recommendations.

Our guests have mainly come from the social sciences and philosophy, because that is what we study, but we are happy to invite any guest on who has something interesting to say.

You can listen to the episodes by following the links here, and you can read the write-ups here. Do please get in touch (through our social media accounts) if you have any comments or suggestions for future guests. Thanks for finding us, and we hope you enjoy the podcast!