The Futures Project Podcast
The Futures Project Podcast
Podcast Description
The future’s not what it used to be. Welcome to The Futures Project Podcast. Join educators, futurists, writers, researchers, mums and friends Cathy Walker and Chloe Combi as they invite guests to explore the world that awaits our young people. Between them, Cathy and Chloe have over 30 years’ of educational experience working with, and for the benefit of, young people. They've conducted 10,000 hours of interviews and surveys with over 30,000 young people and hundreds of teachers, listening actively, extracting learnings, identifying trends, validating experiences… and transforming this important information into programmes that enlighten, empower and enhance. On The Futures Project Podcast. they welcome guests from the worlds of politics, sustainability, business, academia, celebrity, media, education and more. Tune in to hear them cover everything from the climate crisis to culture, music to money, society to sex, always looking for the realistic but also the reassuring take on the brave new world in which our children are making their way. Because they are, after all, the ultimate Futures Project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
This podcast focuses on topics such as the climate crisis, education trends, social issues, and personal development, with episodes that examine subjects like social entrepreneurship, the role of AI in education, and cultural shifts affecting younger generations. Illustrative episode examples include discussions on the impact of TikTok on creativity and insights drawn from academic leadership experiences.
The future’s not what it used to be.
Welcome to The Futures Project Podcast. Join educator, futurist, writer, researcher and mum Cathy Walker as she invites guests to explore the world that awaits our young people.
Cathy has over 25 years’ of educational experience working with, and for the benefit of, young people and their families, listening actively, extracting learnings, identifying trends, validating experiences… and transforming this important information into programmes that enlighten, empower and enhance.
in each episode she welcomes expert guests from the worlds of education, sustainability, business, celebrity, media, and more. She explores what the future really looks like—for the next generation and for the rest of us. Expect real talk, fresh insight, and a reassuring take on the fast-changing world our young people are making their way in.
Because they are, after all, the ultimate futures project.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our guest this episode is Professor John Gallacher, professor of cognitive health at Oxford University and Director of BrainWaves, the UK’s largest cohort study focused specifically on adolescent mental health.
What makes this research remarkable isn’t just its scale (30,000 16-year-olds, expanding to 50,000+ by 2026), but its fundamental approach: shifting from clinical intervention to population-level wellbeing.
Key themes we explore:
- Why BrainWaves focuses specifically on 16-year-olds and the vision for this lifetime study
- The surprising parallel impact of social media use on both boys and girls
- How the decisions we make in adolescence have lifetime consequences for our health and wealth futures
- The straightforward equation: help everyone feel a bit better, and you reduce the proportion who need specialist help
- Why presenting young people with evidence empowers them to make good choices
- How BrainWaves is developing educational resources and teacher training
- The multi-agency collaboration model that makes research at this scale possible
- An important reminder: the vast majority of young people are not suffering from dire mental health issues
John’s belief that young people are agents, not passive victims, runs throughout our conversation. When given evidence rather than lectures, they make good choices.
His advice for anyone worrying about the future? Love yourself.
Find out more: brainwaveshub.org
For more information about working with Cathy, visit cathywalkerconsulting.uk.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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