In the EPI·STEM PODCAST episode 24, Geraldine Simmie PhD and Michelle Starr PhD welcome Dr Jeff Buckley, Lecturer in the Department of Technology Education at the Technological University of the Shannon. Dr Buckley teaches research methods in engineering education to postgraduate students. A former alumni of the University of Limerick Jeff completed his PhD and postdoctoral research in a university in Sweden and in an engineering department.

Dr Buckley introduces his current role as Series Editor of a new Springer Nature series of book publications entitled ‘Emergent Discussions in Engineering Education’. The Springer book series is designed to be of support for engineering educators, researchers and policymakers with an interest in contemporary issues in engineering education. Dr Buckley is joined here by our UL colleague Dr Jason Power, an EPI∙STEM affiliate who is a member of the Editorial Board for this Springer Nature book series in engineering education. They are well supported by the Springer Nature team in this endeavour including by the Education Editor, Claudia Acuna. Topics of interest in engineering education include paying attention to affectivity and empathy and how to make the subject more accessible for women and girls. Jeff reminds us that this cultural question provides a challenge to the field, and to society, and needs amore expansive framing, beyond simply numbers or fixing the girls.

Dr Buckley and Dr Power Jeff share what they are looking for in a book chapter submission. They show the advantage for an early career researcher accessing the key names in a field through an edited book and the opportunity it provides to engage with the ideas underpinning the field.

The musical selection today is by Ayyaz Mehmood, a graduate from the Performing Arts in World Music in The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. Ayyaz is a singer and a songwriter. Here Ayyaz is playing acoustic guitar and singing one of his own compositions, entitled ‘Homelife’.