New Generation Thinkers 2023

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

Call Me Mother

20240318

Why do babies say 'daddy' earlier and what might it mean when a baby does call for 'mum' or 'anne'? Dr Rebecca Woods, from Newcastle University, calls upon her training in linguistics and observations from her own home to trace the way children's experiences shape their first words and the names they use for their parents.

Rebecca Woods is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to put academic research on radio.

Producer: Ruth Watts

You can hear more from Rebecca Woods in a Free Thinking discussion about childhood and play when Young V&A opened - it's available from the programme website and as an Arts & Ideas podcast

How the shape of words for mother helps babies eat their food. Rebecca Woods explains.

The way children acquire language is explored by parent and New Generation Thinker Dr Rebecca Woods, who lectures in language and cognition at Newcastle University.

Germany's Mary Wollstonecraft

20240319

Amalia Holst's defence of female education, published in 1802, was the first work by a woman in Germany to challenge the major philosophers of the age, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant. Unlike Mary Wollstonecraft writing in England, Holst failed to make headway with her arguments. New Generation Thinker Andrew Cooper teaches in the philosophy department at the University of Warwick. His essay explores the publishing of Holst's book On The Vocation of Woman to Higher Intellectual Education.

Andrew Cooper is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI.

Producer: Luke Mulhall

You can hear more from Andrew in a Free Thinking discussion about The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe available as an Arts & Ideas podcast and on BBC Sounds.

Andrew Cooper on the school teacher who tried to ignite a feminist revolution in Germany.

Amalia Holst ran a successful school in Hamburg and published an argument for women's education in 1802. Andrew Cooper looks at why the book didn't take off.

Weird Viking Bodies

20240320

Looking at the way human and animal bodies were treated in death and used in rituals prompts New Generation Thinker and archaeologist Marianne Hem Eriksen, from the University of Leicester, to ask questions about the way humans, animals and spirit worlds were understood. Her Essay shares stories from a research project called Body-Politics': presenting worlds where elite men could shape-shift into animals — and some people's bones ended up in rubbish pits.

This Essay is part of the BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers scheme which puts academic research on radio.

Producer: Luke Mulhall

You can hear Marianne discussing insights from her research in episodes of Free Thinking called The Kitchen and in one broadcasting next week looking at Attitudes towards death.

Marianne Hem Eriksen on the meaning of a skull bone carved with 'pain' thrown onto a tip.

How might the Vikings have seen human and animal bodies differently? New Generation Thinker Marianne Hem Eriksen looks for answers, exploring discoveries made at burial sites.

From Algorithms To Oceans

20240321

Two years living at sea taught New Generation Thinker Kerry McInerney values which she wants to apply to the development of AI. Her Essay explores the 'sustainable AI' movement and looks at visions of the future in novels including Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan and Larissa Lai's Salt Fish Girl. Dr McInerney is a Research Associate at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to put academic research on radio.

Producer: Julian Siddle

You can hear more from Kerry in Free Thinking and New Thinking episodes available as Arts & Ideas podcasts called AI, feminism, human/machines and Yellowface, AI and Asian stereotypes

Kerry McInerney explores the promises of the 'sustainable AI' movement and how AI develops

Pollution, energy use and AI are explored in New Generation Thinker Kerry McInerney's Essay about the 'sustainable AI' movement and insights from indigenous thinkers

05 LAST

Gas, Oil And The Essex Blues

20240322

Canvey Island: cradle of innovation for gas heating and home to music makers Dr Feelgood, who drew inspiration from the Mississippi Delta. New Generation Thinker Sam Johnson-Schlee is an author and geographer based at London South Bank University. His essay remembers the influence of Parker Morris standards on heating in the home, songs written by Wilko Johnson and the impact of central heating on teenage record listening and playing instruments.

Producer: Julian Siddle

You can hear more from Sam in Free Thinking episodes exploring Dust and Sound, Conflict and Central Heating

New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to put research on radio

Sam Johnson-Schlee draws links between Dr Feelgood, Canvey Island and energy policies

The arrival of ships carrying natural gas and oil refinery towers shaped the landscape of Canvey Island in Essex. New Generation Thinker Sam Johnson-Schlee considers their impact

The Legacy Of The Laundries

20240325

From 1922, between 10-30,000 women and girls are thought to have been incarcerated at the Magdalene laundries which operated in Ireland. New Generation Thinker Louise Brangan has been reading the testimonies of many of the girls who survived these institutions. As the Irish state tries to come to terms with this history, how should it be spoken about? Is a language of legal blame and guilt enough to make sense of this history?

Dr Louise Brangan is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Strathclyde and is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (part of UKRI) to put research on radio. You can find her contributing to Free Thinking discussion episodes looking at Ireland's hidden histories and secret stories

Producer in Salford: Olive Clancy

Louise Brangan reflects on the legacies of Ireland's Magdalene laundries.

New Generation Thinker Louise Brangan considers how Ireland should deal with the collective silence over the incarceration of thousands of women and girls in Magdalene laundries.

Arteries Of Tomorrow

20240326

The A13 runs from the City of London past Tilbury Docks and the site of the Dagenham Ford factory to Benfleet and the Wat Tyler Country Park. As he travels along it, talking to residents about their ideas of community and change, New Generation Thinker Dan Taylor reflects on the history of the area and different versions of hopes for the future.

Dr Dan Taylor lectures in social and political thought at the Open University and is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to share insights from academic research on radio. You can hear him in Free Thinking discussions about Essex, and discussing medieval bestiaries in Beast and Animals. He is also the author of a book Island Story: Journeys Through Unfamiliar Britain.

Dan Taylor considers the way communities along the A13 are looking to the future.

New Generation Thinker Dan Taylor takes us to the site of the Dagenham Ford factory. He shares the insights he's gained about planning from interviews with local residents.

Rock, Paper, Saints And Sinners

20240327

A 1660s board game made by a Jesuit missionary sent to the Mohawk Valley in America is the subject of New Generation Thinker Gemma Tidman's essay. This race game, a little like Snakes and Ladders, depicts the path of a Christian life and afterlife. Gemma explores what the game tells us about how powerful people have long turned to play, images, and other persuasive means to secure converts and colonial subjects.

Dr Gemma Tidman is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Queen Mary University, London and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to put research on radio. You can hear more from her in Free Thinking discussions about Game-playing, and Sneezing, smells and noses.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Gemma Tidman describes a board game created by a Jesuit seeking Mohawk converts.

Might the first Native American Catholic saint have been influenced in her faith by a board game? New Generation Thinker Gemma Tidman explores the power games of C17 missionaries.

What Does Feminist Art Mean?

20240328

Who's Holding the Baby? was the title of an exhibition organised to highlight a lack of childcare provision in east London in the 1970s. Was this feminist art? Bobby Baker, Sonia Boyce and members of the photography collective Hackney Flashers are some of the artists who've been taking part in an oral history project with New Generation Thinker Ana Baeza-Ruiz. Her essay presents some of their reflections on what it means to make art and call yourself a feminist.

Dr Ana Baeza-Ruiz is the Research Associate for the project Feminist Art Making Histories (FAMH) at Loughborough University and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to showcase new research into the humanities. You can hear her in Free Thinking episodes on Portraits and Women, art and activism available as Arts & Ideas podcasts

Producer: Ruth Watts

Ana Baeza-Ruiz shares reflections from artists in the 70s women's liberation movement

New Generation Thinker Ana Baeza-Ruiz reflects on what it means to put feminist art on gallery walls and how we might think beyond the art canon.

Who's Holding the Baby? was the title of an exhibition organised to highlight a lack of childcare provision in East London in the 1970s. Was this feminist art? Bobby Baker, Sonia Boyce, Rita Keegan and members of the photography collective Hackney Flashers are some of the artists who've been taking part in an oral history project with New Generation Thinker Ana Baeza Ruiz. Her essay presents some of their reflections on what it means to make art and call yourself a feminist.

Dr Ana Baeza Ruiz is the Research Associate for the project Feminist Art Making Histories (FAMH) at Loughborough University and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to showcase new research into the humanities. You can hear her in Free Thinking episodes on Portraits and Women, art and activism available as an Arts & Ideas podcast.

Ana Baeza Ruiz shares reflections from artists in the 70s women's liberation movement.

New Generation Thinker Ana Baeza Ruiz reflects on what it means to put feminist art on gallery walls and how we might think beyond the art canon.

10 LAST

Unravelling Plainness

20240329

Gold sequins, silk and vibrant colour threads might not be what you expect to find in a sampler stitched by a Quaker girl in the seventeenth century. New Generation Thinker Isabella Rosner has studied examples of embroidered nutmegs and decorated shell shadow boxes found in London and Philadelphia which present a more complicated picture of Quaker attitudes and the decorated objects they created as part of a girl's education.

Dr Isabella Rosner is a textile historian and curator at the Royal School of Needlework on the New Generation Thinker scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to highlight new research. You can hear more from her in Free Thinking episodes called Stitching stories and A lively Tudor world

Producer: Ruth Watts

Isabella Rosner explains why needlework challenges our idea of Quaker simplicity.

Isabella Rosner's essay describes wax figures covered in Spitalfields silk, set in scenes adorned with glitter of mica flakes and vibrantly coloured embroidery by Quaker girls.

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Comments
01	Call Me Mother	20240318	Why do babies say 'daddy' earlier and what might it mean when a baby does call for 'mum' or 'anne'? Dr Rebecca Woods, from Newcastle University, calls upon her training in linguistics and observations from her own home to trace the way children's experiences shape their first words and the names they use for their parents. Rebecca Woods is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to put academic research on radio. Producer: Ruth Watts You can hear more from Rebecca Woods in a Free Thinking discussion about childhood and play when Young V&A opened - it's available from the programme website and as an Arts & Ideas podcast How the shape of words for mother helps babies eat their food. Rebecca Woods explains. The way children acquire language is explored by parent and New Generation Thinker Dr Rebecca Woods, who lectures in language and cognition at Newcastle University.
02	Germany's Mary Wollstonecraft	20240319	Amalia Holst's defence of female education, published in 1802, was the first work by a woman in Germany to challenge the major philosophers of the age, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant. Unlike Mary Wollstonecraft writing in England, Holst failed to make headway with her arguments. New Generation Thinker Andrew Cooper teaches in the philosophy department at the University of Warwick. His essay explores the publishing of Holst's book On The Vocation of Woman to Higher Intellectual Education. Andrew Cooper is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UKRI. Producer: Luke Mulhall You can hear more from Andrew in a Free Thinking discussion about The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe available as an Arts & Ideas podcast and on BBC Sounds. Andrew Cooper on the school teacher who tried to ignite a feminist revolution in Germany. Amalia Holst ran a successful school in Hamburg and published an argument for women's education in 1802. Andrew Cooper looks at why the book didn't take off.
03	Weird Viking Bodies	20240320	Looking at the way human and animal bodies were treated in death and used in rituals prompts New Generation Thinker and archaeologist Marianne Hem Eriksen, from the University of Leicester, to ask questions about the way humans, animals and spirit worlds were understood. Her Essay shares stories from a research project called Body-Politics': presenting worlds where elite men could shape-shift into animals — and some people's bones ended up in rubbish pits. This Essay is part of the BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers scheme which puts academic research on radio. Producer: Luke Mulhall You can hear Marianne discussing insights from her research in episodes of Free Thinking called The Kitchen and in one broadcasting next week looking at Attitudes towards death. Marianne Hem Eriksen on the meaning of a skull bone carved with 'pain' thrown onto a tip. How might the Vikings have seen human and animal bodies differently? New Generation Thinker Marianne Hem Eriksen looks for answers, exploring discoveries made at burial sites.
04	From Algorithms To Oceans	20240321	Two years living at sea taught New Generation Thinker Kerry McInerney values which she wants to apply to the development of AI. Her Essay explores the 'sustainable AI' movement and looks at visions of the future in novels including Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan and Larissa Lai's Salt Fish Girl. Dr McInerney is a Research Associate at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to put academic research on radio. Producer: Julian Siddle You can hear more from Kerry in Free Thinking and New Thinking episodes available as Arts & Ideas podcasts called AI, feminism, human/machines and Yellowface, AI and Asian stereotypes Kerry McInerney explores the promises of the 'sustainable AI' movement and how AI develops Pollution, energy use and AI are explored in New Generation Thinker Kerry McInerney's Essay about the 'sustainable AI' movement and insights from indigenous thinkers
05 LAST	Gas, Oil And The Essex Blues	20240322	Canvey Island: cradle of innovation for gas heating and home to music makers Dr Feelgood, who drew inspiration from the Mississippi Delta. New Generation Thinker Sam Johnson-Schlee is an author and geographer based at London South Bank University. His essay remembers the influence of Parker Morris standards on heating in the home, songs written by Wilko Johnson and the impact of central heating on teenage record listening and playing instruments. Producer: Julian Siddle You can hear more from Sam in Free Thinking episodes exploring Dust and Sound, Conflict and Central Heating New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to put research on radio Sam Johnson-Schlee draws links between Dr Feelgood, Canvey Island and energy policies The arrival of ships carrying natural gas and oil refinery towers shaped the landscape of Canvey Island in Essex. New Generation Thinker Sam Johnson-Schlee considers their impact
06	The Legacy Of The Laundries	20240325	From 1922, between 10-30,000 women and girls are thought to have been incarcerated at the Magdalene laundries which operated in Ireland. New Generation Thinker Louise Brangan has been reading the testimonies of many of the girls who survived these institutions. As the Irish state tries to come to terms with this history, how should it be spoken about? Is a language of legal blame and guilt enough to make sense of this history? Dr Louise Brangan is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Strathclyde and is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (part of UKRI) to put research on radio. You can find her contributing to Free Thinking discussion episodes looking at Ireland's hidden histories and secret stories Producer in Salford: Olive Clancy Louise Brangan reflects on the legacies of Ireland's Magdalene laundries. New Generation Thinker Louise Brangan considers how Ireland should deal with the collective silence over the incarceration of thousands of women and girls in Magdalene laundries.
07	Arteries Of Tomorrow	20240326	The A13 runs from the City of London past Tilbury Docks and the site of the Dagenham Ford factory to Benfleet and the Wat Tyler Country Park. As he travels along it, talking to residents about their ideas of community and change, New Generation Thinker Dan Taylor reflects on the history of the area and different versions of hopes for the future. Dr Dan Taylor lectures in social and political thought at the Open University and is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to share insights from academic research on radio. You can hear him in Free Thinking discussions about Essex, and discussing medieval bestiaries in Beast and Animals. He is also the author of a book Island Story: Journeys Through Unfamiliar Britain. Dan Taylor considers the way communities along the A13 are looking to the future. New Generation Thinker Dan Taylor takes us to the site of the Dagenham Ford factory. He shares the insights he's gained about planning from interviews with local residents.
08	Rock, Paper, Saints And Sinners	20240327	A 1660s board game made by a Jesuit missionary sent to the Mohawk Valley in America is the subject of New Generation Thinker Gemma Tidman's essay. This race game, a little like Snakes and Ladders, depicts the path of a Christian life and afterlife. Gemma explores what the game tells us about how powerful people have long turned to play, images, and other persuasive means to secure converts and colonial subjects. Dr Gemma Tidman is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Queen Mary University, London and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to put research on radio. You can hear more from her in Free Thinking discussions about Game-playing, and Sneezing, smells and noses. Producer: Torquil MacLeod Gemma Tidman describes a board game created by a Jesuit seeking Mohawk converts. Might the first Native American Catholic saint have been influenced in her faith by a board game? New Generation Thinker Gemma Tidman explores the power games of C17 missionaries.
09	What Does Feminist Art Mean?	20240328	Who's Holding the Baby? was the title of an exhibition organised to highlight a lack of childcare provision in east London in the 1970s. Was this feminist art? Bobby Baker, Sonia Boyce and members of the photography collective Hackney Flashers are some of the artists who've been taking part in an oral history project with New Generation Thinker Ana Baeza-Ruiz. Her essay presents some of their reflections on what it means to make art and call yourself a feminist. Dr Ana Baeza-Ruiz is the Research Associate for the project Feminist Art Making Histories (FAMH) at Loughborough University and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to showcase new research into the humanities. You can hear her in Free Thinking episodes on Portraits and Women, art and activism available as Arts & Ideas podcasts Producer: Ruth Watts Ana Baeza-Ruiz shares reflections from artists in the 70s women's liberation movement New Generation Thinker Ana Baeza-Ruiz reflects on what it means to put feminist art on gallery walls and how we might think beyond the art canon. Who's Holding the Baby? was the title of an exhibition organised to highlight a lack of childcare provision in East London in the 1970s. Was this feminist art? Bobby Baker, Sonia Boyce, Rita Keegan and members of the photography collective Hackney Flashers are some of the artists who've been taking part in an oral history project with New Generation Thinker Ana Baeza Ruiz. Her essay presents some of their reflections on what it means to make art and call yourself a feminist. Dr Ana Baeza Ruiz is the Research Associate for the project Feminist Art Making Histories (FAMH) at Loughborough University and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to showcase new research into the humanities. You can hear her in Free Thinking episodes on Portraits and Women, art and activism available as an Arts & Ideas podcast. Ana Baeza Ruiz shares reflections from artists in the 70s women's liberation movement. New Generation Thinker Ana Baeza Ruiz reflects on what it means to put feminist art on gallery walls and how we might think beyond the art canon.
10 LAST	Unravelling Plainness	20240329	Gold sequins, silk and vibrant colour threads might not be what you expect to find in a sampler stitched by a Quaker girl in the seventeenth century. New Generation Thinker Isabella Rosner has studied examples of embroidered nutmegs and decorated shell shadow boxes found in London and Philadelphia which present a more complicated picture of Quaker attitudes and the decorated objects they created as part of a girl's education. Dr Isabella Rosner is a textile historian and curator at the Royal School of Needlework on the New Generation Thinker scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to highlight new research. You can hear more from her in Free Thinking episodes called Stitching stories and A lively Tudor world Producer: Ruth Watts Isabella Rosner explains why needlework challenges our idea of Quaker simplicity. Isabella Rosner's essay describes wax figures covered in Spitalfields silk, set in scenes adorned with glitter of mica flakes and vibrantly coloured embroidery by Quaker girls.