Whittaker, Lisa;
Espinosa-Cabrera, Elena;
Haar, Helen;
Hall, Elly;
Lambert, Sophie;
Tristram, Jesse;
Vladykova, Michaela;
... Dean, Jamie A; + view all
(2025)
Podcasts as a platform for sharing and disseminating experiences and expertise between young adults with cancer and radiotherapy researchers.
Research Involvement and Engagement
, 11
, Article 64. 10.1186/s40900-025-00718-y.
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Abstract
We set out to co-create a collaborative project that would raise awareness of radiotherapy, explore young adults’ experiences of cancer treatment, and share radiotherapy research with audiences beyond academia. To do this, we partnered radiotherapy researchers with young adults who had undergone radiotherapy, co-creating a series of episodes for an established oncology podcast. These conversations offered space for participants to share their stories and personal insights, both as patients and as researchers. Six young adults and six researchers took part, supported by preparatory discussions to help shape meaningful conversations. Each podcast episode featured unique patient experiences alongside different areas of radiotherapy research. An independent evaluation, based on semi-structured interviews with participants and hosts, highlighted the importance of relational connection, mutual respect, and the value of having a dedicated project coordinator. The episodes were downloaded over 3000 times in 120 countries. Participants described feeling heard and appreciated, and several researchers reflected on the renewed motivation and perspective gained through the project. This collaboration suggests how podcasting has the potential to serve as an accessible and emotionally resonant tool for engagement, enabling researchers and patients to connect in new ways and share knowledge with a broader public. Future projects of this kind may benefit from a similar co-creative and well-supported approach.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Podcasts as a platform for sharing and disseminating experiences and expertise between young adults with cancer and radiotherapy researchers |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s40900-025-00718-y |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-025-00718-y |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Podcast, Young adults, Radiotherapy, Radiation oncology, Cancer research, Engagement |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Med Phys and Biomedical Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10210431 |
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