University of Sydney
47 episodes listed below
Careful answers to hard public problems.
The Solutionists, with Mark Scott, is a measured interview series from the University of Sydney about hard public problems and the work aimed at solving them. Episodes move from lived experience into research, policy, and practical consequences without flattening the science.
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The Solutionists, with Mark Scott, is built around a simple editorial promise: take a consequential problem, find people working close to it, and explain the path from cause to possible remedy. The tone is steady. It is not a quick-hit ideas show, and it does not treat science as decoration. Recent episodes spend time with public health, medical research, social policy, food systems, and technology, usually beginning from a concrete scene before widening into the systems behind it. A supermarket cereal aisle becomes a way to understand ultra processed foods, commodity agriculture, food companies, and the business logic of selling more. Tuberculosis becomes more than a historical disease, because the discussion turns toward diagnosis, healthcare access, poverty, and why a curable infection still kills millions. Vaping is handled through the everyday texture of social use, dependence, and the way nicotine can become a constant object in someone's pocket. Sport is approached with similar care. An athlete's concussions lead into questions about repeated head impacts, CTE, toughness, children, and the cultural weight of collision sports in Australia. The justice episodes do not abstract policy away from people. Talia Glover's account of foster care, police contact, and being treated like a criminal gives the discussion of youth incarceration a human centre. Medical technology is treated pragmatically, not futuristically. A heart-disease episode asks whether personalised text messages can help patients understand medication, diet, smoking, side effects, and follow-up care. Another episode uses light, sleep, mood, bipolar disorder, and circadian rhythms to connect daily routines with serious mental health questions. The agriculture episode places robots, sensors, GPT tools, and solar-powered farm platforms inside the realities of yields, weeds, chemicals, and farmer costs. Across these subjects, the show keeps translating: problem, mechanism, evidence, consequence. It is best when the issue is complicated enough to resist slogans. The conversations are patient, sometimes grave, and usually oriented toward what can actually change. The result is a thoughtful public-interest series for people who want practical optimism with its homework done.
Made for: For listeners who like expert interviews about health, society, food, technology, and policy, especially when the explanation moves slowly enough to be understood. It suits people who want constructive thinking without glossing over harm or complexity.
What sets it apart: The show pairs human stories with university research, then keeps translating the science back into ordinary consequences. Its strength is the bridge between lived experience, institutional knowledge, and practical intervention.
Big challenges need big solutions. Meet the minds making it happen. Join Mark Scott, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Sydney, and get ready to view the world from a different perspective. From our own wellbeing to the preservation of the planet, The Solutionists dives into the most pressing issues of our time and introduces you to the people unearthing the seeds of remarkable solutions. You'll discover a world of progress and possibility. +++ The Solutionists is a podcast from The University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of...
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Research becomes practical here, with Mark Scott tracing how scientific ideas change meals, sleep, health care and work on the farm.
Mark Scott begins with a problem that can be felt in daily life, then follows it into the research. Extreme heat becomes a question of fans, wet skin and cold-water foot baths. Body clocks lead from bedroom lighting to mood disorders.
A cereal aisle, a heat chamber, a robot farm: your practical curiosity gets excellent field trips.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A supermarket walk-through that shows how healthy-looking packaging can disguise ultra processed food.
The episode opens in a supermarket and uses the cereal aisle to set up a sharp contrast between rolled oats and Nutrigain. On one side sit claims of real nourishment, protein, iron, fibre, multigrain and B vitamins, along with a four and a half star rating; on the other,…
A text-message answer to heart disease, grounded in hospitals and patients.
The episode asks a blunt question with real weight: can a text message help people after a heart attack, when cardiovascular disease already affects nearly 18 percent of Australia's population and puts pressure on hospitals?
A careful look at how light reaches the body clock.
The episode starts with light as a daily cue that can shape the brain, sleep, and mood, grounded in the tension between indoor routines, late nights, and the body’s ancient clock.
Robots are already reshaping agriculture, and the business model around them is shifting too.
The Solutionists makes a practical question feel immediate: what happens when robots are already deciding which plants stay in an Australian field and which do not?
A careful heat-and-health episode that turns lab detail into practical guidance.
The Solutionists turns extreme heat into something concrete, opening with Mark Scott's warning that summer is already coming in hot and then moving into Professor Ollie Jay's thermal ergonomics lab at the University of Sydney.
Practice ownership without the performance mask.
Creative lives, community care, real talk.
Bettina Skudlarek cites the Edelman Global Trust Report to say seven in ten people are hesitant to trust or interact with people different from themselves.
Recorded at the University of Sydney's Camperdown campus on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the episode starts with a walk through a local supermarket.
This episode explores why tuberculosis remains a deadly global health crisis despite being curable, highlighting its historical impact and current disparities in healthcare access.
A personal account from Lily, who started vaping at 17 and describes how social pressure and accessibility led to a daily nicotine addiction that has persisted for five years.
This episode explores the link between high-impact sports and brain damage through the personal story of a retired athlete with concussion-related migraines, examining the public health implications and cultural challenges.
A personal narrative exploring the impact of criminalizing children through the host's experiences in foster care and the justice system, questioning Australia's tough-on-crime approach to youth.
Mark Scott opens with a land acknowledgment and a sharp question.
Mark Scott opens by asking how light can shape the brain and mood.
Mark Scott opens on a solar-powered robot already crawling through an Australian field.
It opens on the University of Sydney's Camperdown campus on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, with a land acknowledgment and a warning that Australia's summer is already heating up fast.
This episode explores how museums and art can tell Australia's story through objects and diverse perspectives, featuring an interview with museum director Michael D'Agostino.
This episode explores how sleep literally cleanses the brain through cerebrospinal fluid waves, preventing toxic buildup and diseases like dementia, with insights from sleep expert Dr.
This episode explores the longevity revolution, featuring interviews with older adults sharing their perspectives on aging, health, and living a meaningful life up to 100 years.
This episode explores how the human body responds to extreme heat through experiments in a climate chamber, featuring a participant on a treadmill to demonstrate physiological changes like increased heart rate and sweating.