How To Academy Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Investigative Journalist Oliver Bullough - How the Money Launderers Won Feb 06, 2026

Show notes

Whether you’re a fraudster, a cartel boss, a corrupt politician, a kleptocrat or a terrorist mastermind, your options to move and hide your money are more secure and more impenetrable than they have ever been. There has never been a better time to be a criminal. Meanwhile, innocent people are wrongly being frozen out of banking services across the world. Something needs to change. All efforts at legislation, diplomacy, prosecution and compliance have been a complete flop. Investigative journalist Oliver Bullough takes us on a perspective-altering adventure through the flipside of the global economy.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Psychobiologist Daisy Fancourt – How the Arts Can Transform Your Health Feb 03, 2026

Show notes

How does art affect our brains and bodies, down to our very DNA? Psychobiologist Daisy Fancourt reveals the extraordinary effect of art on our health, and what we can do to make the most of art’s life-changing power. From how music synchronises our movement to how storytelling enhances our emotional intelligence, Daisy illuminates this under-appreciated pillar of health, and shares practical and meaningful ways to incorporate art into our daily and social lives.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tim Minshall - Your Life is Manufactured Jan 30, 2026

Show notes

Where do the things we buy actually come from? And how did they become the products on our store shelves, the food in our pantries, and the familiar items in our homes? Cambridge Professor and expert in manufacturing and innovation Tim Minshall guides us down the intricate journeys within the world of manufacturing, revealing how everyday items find their way across the world to reach us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rutger Bregman Meets George Monbiot - How to Change the World Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

Global sensation Rutger Bregman joins George Monbiot to show how small groups of committed individuals changed the course of history – and how you can, too.

The average full-time worker will spend 80,000 hours at their job: are you making the most of them? Do you truly believe in what you do, day in day out?Every day we’re bombarded with methods, mantras, life hacks and coaching sessions that promise us mindfulness, prosperity and wellness. We read countless self-help books to unlock the seven habits, twelve rules or one big secret to living a long and happy life, while time and talent remain some of our most squandered resources. Internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman returns to How To Academy to show us that with the will to make the world a wildly better place – it is possible to be both idealistic and successful, and to change the world along the way. Looking to the great change-makers of history, he will uncover the qualities that made them so persuasive, influential and effective, and show how we, too, can lend our talents to the biggest challenges of our time, from climate change to gross inequality to the next pandemic. We can do more than be on the right side of history: we can make history itself. This is not a self-help talk. It won’t make your life easier – but it should make it more meaningful. The question is: what will you do with it?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy Jeffs – Stories of Love and Death From Traditional Ballads Jan 23, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of the podcast, Amy Jeffs reveals the spellbinding world behind Old Songs, her exploration of traditional British ballads and the stories that have carried human fears, desires, and wonder across centuries. From the historical role of ballads in everyday life, to their modern afterlives in literature, music, and live performance, Amy shows us why these old songs still resonate so strongly today.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Data Scientist Hannah Ritchie – How to Solve Climate Change in 50 Questions and Answers Jan 20, 2026

Show notes

With so many conflicting headlines out there, it’s tough to sort fact from fiction when it comes to climate change and the solutions we need for a cleaner future. The first piece of good news is that data scientist Hannah Ritchie is here with answers, and the steps we need to take now. Using simple, clear data, she joins us to tackle questions such as, ‘Is it too late?’, ‘Won’t we run out of minerals?’ and ‘Are we too polarised?’. The second piece of good news: the truth is way more hopeful than you might think. We’re at a critical moment for our planet, and getting the facts straight is step one. But even more crucial is feeling hopeful about what we can do next. The third piece of good news? We already have many of the solutions we need to create a more sustainable planet for future generations.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sam Conniff and Katherine Templar-Lewis –The Uncertainty Toolkit Jan 16, 2026

Show notes

It’s the ‘Do you have five minutes?’ message from your boss. The ‘We need to chat’ from a loved one. Those spiralling thoughts at 3 a.m. and the buzz of yet another breaking news alert. The potential coming waves of AI, climate change and unstable governments. For most of us, uncertainty is paralyzing, but isn’t going anywhere. The world – and our lives – will continue to change, at great pace and in unexpected ways. In this episode of the podcast, join author of the international bestseller and ‘modern life-bible’ Be More Pirate, Sam Conniff, and neuroscience consultant Katherine Templar-Lewis for a pioneering, evidence-based guide to transforming uncertainty into growth and opportunity.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark Galeotti - How Crime Organises the World Jan 13, 2026

Show notes

Far from being distant and peripheral, organised crime shapes our everyday lives, from the materials used to construct our homes to the illicit funds that quietly circulate through financial institutions. Global security expert Mark Galeotti reveals the dark heart of the underworld, how states and criminal networks are far more interconnected than most people realise, and how understanding these entanglements is essential for making sense of how societies function, collapse, and rebuild.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Paul Davies - The New Quantum Revolution Jan 09, 2026

Show notes

100 years on from Schrödinger’s equation, we’re on the cusp of the second Quantum revolution. Everything is about to change again – but how? Theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist Paul Davies investigates quantum theory's extraordinary predictive power and the debates that continue to surround the field, diving into the very nature of quantum reality and the beginnings of the universe.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

RF Kuang - To Hell with Love Dec 19, 2025

Show notes

Bestselling novelist Rebecca F. Kuang returns to How To Academy in conversation with Hannah MacInnes to dive into her new novel, Katabasis, inviting us on a journey to the underworld and back. From the literal and metaphorical meanings of descending to hell, to the question of eternity, to the imaginative expanse of Rebecca's literary vision in an age where freedom of expression is under threat, Rebecca illuminates the art of her craft and imagination with humour, warmth, and deeply personal contemplation.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices