Series 2 Episode 2: Professor Steve Cross

Host: Ilsa Jones

In this episode, Ilsa is joined by Professor Steve Cross, founder of Science Showoff and Bright Club, to explore why laughter belongs at a festival about health. Steve shares how Science Showoff began, how scientists and health professionals find the nerve to try stand-up, and what makes comedy such a powerful way to teach and to make sense of difficult subjects. Science Showoff returns to the London Bridge Hive this Medi-Culture.

Series 2 Episode 1: John Hegley

Host: Ilsa Jones

Medi-Culture Conversations is the official podcast of the Medi-Culture Festival, celebrating health, science and wellbeing in the heart of London Bridge this Autumn. Across a series of short episodes, we go beyond the festival programme to explore the ideas, research and people behind the events. From poetry and stand-up comedy to Pilates, women's health, the science of death and the wellbeing of NHS nurses, each conversation uncovers the stories and ideas shaping how we understand health today.

Hosted by Team London Bridge, the podcast features interviews with poets, comedians, museum directors, festival organisers, local business owners and healthcare professionals. Together, we explore how culture, creativity and community can support healthier lives, and why London Bridge, from Keats's medical training at Guy's to Florence Nightingale's legacy, has long been a place where medicine and innovation meet. Whether you are attending the festival or simply curious about the intersection of health and culture, Medi-Culture Conversations offers a space to slow down, learn something new, and connect with the ideas behind the programme.

In this first episode of the new series, Ilsa is joined by John Hegley, performance poet, comedian and former poet in residence at Keats House, to explore what John Keats means to him. John reflects on how his time at Keats House became a lifeline for his wellbeing, why Keats is still celebrated two centuries on, and where science and art meet. They also look ahead to Keats at the Kirk, John's annual birthday celebration of the poet who trained as a surgeon-apothecary at Guy's, held in Guy's Chapel, just metres from Keats's statue, with friends, music and a healthy dose of the absurd.

Episode 6: Sofia Laoudi

Host: Ilsa Jones

Together they explore what surgery looked like before modern anaesthetics and antiseptics, the murky world of the bodysnatchers who supplied London’s anatomy schools, and why sitting with this difficult history still matters today. They also reflect on what the Medi-Culture Festival has meant to the museum, and why a place rooted so deeply in the past feels more relevant than ever.

Episode 5: Laura Wilde & Arietta Spinou

Host: Ilsa Jones

Medi-Culture Conversations is the official podcast of the Medi-Culture Festival, celebrating health, science and wellbeing in the heart of London Bridge this Spring. Across a series of short episodes, we go beyond the festival programme to explore the ideas, research and people behind the events. From gut health and nutrition to creativity, movement and laughter, each conversation uncovers the science and stories shaping how we understand wellbeing today.

Hosted by Ilsa Jones from Team London Bridge, this podcast delves into how culture, science and creativity can support our health and wellbeing. In this episode, Ilsa is joined by two researchers from King's College London, Dr Arietta Spinou, Principal Investigator and leading respiratory health researcher, and Dr Laura Wilde, Research Psychologist, to explore the SPLASH study: a pioneering project co-developing laughter yoga classes for people living with bronchiectasis, a chronic lung condition.

Together they discuss why laughter is being taken seriously as a clinical intervention, what the science says about its effects on breathing, mood and quality of life, and what it means to co-design research with the patients it is built to help. They also reflect on the laughter yoga session that took place as part of the Medi-Culture festival, and what this work suggests about the future of social prescribing and non-pharmacological care.

Episode 4 with Jo Travers

Host: Ilsa Jones

In this episode, Ilsa is joined by Jo Travers, a registered nutritionist specialising in gut health, immunity and holistic wellbeing, to explore one of the most talked-about areas of health research, and one that is still widely misunderstood.
Together they reflect on Jo's recent Gut Health Essentials workshop and the science behind it, from the role of the microbiome in digestion and immunity, to the gut-brain axis and what it means for our mood, energy and mental wellbeing. They also discuss what genuinely makes a difference to gut health, and why taking care of what's happening inside us matters far more than most of us realise.

In this episode, Ilsa is joined by Claudia Biçen, a British-American artist whose work weaves together science, myth and illustration, to explore what happens when we stop treating scientific facts as things to be understood, and start experiencing them as things to be felt. Together they reflect on Claudia’s recent workshop, Reimagining Science Through Story and Art, and the ideas at its heart, from microchimerism and deep time to migratory patterns and photosynthesis. They discuss what it means to listen closely to the stories that scientific facts carry, and why meeting the world as an unfolding web of relations, rather than an object of study, might matter deeply for our health and wellbeing.

In this episode, Ilsa is joined by Sarah Williams-Robbins, an accredited City of London guide and health promotion specialist known as Mrs Londoner, to explore the history of medicine, healing and disease in one of London's most storied neighbourhoods. Together they trace the story of London Bridge as a site of healing, from the monks and nuns who shaped early approaches to care, to the herbs and remedies that preceded modern medicine, to the Thames itself as a source of both illness and renewal. They also reflect on what it means to walk through a place mindfully, and why moving through history on foot offers something that reading about it simply cannot.

Medi-Culture Conversations is the official podcast of the Medi-Culture Festival, celebrating health, science and wellbeing in the heart of London Bridge this Spring. Across a series of short episodes, we go beyond the festival programme to explore the ideas, research and people behind the events. From gut health and nutrition to creativity, movement and laughter, each conversation uncovers the science and stories shaping how we understand wellbeing today.

Hosted by Team London Bridge, the podcast features interviews with festival facilitators, researchers and practitioners. Together, we explore how culture, creativity and community can support healthier lives, and why London Bridge has long been a place where medicine and innovation meet. Whether you are attending the festival or simply curious about the intersection of health and culture, Medi-Culture Conversations offers a space to slow down, learn something new, and connect with the ideas behind the programme.

In this opening episode, Ilsa is joined by Amanda White, Arts and Culture Lead at Team London Bridge, to discuss how the Medi-Culture Festival first came to life. Together they explore the vision behind the festival, the organisations involved in its creation, and why London Bridge has become a unique place where medicine, culture and community meet. They also introduce this season’s programme, which focuses on gut health, nutrition and wellbeing, and share what listeners can expect from the conversations ahead.