Podcast · Tech & Science

The Turing Podcast

by The Alan Turing Institute · English · Tech & Science

The Turing Podcast is an exciting podcast from The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence.

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 46 min
Latest: 4 Aug 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

4 Aug 2026 · 37 min

Orbits in Focus: A New Era of Space Traffic Management

Space is getting incredibly crowded. With over 40,000 tracked objects zipping around at ten times the speed of a bullet, managing our orbits has shifted from a traffic problem to a critical national security mission. In this episode, we discover Project Aemelia, a pioneering initiative funded by the UK Space Agency. We see how a collaboration between the Alan Turing Institute and the University of Birmingham is rewriting the rules of Space Domain Awareness (SDA). Join host Amelia Jabry, Dr Victoria Nockles, Principal Investigator - Defence AI Research (DARe), and Professor Marina Gashinova,…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S5 · E49 · 22 Jul 2026 · 33 min
Weathering Change: FastNet and the Future of UK Forecasting
In an era of increasingly unpredictable extreme weather, getting the forecast right is no longer just about what you need to wear during your morning commute. It’s about national resilience, food security, and technological sovereignty. In this episode, host Amelia Jabry is joined by Dr Scott Hosking (Mission Director for Environmental Forecasting at the Alan Turing Institute) and Professor Kirstine Dale (Chief AI Officer at the Met Office) to introduce FastNet: a groundbreaking, home-grown AI weather model developed right here in the UK. Together, they demystify how FastNet uses 3D geometry…
E48 · 16 Jun 2026 · 47 min
Cleared for Takeoff: Navigating the Future of AI Air Traffic Control
Join Amelia, Andy and Ben as they discuss the challenges and opportunities of building an AI system to assist ATCOs in one of the most safety-critical industries in the world.
S5 · E47 · 17 Feb 2026 · 43 min
The Survival of the Fittest Route: Genetic Algorithms in Shipping and Sustainability
How can the study of ant colonies and evolutionary theory help us ensure the resilience and sustainability of global shipping? In this episode, host Amelia Jabry is joined by Professor Adam Sobey (Mission Director for Sustainability at the Alan Turing Institute) and Senior Applied Scientist Dr. Przemyslaw (Slaw) Grudniewski from Theyr. Together, they explore the ‘evolution’ of shipping route optimisation - from early concepts proposed by Alan Turing to cutting-edge Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithms. Discover how these ‘survival of the fittest’ models are being used to navigate the complex…
S5 · E46 · 6 Nov 2025 · 28 min
Navigating Change: AI in Arctic Sea Ice Forecasting
The Arctic is undergoing rapid changes due to climate change, making sea ice forecasting increasingly important. In this episode of the Turing Podcast, hosts Amelia Jabry and Dr. Sophie Arana discuss the critical role of AI models like IceNet in predicting sea ice conditions and aiding conservation efforts. Featuring Dr. Ellie Bowler from the British Antarctic Survey, the conversation dives into the technical details of IceNet, its applications for wildlife conservation, and the challenges of predicting sea ice dynamics. The discussion also covers the importance of these predictions for…
S5 · E45 · 2 Jul 2025 · 49 min
The Cyber Cold War: How AI is Defending Our Critical National Infrastructure
New podcast - defending our critical national infrastructure. Podcast host Amelia Jabry is joined by co-host and Turing Principal Research Scientist, Vasilios Mavroudis to explore how AI is reshaping both the defence and attack of vital systems like healthcare, energy and transport. With the help of special guest, Microsoft’s Director of Global AI & Cybersecurity Policy Nicholas Butts, they ask: how vulnerable are our power grids, water systems, and communications networks in the age of advanced AI? And what are organisations like the Alan Turing Institute and Microsoft are doing to protect…
E44 · 12 Nov 2024 · 54 min
Defining AI safety
Ed and David chat with Professor Ibrahim Habli, Research Director at the Centre for Assuring Autonomy in the University of York, and director of the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe AI Systems. The conversation covers the topic of defining and contextualising AI safety and risk, given existence of existing safety practices from other industries. Ibrahim has collaborated with The Alan Turing Institute on the "Trustworthy and Ethical Assurance platform", or "TEA" for short, an open-source tool for developing and communicating structured assurance arguments to show how data science and…
E43 · 4 Jul 2024 · 46 min
The cutting edge of emotional and cognitive neuroscience
On this episode, Bea and Jessie are joined by Becky Inkster and Mark Sheppard, co-founders of The Laß; a fusion of science, creativity and personal reflection. Collaborating with famous musicians, dancers and members of the public, Becky and Mark use EEG brain activity technology to visualise poignant moments. They hope to offer both internal and external reflection opportunities to nurture personal growth and community bonds. For more information visit - https://www.beckyinkster.com/the-lab Don't forget to explore our shorter AI news podcast - too long didn't read
E42 · 3 May 2024 · 47 min
AI for Cyber Defence (AICD) research centre
To what extent can a computer network be actively managed and defended by intelligent autonomous agents? In this episode, Ed and Anneca talk to Vasilios Mavroudis and Chris Hicks explore this question and more. Vas and Chris lead the Turing’s AI for Cyber Defence (AICD) research centre which seeks to fundamentally transform the way in which we secure digital systems through the development and application of cutting edge, deep-learning based approaches to intelligent agents. Find more information about AICD here Don't forget to explore our shorter AI in the news podcast - too long didn't read
E41 · 16 Apr 2024 · 33 min
Our AI Futures - Lord Chris Holmes and the AI Bill
On this episode of The Turing Podcast Bea and Anneca are joined by Lord Chris Holmes, Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmer and an active member of the House of Lords with a policy focus on digital technology for public good. Connect with Lord Holmes on Linked In Explore our regular news AI news podcast, too long didn't read
S4 · E40 · 30 Jan 2024 · 56 min
Project Bluebird: Revolutionising Air Traffic Control with AI and digital twins
The Turing Podcast revisits Project Bluebird; a fascinating collaboration aiming to solve some of the biggest and most complex problems in air traffic control with digital twins and AI. Join Ed as he sits down with Nick Pepper of The Alan Turing Institute, George De Ath of the University of Exeter and Marc Thomas of NATS - the team behind Project Bluebird. First featured on our podcast in 2020, the team now provides a progress update at the midpoint mark. Learn how they are developing innovative AI to train a digital twin air traffic controller with the aim of enhancing aviation safety and…
E39 · 21 Dec 2023 · 52 min
AI for Cyber Defence
This week the podcast, the hosts are joined by Kate Highnam and Myles Foley, both of whom are PhD candidates at Imperial College London working at the intersection of machine learning and cyber security. Kate and Myles were part of a team who last year won the CAGE challenge (Cyber Autonomy Gym for Experimentation), with their reinforcement learning-based solution. We chat about how advances in AI are being used to address challenges in cyber security, and what can and cannot be automated.
E38 · 15 Dec 2023 · 39 min
Building Digital Tools for Polar Research
This week on The Turing Podcast we chat about some of the research going on in the collaborations between the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and The Alan Turing Institute, including efforts to automate the route planning of ships in polar regions, and the building of a digital twin for Antarctica! The hosts are joined by Dr Scott Hosking and Dr Jonathan Smith. Scott is Co-Director for the Alan Turing Institute Research and Innovation Cluster in Digital Twins, as well as the founder and leader of the BAS AI lab. Jonathan is a Principal Research Scientist, also at the BAS AI lab.
E37 · 1 Dec 2023 · 51 min
Data Science for the Arts and Humanities
This week the hosts chat with Dr Katie McDonough and Dr Daniel Wilson. Katie is a lecturer in Digital Humanities in the Department of History at Lancaster University and a Senior Research Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute. Daniel is a Turing Research Fellow and historian of science and technology. The episode covers their research at the Turing and the growing intersection between the worlds of data science and the humanities and arts, with a focus on the MapReader software developed explore and analyse maps (and other images) at scale.
E36 · 24 Nov 2023 · 52 min
Algorithmic Justice
In the first episode of The Turing Podcast season 4, the hosts are joined by Cari Hyde-Vaamonde, a PhD candidate at Kings College London and visiting lecturer in law. The episode discusses the field of Algorithmic Justice and Cari's work modelling the decision making process of judges.
E35 · 21 Jul 2023 · 54 min
How do we regulate AI?
Artificial Intelligence has transformed the way we interact with technology, from voice assistants to autonomous vehicles. As the development and implementation of AI continues to grow at pace, the question of regulation is absolutely key. Join Bea and Anneca as they discuss the ramifications of the EU's AI regulations framework with the Turing's Ray Eitel-Porter and Florian Ostmann.
E34 · 5 Jun 2023 · 27 min
Diagnosing Dementia with AI
Join Bea and Anneca as they discuss the potential and current AI tools being used around treating and diagnosing illnesses such as dementia, with Zoe Kourtzi. Zoe is Professor of Computational Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. Her research aims to develop predictive models of neurodegenerative disease and mental health with translational impact in early diagnosis and personalised interventions.
E33 · 9 May 2023 · 1 hr 3 min
Making the world add up with Tim Harford
In this week’s Turing Podcast, Ed chats with Tim Harford about the themes from his 2020 book “How to Make the World Add Up”, which include thinking about the ways statistics and numbers are (mis)used in the media and what we can do about it. Tim is an economist and presenter of the BBC radio show “More or less”.
E32 · 21 Apr 2023 · 15 min
The Coffee Pod - Hussein Rappel
Welcome to the Coffee Pod! A short series about the Turing's AI for Science and Government fund, that gives you the chance to hear about the people behind the project. Each episode you’ll be listening to a different colleague, their background, career and most importantly… how they like their coffee. In this episode, Bea is speaking to Hussein Rappel. Hussein has worked on the PDRA on Digital Twins in Infrastructure and Construction project in the Complex Systems Engineering theme.
E31 · 21 Apr 2023 · 15 min
The Coffee Pod - Malvika Sharan
Welcome to another Coffee Pod episode! A short series about the Turing's AI for Science and Government fund, that gives you the chance to hear about the people behind the project. Each episode you’ll be listening to a different colleague, their background, career and most importantly… how they like their coffee. Today Bea is speaking to Malvika Sharan, a senior researcher. Malvika works on Open Research in the Tools, Practices and Systems theme.
E30 · 21 Apr 2023 · 17 min
The Coffee Pod - Fernando Benitez
Welcome to another Coffee Pod episode! A short series about the Turing's AI for Science and Government fund, that gives you the chance to hear about the people behind the project. Each episode you’ll be listening to a different colleague, their background, career and most importantly… how they like their coffee. In this episode, Bea is joined with Fernando Benitez, a research associate. Fernando worked on PDRA - the Spatial Modelling project in the Shocks and the Resilience cross-theme project.
E29 · 21 Apr 2023 · 17 min
The Coffee Pod - Tom Andersson
Welcome to another episode of the Coffee Pod Podcast! A short series about the Turing's AI for Science and Government fund, that gives you the chance to hear about the people behind the project. Each episode you’ll be listening to a different colleague, their background, career and most importantly… how they like their coffee. In this episode, Bea catches up with Tom Andersson, a data scientist. Tom's worked on the Turing/British Antarctic Survey on Environmental models: Bridging the spatial scales, from surface sensors to satellite sensors in the Environment and Sustainability cross-theme…
E28 · 21 Apr 2023 · 13 min
The Coffee Pod - Domenic DiFrancesco
Welcome to another episode of the Coffee Pod podcast! A short series about the Turing's AI for Science and Government fund, that gives you the chance to hear about the people behind the project. Each episode you’ll be listening to a different colleague, their background, career and most importantly… how they like their coffee. Joining Bea this week is Domenic DiFrancesco, a Turing Research Fellow. Domenic's worked on the project PDRA Digital Twins for Fleets and Supply Chain Management in the Ecosystems of Digital Twins cross-theme.
E27 · 14 Apr 2023 · 51 min
How to Speak Whale
Following Tom Mustill’s popular Turing Lecture at the Royal Institution, How to Speak Whale, Tom joins Bea and Jo to catch up on the latest advancements in communication between humans and animals. This lively edition of the Turing podcast covers a great variety of subjects, including some of Tom’s favourite (and surprising) whale facts, and whether attempting to chat with aliens should be prioritised over speaking with animals. A biologist and filmmaker, Tom has recently also turned writer. His debut book, How To Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication, was selected as…
E26 · 6 Apr 2023 · 15 min
The Coffee Pod - Ruoyun Hui
Welcome to the first Coffee Pod episode! A short series about the Turing's AI for Science and Government fund, that gives you the chance to hear about the people behind the project. Each episode you’ll be listening to a different colleague, their background, career and most importantly… how they like their coffee. Joining podcast host Bea this week is Ruoyun Hui, a postdoctoral research associate at The Alan Turing Institute. This series is hosted by Bea Costa Gomes and produced by Luca Lane. The music has been produced by Spiders Eat Vinyl.
E25 · 10 Mar 2023 · 1 hr 6 min
AI in the financial sector
With Dr Adrian Weller (Programme Director and Turing Fellow) and Kate Platonova (Group Chief Data Analytics Officer at HSBC), Ed Chalstrey discusses how AI is being used in financial services and what data is useful in banking today.
E24 · 24 Feb 2023 · 35 min
The Stats Gap
Join Ed and David as they speak to Ellen Pasternack, a PHD student in evolutionary biology at the University of Oxford. Ellen is a science writer for UnHerd and Works in Progress. In this episode, we’re going to chat about one of her most recent articles, "The Stats Gap", which explores the issues with statistical education for university scientists.
E23 · 30 Jan 2023 · 49 min
How much can we limit the rising of the seas?
Join Aoife and Sally as they chat to Dr Tamsin Edwards about how she uses AI to predict rising sea levels, following her Turing Lecture at the Royal Institution.Tamsin is a climate scientist, specialising in the uncertainties of climate model predictions, particularly for ice sheets and glaciers. Within her research, she also uses information about past climates to improve predictions for the future. In this podcast, we will be catching up with her as she answers some of the questions that the audience submitted at the Turing Lecture which did not get asked. Watch Tamsin's full Turing…
E22 · 17 Jan 2023 · 35 min
Where next for self-driving vehicles?
Join Aoife and Torty as they chat with Professor Sarah Sharples about the current state of technology and AI around driverless vehicles.Sarah (chief scientific advisor for the department for transport) recently did a Turing lecture at the Royal Institution, discussing the topic.In this podcast, she’ll be answering a range of different questions from the evening.
S3 · E5 · 12 Dec 2022 · 56 min
Footballers on Twitter: What is fair game?
This week we are joined by Manchester United women’s footballer Aoife Mannion, Author and CEO of Glitch Seyi Akiwowo and Turing Researcher Pica Johansson to discuss online abuse suffered by football players and other athletes online. The Turing recently partnered with OfCom, who comissioned a report in relation to its upcoming role as the UK’s Online Safety regulator tracking abuse on Twitter against football players in the 2021-22 Premier League Season. You can read more on this report here: Tracking abuse on Twitter against football players in the 2021-22 Premier League Season | The Alan…

About The Turing Podcast

The Turing Podcast is an exciting podcast from The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence.

The Turing Podcast is a English tech & science podcast from The Alan Turing Institute. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: The Alan Turing Institute
Language: English
Category: Tech & Science
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 46 min
Latest episode: 4 Aug 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1504860303

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