The IDEMS Podcast

Hosted by IDEMS International

Science Education

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Episodes

307

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-GB

About the show

Stories from a social enterprise that uses mathematical sciences in impact-oriented work around the world. Our experiences range from helping some of the world's poorest farmers get value from data, to enabling academics to use AI responsibly in their teaching. We never know what our next task will be but the last 6 years have shown that it is likely to lead to a story.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 23, 202619 min

308 – Introducing the IDEMS Games

Santiago and David introduce the IDEMS Games, a new initiative to make engaging logic puzzles freely available to everyone. Building on Simon Tatham's open-source puzzle collection, they discuss how IDEMS is adapting his code to create more attractive and enjoyable games, without advertising or paywalls. They also explore the potential of these games to support learning and intellectual stimulation across different ages, and the longer-term ambition of developing sustainable business models around freely accessible public goods.

October 20, 202629 min

307 – Rethinking Excel to Shiny in the Age of AI

Lily and David revisit IDEMS' Excel to Shiny tool, which enables people to create interactive data dashboards using spreadsheets rather than writing code. With recent advances in AI making it easier than ever to build dashboards, they explore whether this approach is still relevant. They discuss why specialist knowledge remains essential for meaningful data analysis, and how combining AI with the principles behind Excel to Shiny could make powerful analytical tools more accessible to people with different forms of expertise.

October 16, 202627 min

306 – IDEMS and Palantir – Similar Problems, Different Visions

Michele and David explore how comparing IDEMS with Palantir can help explain IDEMS' technological vision. They discuss how both organisations seek to solve complex problems of data interoperability, but with fundamentally different approaches to ownership and control. They also reflect on how recent advances in AI are making IDEMS' vision of connected technologies with distributed ownership increasingly achievable, opening up new possibilities for technology that serves communities rather than concentrating power.

October 13, 202625 min

305 – Why IDEMS Is a Community Interest Company

Santiago and David discuss why IDEMS was established as a Community Interest Company (CIC), rather than a charity or a conventional for-profit business. They explain how the combination of being a CIC, limited by guarantee and not-for-profit allows IDEMS to pursue commercial opportunities while protecting its social mission. They also explore the wider potential of this legal structure for social enterprises, and why greater recognition and support could help organisations pursue ambitious innovation without compromising their purpose.

October 9, 202621 min

304 – The Early Family Math App and Its Potential for Impact

Santiago and David discuss the Early Family Math app, a collaboration with Chris Wright that aims to help parents and caregivers introduce mathematical thinking into everyday interactions with young children. They reflect on the development of the app and explore its potential to support not only early mathematics learning, but also positive parent-child interactions through shared activities and play. They also discuss opportunities for future research to evaluate the app's potential impact and explore how the approach could be developed further.

October 6, 202625 min

303 – The Challenges of Measuring Profitability in Smallholder Farming

Continuing their reflections on 20 years of research methods support, Lily and David explore the challenges of measuring profitability in smallholder farming. Through an example from agricultural research in West Africa, they discuss how conventional economic measures can overlook the value of community activities, why the way labour is valued matters, and how misleading profitability calculations can influence research and funding decisions.

October 2, 202623 min

302 – The Journey to Our First Patent

George and David reflect on the journey behind IDEMS’ first patent, from recognising the potential of their ideas to navigating the challenges of turning them into a patent application. They discuss how the process helped them identify and refine what was genuinely innovative, the value of working with patent attorneys, and what they learned about the differences between academic research and protecting an invention.

September 29, 202621 min

301 – Understanding Complex Systems Through Observational Studies

Continuing their reflections on 20 years of research methods support, Lily and David explore the value of observational studies in understanding complex systems. Through examples from agricultural research in West Africa, they discuss how looking beyond experiments and surveys can reveal the hows and whys behind people’s choices, generating insights and research questions that might otherwise be missed.

September 25, 202634 min

300 – Our First Patent and the Future of Adaptable Technology

For the 300th episode of the IDEMS Podcast, David and Kate discuss IDEMS’ first patent and the ideas behind it. They explore how rethinking some of the foundations of how technology is built could make it easier to reuse and adapt across different contexts, and how AI is creating new possibilities for technology that can respond to the needs and decisions of the people using it.

September 22, 202637 min

299 – Fund IDEMS, Help Build an Alternative Digital Future

David and Kate make the case for funding IDEMS as it takes its technology and innovation to the next stage. They explain why building a different digital future requires alternatives to conventional models of technology and investment, and invite people to help fund an approach that puts social impact, distributed ownership and long-term mission at its heart.

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