The IDEMS Podcast

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.

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.

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.

Michele and David explore two different approaches to building AI systems: tools that enable experts to work faster and more effectively, and tools designed to help more people develop and apply expertise. Drawing on Michele’s work building multi-agent systems for STACK, they discuss how AI can remove technical barriers while keeping human knowledge, judgement and meaningful contribution at the centre.

Lily and David reflect on a new world map that reveals just how much larger Africa is than conventional maps make it appear. They explore why familiar maps distort the size of countries and continents, the mathematics behind different map projections, and why representing Africa at its true scale matters for how we see and understand the continent.