The (Re)Searching Identity Podcast: Supporting Students in Navigating their Social, Professional and Academic Identities

As a university, we aim to support students in their personal and professional development. How can we strengthen their connection with their study environment and future work field from the start of their studies?

In her CLI Fellowship, Jana Vietze (ESSB) researched the Identity Podcast Intervention, a project focused on enhancing students’ identification with their study programme and future profession. The intervention consists of three sessions: 

1. Students listen to and reflect on newly recorded podcast episodes. In each episode, one scientist or professional is interviewed about their experiences at work and in academia and how these experiences may have been shaped by their own culture, ethnicity, or race.
2. Students use established interviewing techniques to co-create and record their own podcast episodes, thereby actively engaging with minoritized and marginalized stories and experiences of a scientist or professional of their choice. 
3. Students and their teacher reflect on the complexity and heterogeneity of experiences encountered in the podcast episodes and relate them to societal and educational issues of marginalization.

The intervention has proven successful in making students more aware of marginalized stories and in helping them to better envision themselves, including their cultural and gender identities, in their future profession.

Want to discover the findings of the project and its potential contribution to more inclusive learning opportunities? Join us for this CLI Lunch & Learn on 13 March!