In this edition of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh from the University of East Anglia is in conversation with Nigel Lloyd, a Senior Research Fellow within the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) funded Public Health Intervention Responsiveness Studies Team (PHIRST) at the University of Hertfordshire. Nigel has been working on a project exploring take up of local authority support for SMEs on the topic of wellbeing and shares findings from that work. He kindly invited Helen to find parallels in Evolve's own work to enrich the discussion so the podcast session covers quite a lot of ground!

The PHIRST website with project outputs is here: https://phirst.nihr.ac.uk/evaluations/an-evaluation-of-workplace-health-and-wellbeing-support-in-walsall-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises-smes/

In this shorter podcast to mark Evolve's third anniversary, Prof Sara Connolly turns the tables on regular Evolve Podcast host Dr Helen Fitzhugh, getting her to answer our usual questions: we find out what led her to the team and what she is working on for Evolve's next steps.

May 2025 (only) office hours with Dr Helen Fitzhugh: Book time with Helen Fitzhugh (NBS - Staff)

22nd May 2025 - Register for Evolve third anniversary showcase online: https://forms.office.com/e/0ZLN5T7RMa

The normal length and style of podcast will return in a couple of weeks.

In this episode, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the University of East Anglia speaks with Michael Whitmore, Research Leader at RAND Europe, specialising in health, work and wellbeing. RAND Europe is a not-for-profit research organization and Michael's team were involved in the programme of research that led us to establish the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing toolkit. Michael talks about the issues in workplace wellbeing he has seen recur during his years of experience in this area - but also highlights the new challenges to come as the world of work continues to change.

In this episode of our regular Evolve podcast, Professor Sara Connolly of the University of Leicester speaks with Dr Zofia Bajorek - Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies - about the importance of line management. Zofia talks about her recently released book on line management and how it was inspired not only by all the projects of her professional working life but also as a tribute to the exemplary line management of her co-author Stephen Bevan, who died in 2024.

In this podcast, Professor Kevin Daniels speaks with Chris Tamdjidi, MD and business development director of Awaris, a multinational company that aims to strengthen the mental, emotional, and collaborative capabilities of people in companies. Kevin and Chris discuss how to cultivate resilient habits at individual and organisational level, drawing on insight drawn together in Chris' book: The Resilient Culture: How collective resilience leads to business success.

In this episode of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh of the University of East Anglia speaks with Dr Balissa Greene, an occupational psychologist working in Accenture’s Leadership and Culture practice. Balissa has a strong track record of driving impactful change in diversity, inclusion and wellbeing across the public and private sectors. In this conversation, Balissa shares her insights on how to do 'real world' impactful research and how to overcome resistance to projects that are necessary.

In this podcast, Dr Helen Fitzhugh speaks with Professor Daiga Kamerāde (University of Salford) and Professor Brendan Burchell (University of Cambridge) about their research on the four day working week and other types of working time reduction. Daiga and Brendan share insight into the research trial carried out recently at South Cambridgeshire District Council which showed how the council was able to maintain or improve performance, according to many of its key performance indicators, during the four day week trial.

In this edition of the Evolve Workplace Wellbeing podcast, Professor Kevin Daniels speaks with Professor Paula Brough from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. She is the Director of the Research Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing (WOW) and an expert on the topic of occupational stress and coping. Here, she discusses her work on tackling stress and burnout in high risk occupations - those occupations where challenge and even danger are an integral part of the nature of the job.