Medi-Culture Conversations
Series 2 Episode 3: Laura Tyas from the Florence Nightingale Museum

In this episode, Ilsa is joined by Laura Tyas, Director of the Florence Nightingale Museum, to explore the legacy of Florence Nightingale. Laura reflects on growing up in a family of nurses, Florence's pioneering use of statistics to change health policy, and what her own long illness might tell us about how women's health has been understood. They also discuss Bits and Bobs, the museum's space for conversations about women's health, and the museum's work with school groups.

Medi-Culture Conversations

Series 2 Episode 2: Professor Steve Cross

Host: Ilsa Jones

In this episode, Ilsa is joined by Professor Steve Cross, founder of Science Showoff and Bright Club, to explore why laughter belongs at a festival about health. Steve shares how Science Showoff began, how scientists and health professionals find the nerve to try stand-up, and what makes comedy such a powerful way to teach and to make sense of difficult subjects. Science Showoff returns to the London Bridge Hive this Medi-Culture.

Medi-Culture Conversations

Series 2 Episode 1: John Hegley

Host: Ilsa Jones

Medi-Culture Conversations is the official podcast of the Medi-Culture Festival, celebrating health, science and wellbeing in the heart of London Bridge this Autumn. Across a series of short episodes, we go beyond the festival programme to explore the ideas, research and people behind the events. From poetry and stand-up comedy to Pilates, women's health, the science of death and the wellbeing of NHS nurses, each conversation uncovers the stories and ideas shaping how we understand health today.

Hosted by Team London Bridge, the podcast features interviews with poets, comedians, museum directors, festival organisers, local business owners and healthcare professionals. Together, we explore how culture, creativity and community can support healthier lives, and why London Bridge, from Keats's medical training at Guy's to Florence Nightingale's legacy, has long been a place where medicine and innovation meet. Whether you are attending the festival or simply curious about the intersection of health and culture, Medi-Culture Conversations offers a space to slow down, learn something new, and connect with the ideas behind the programme.

In this first episode of the new series, Ilsa is joined by John Hegley, performance poet, comedian and former poet in residence at Keats House, to explore what John Keats means to him. John reflects on how his time at Keats House became a lifeline for his wellbeing, why Keats is still celebrated two centuries on, and where science and art meet. They also look ahead to Keats at the Kirk, John's annual birthday celebration of the poet who trained as a surgeon-apothecary at Guy's, held in Guy's Chapel, just metres from Keats's statue, with friends, music and a healthy dose of the absurd.

Medi-Culture Conversations

Episode 4 with Jo Travers

Host: Ilsa Jones

In this episode, Ilsa is joined by Jo Travers, a registered nutritionist specialising in gut health, immunity and holistic wellbeing, to explore one of the most talked-about areas of health research, and one that is still widely misunderstood.
Together they reflect on Jo's recent Gut Health Essentials workshop and the science behind it, from the role of the microbiome in digestion and immunity, to the gut-brain axis and what it means for our mood, energy and mental wellbeing. They also discuss what genuinely makes a difference to gut health, and why taking care of what's happening inside us matters far more than most of us realise.

Medi-Culture Conversations
Episode 3 with Claudia Biçen
Host: Ilsa Jones

In this episode, Ilsa is joined by Claudia Biçen, a British-American artist whose work weaves together science, myth and illustration, to explore what happens when we stop treating scientific facts as things to be understood, and start experiencing them as things to be felt. Together they reflect on Claudia’s recent workshop, Reimagining Science Through Story and Art, and the ideas at its heart, from microchimerism and deep time to migratory patterns and photosynthesis. They discuss what it means to listen closely to the stories that scientific facts carry, and why meeting the world as an unfolding web of relations, rather than an object of study, might matter deeply for our health and wellbeing.

Medi-Culture Conversations
Episode 2 with Sarah Williams-Robbins
Host: Ilsa Jones

In this episode, Ilsa is joined by Sarah Williams-Robbins, an accredited City of London guide and health promotion specialist known as Mrs Londoner, to explore the history of medicine, healing and disease in one of London's most storied neighbourhoods. Together they trace the story of London Bridge as a site of healing, from the monks and nuns who shaped early approaches to care, to the herbs and remedies that preceded modern medicine, to the Thames itself as a source of both illness and renewal. They also reflect on what it means to walk through a place mindfully, and why moving through history on foot offers something that reading about it simply cannot.