We are six months into our sponsorship of Drs Confess, the podcast hosted by Drs Helen Nuttall and Kate Slade. It is reaching a growing international audience and providing valuable informal mentorship to researchers. We look at what our support has enabled so far and the difference the podcast is making to its listeners.
Dr Helen Nuttall and Dr Kate Slade, both of Lancaster University, started the Drs Confess podcast in 2022. It’s a platform for honest, thoughtful and often humorous conversations about the parts of academic life that are not always openly discussed.
The podcast opens up the ‘secret diary’ of academic life. It helps to normalise the ups and downs of research careers and offers reassurance to listeners who may be navigating similar experiences. To date, Helen and Kate have explored topics including academic promotion and rejection, preparing for a viva, confidence and communication, and the transition from PhD to postdoctoral life.
What our sponsorship has supported
Since our sponsorship began in April 2026, Helen and Kate have been able to strengthen the podcast’s production and promotion. They have employed award-winning podcast producer Dr Eva Higginbotham, commissioned new cover artwork and recruited a student to support social media through a widening participation internship at Lancaster University.
To date, they have released the following episodes as part of Season 2:
- Confessions of a new research group leader – recorded live at our Annual Symposium with special guest Dr Sophia Amenyah (pictured above)
- Confessions from the edge of promotion
- Confessions of an academic chameleon, with PhD student Ewan Dean
- Confessions from backstage
- Confessions of a postdoc, with Dr Haydn Farrelly
- Confessions of a Dr with a broken no button, with Dr Rachel Honeyghan-Williams
Over the remaining six months of our sponsorship period, Helen and Kate will be exploring topics relevant to researchers at different career stages. For example, stepping into leadership roles and preparing for retirement.
Reach and impact
The podcast has seen a steady rise in monthly listeners since its inception in 2022. And analytics show a substantial increase in downloads since our sponsorship began, with new listeners also going back through the back catalogue of episodes. Between August 2025 and August 2026, monthly downloads increased by more than 500% approximately.
Statistics show that although 53% of listeners are spread around the UK, the podcast has a broad reach globally. Around a quarter of listeners come from the US, and there is a significant listenership in Belgium, Japan, Canada and Germany.
More than listener numbers
The impact of Drs Confess is being felt beyond listener numbers. Helen and Kate were invited to speak about the podcast at a research culture event at Lancaster University, and both are finalists in the She Inspires Awards, with the podcast forming part of the rationale for their nominations.
The clearest evidence of the podcast’s impact comes from its listeners. Their messages show that Drs Confess is more than entertainment alone. It offers informal digital mentorship, making the unwritten knowledge of academic life accessible to researchers who may not receive this support within their own institution or research environment. Here are some extracts of messages from listeners, which we have anonymised:
This podcast is an absolutely essential resource for early career researchers in science; your episodes do something extremely important in unearthing the hidden curriculum of research, and inspiring others to seek opportunities that they may have felt anxious to do so.
I have recommended the episode “Living La Viva Voce” (11/10 for the title!) to all of my PhD students because it will settle their anxieties and explain a lot that simply isn’t explicitly taught.
Your podcast not only entertains me and makes me laugh out loud, but gets to the heart of some things that are missing from what we teach – experiences, transparency around procedures and processes, and above all, that scientists are humans.
Help us to grow the audience
For early career researchers, experienced academics, professional services colleagues and anyone interested in improving research culture, the podcast offers a welcoming and accessible way to hear honest reflections from people who understand the pressures, possibilities and practical realities of research careers.
We would love even more people to discover Drs Confess. So please take a listen, share it with a colleague or recommend it to someone who might find it useful.
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You can find Drs Confess wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Follow Drs Confess on Instagram and LinkedIn.
