Opening Doors for Academic Voices

How can podcasting bring diverse voices and forms of academic work to a larger audience?

Neil and Jen sit down with Will Brehm, creator of FreshEd, to talk about how a decade of academic podcasting has evolved from a simple interview show into a broader platform for research, storytelling, and new voices. Will shares how FreshEd grew into a multi-show network, why moving beyond English-language content matters, and what he’s learned experimenting with formats like narrative series and audio journals.

The conversation digs into bigger questions, too: what it would take for podcasting to be recognized as legitimate scholarly output, how institutions can start to value non-traditional research, and why building an audience is just as important as creating the work itself. It’s a thoughtful look at where academic podcasting is today and where it needs to go.

Episode Links:

• Connect with Will | Bio |LinkedIn
• FreshEd

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Chapters:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (04:31) - Fresh Ed’s Mission and Making Research Accessible
• (08:15) - Will & Fresh Ed’s Journey
• (14:42) - Flux and Putting Students at the Center
• (14:56) - The Thinking Ear and the Idea of an Audio Journal
• (19:13) - Funding, Open Access, and Staying Ad-Free
• (22:22) - Advice for Recognizing Podcasting as Research Output
• (25:44) - Lessons Learned After 10 Years of Podcasting
• (27:51) - What Needs to Change for Podcasting in Academia
• (32:45) - Conclusion

Join us at Higher Ed Pod Con in Cleveland, OH, July 16 - 17 2026
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