• 28 minutes 34 seconds
    Mary Robinson: Why Climate Justice Is Central to Human Flourishing

    Stories of Impact brings back some of our favorite conversations this season. In the next two episodes, we dive into the climate crisis. Today, we hear from Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and tireless advocate for climate justice. She explains why we must include everyone — young people, indigenous groups, women, the natural world — when we talk about the future of our planet.

    Learn more:

    20 October 2026, 4:01 am
  • 25 minutes 8 seconds
    Dr. Berry Billingsley: Big Questions That Change How We Learn

    Stories of Impact brings back some of our favorite conversations this season. Today, we revisit an episode from last season, where we heard from Dr. Berry Billingsley, an education researcher in Swansea in the UK. Frustrated by the lack of questions in her science class, she began a quest to encourage students to think, about themselves, life, and the universe.

    Read the transcript of this episode Catch the video edition of this episode here: Big Questions in Classrooms

    Subscribe to Stories of Impact wherever you listen to podcasts Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube Share your comments, questions and suggestions at [email protected] Supported by Templeton World Charity Foundation

    6 October 2026, 4:01 am
  • 37 minutes 17 seconds
    Freddy Mutanguha: Forgiveness & Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda

    Stories of Impact brings back some of our favorite conversations this season. In our last episode, we visited Medellín, Colombia. Today, we travel to Rwanda, a country that was ravaged by the genocide against the Tutsis in 1990, for a story about how a path to forgiveness and piece is possible even after the worst of tragedies.

    Today's episode offers a powerful example of courage, peace, and forgiveness. Our story looks back thirty years, to one of the most violent periods in modern history — the genocide against the Tutsi — and to the resilience and wisdom of the Rwandan spirit and heart.

    On April 6, 1994, beautiful Rwanda, known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, became a hell on Earth. Between April and July 1994, hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were slaughtered in a horrifying frenzy of state-sponsored terror.

    Freddy Mutanguha, an ethnic Tutsi, was just eighteen years old when the genocide began. Today, Freddy shares the story of his unimaginable losses, the miracle of his survival, and his life's work nurturing peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation in his country and across the world. A warning: this episode includes descriptions of murders – it's a difficult listen, but an important one.

    • • Supported by Templeton World Charity Foundation

    15 September 2026, 4:01 am
  • 24 minutes 54 seconds
    Judith Jamison: How Movement Can Express the Soul

    Stories of Impact brings back some of our favorite conversations this season. Our expert today is not a researcher, but a former world-class dancer: Judith Jamison. Judith sadly passed away in 2024, but when we spoke with her in 2021, she shared the incredible story of revered Black dancer Alvin Ailey and what she's learned from a life spent in the arts.

    Learn more:

    2 September 2026, 5:00 pm
  • 25 minutes 25 seconds
    Dr. Santiago Tobón – From Gangs to Growth: Fighting for the Future of Medellín's Teens

    Stories of Impact brings back some of our favorite conversations this season. This time, we travel to Medellín, Colombia, to meet Dr. Santiago Tobón. He has dedicated his life to understanding the structures and societal role of Medellín's criminal gangs, why teenagers want to join them, and how to help them see that a lawful life can be prosperous, too.

    1 September 2026, 10:00 am
  • 29 minutes 49 seconds
    Dr. David Sloan Wilson: What Makes Human Cooperation Possible

    Stories of Impact brings back some of our favorite conversations this season. Today we revisit an episode from our first season, aired during the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. David Sloan Wilson is a biological sciences researcher at Binghamton University, and he explains what actually makes teamwork dream work, how cultures engender or discourage cooperation, and how to get people from different backgrounds to cooperate during times of crisis.

    Learn more about David Sloan Wilson and the Evolution Institute.

    Mentioned in this episode:

    4 August 2026, 4:01 am
  • 28 minutes 4 seconds
    Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas: What Can Heal Widespread Loneliness

    Stories of Impact brings back some of our favorite conversations this season. In our last episode, we heard about the positive effects of coming together and sharing a meal. But for millions of Americans, that rarely happens. In fact, some 20 million people in the US today say they don't have any friends. So how do we solve this loneliness epidemic? Today, we revisit a conversation with Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas, who studies just that.

    Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas is the Science Director at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, which tracks cutting edge research studies that focus on how important our relationships, our tendency towards generosity and cooperation, and our sense of mattering or contribution to our communities are to our health and wellbeing over the course of our lives. She wants to understand the science of loneliness.

    21 July 2026, 4:01 am
  • 24 minutes 30 seconds
    Dr. Adam Cohen, Aliza Kline and Dr. Arielle Levites: Gathering at the Table for Connection and Belonging

    Today we're back in conversation with Dr. Adam Cohen, social psychologist and psychologist of religion at Arizona State University, who shares another research project that explores the way religious ritual connects participants more deeply not only with faith, but with community — this time, not through the practice of abstaining from food, but from breaking bread together.

    Dr. Arielle Levites, Managing Director of the Collaborative for Applied Studies in Jewish Education and a Research Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University had the same idea — that observing Shabbat wasn't just a nice idea, it was a practice with measurable impact.

    So the team designed a study, enlisting the participation of Aliza Kline, founding President and then-CEO of OneTable, an organization designed to help young Jews develop independence and confidence in observing the ritual of Shabbat dinner in their homes. The question they wanted to answer? Does Shabbat dinner as a spiritual practice increase social connectedness?

    Read the transcript of this episode Learn more about the research Subscribe to Stories of Impact wherever you listen to podcasts Find us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Share your comments, questions and suggestions at [email protected] Supported by Templeton World Charity Foundation

    7 July 2026, 4:01 am
  • 26 minutes 23 seconds
    Dr. Athena Aktipis: How Cooperation Emerges in Crisis

    In today's episode we speak to Athena Aktipis, co-director of the Human Generosity Project, about the current results of her study of cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Aktipis discusses the insights both past and current research offer about the extent and the limits of human generosity during catastrophic events.

    This is the third episode in a special, five-part Covid-19 conversation series.

    Learn more about Athena Aktipis and The Human Generosity Project

    Mentioned in this episode:

    A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit

    16 June 2026, 4:01 am
  • 33 minutes 47 seconds
    Dr. Erez Yoeli: What Inspires Altruism in Uncertain Times?

    In today's episode, host Richard Sergay speaks with Erez Yoeli, director of the Applied Cooperation Team at MIT's Sloan School of Management, about how to motivate people to cooperate and behave altruistically during a pandemic. Dr. Yoeli discusses how we can harness the power of reputation to encourage prosocial behavior, and suggests ways to make the message of altruism appeal to everyone in a time when people are receiving conflicting messages about what is right.

    This is the second episode in a special, five-part Covid-19 conversation series.

    Learn more about Erez Yoeli

    Mentioned in this episode:

    2 June 2026, 3:24 pm
  • 29 minutes 35 seconds
    Dr. Joseph Bulbulia: How Spirituality & Belonging Shape Crisis Response

    In this episode, we hear from Joseph Bulbulia, professor at the University of Auckland and the MacLaurin Goodfellow Chair in Theological and Religious Studies. Professor Bulbulia discusses how religious interaction, worship, and teaching come together in different ways to facilitate group cooperation, and what we can learn from that to support us during the pandemic.

    Learn more about Joseph Bulbulia.

    19 May 2026, 2:00 pm
  • More Episodes? Get the App