As we wrap up season three of Transforming Tomorrow, we consider how the vast range of subjects out guests have brought into the studio are and attempt to tie these topics together.

This brings us to issues of politics and the law, Artificial Intelligence, and the experiences of businesspeople and researchers that ties them to their subjects.

Join us on a journey that takes us from courtrooms to boardrooms, government chambers to war zones, cotton fields to refugee camps, and it is amazing to see how things fit with each other, and how quickly change can come.

We discuss the optimism and determination of our guests to make a difference, how personal experiences drive them, and how the compassion they have directed their work.

We see how ideas and ideals have come together, think about what the next year might bring, and wonder some more about the next generation and rethinking how things work.

Plus, can Jan pick out the ringer from a list of topics to have been discussed on the show over the last 12 months – the answer is not badgers, but is it the Moomins, Kevin Bacon, Logan’s Run or shampoo?

And, to show us that things really are always changing, since recording this episode, Donald Trump has brought up his desire to control Greenland once again! We suspect we will be mentioning his name again in seasons to come.

We’re not the biggest fans of Artificial Intelligence on Transforming Tomorrow, but are our minds about to be changed? We are ready to discover how AI is being used to make a positive difference in the world of sustainability.

Dr Mahmoud Gad, from Lancaster University Management School, returns to the show to talk to us about his work developing an AI platform that can analyse companies’ modern slavery statements both accurately and quickly.

We find out what UK businesses need to do when it comes reporting and mitigating modern slavery in their operations and supply chains; what has changed over recent years as Mahmoud and his colleagues have worked in the area; and learn all about the AI platform he has been building – and why his team has done it.

This podcast highlights the limits of the existing manual processes for reading and analysing reports and how the time such analysis takes limits the number of reports that can be analysed for any given study. We examine interpretation bias by both people and AI when it comes to such analysis. We also find out the importance of how the AI platform is built as well as who builds the platforms.

Plus, Paul shocks Jan, Mahmoud and himself with AI’s description of their dazzling careers and achievements. Why is Paul irked today? And why does one of Jan’s colleagues never want to work on analysis with her again?!?

Details of Mahmoud’s project can be found here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/data-science-and-artificial-intelligence/about-us/news/funding-for-lancaster-team-to-develop-ai-tool-to-improve-modern-slavery-reporting

The platform he talks about is here: https://www.antislaveryintelligence.co.uk/

And evidence from a 2022 review of modern slavery reporting in the UK is in this report: https://media.frc.org.uk/documents/FRC_Modern_Slavery_Reporting_Practices_in_the_UK_2022.pdf

Episode Transcript

It’s easy to let climate change get us down. To allow political tide of anti-sustainability rhetoric to carry you away. But while it is easy to feel despondent from time to time, it is important to feel safe when expressing your emotions.

To help us, Dr Nadine Andrews, an Honorary Researcher here at the Pentland Centre, and a facilitator of climate and eco psychology processes, brings her expertise to talk us through the mental and psychological toll climate change can take on us.

We consider how the urgency of climate change can hit us; learn about psycho-social factors and how they affect us; talk about the values-action gap and where that fits in terms of behaviour on sustainability; look at climate change as a psychological threat, and how that manifests in each of us.

Nadine tells us about her work studying sustainability professionals, and how they would suppress their beliefs in the workplace, how they revitalise themselves, and how it could all lead to burnout.

Is it inevitable that the more we know about climate change, the more emotionally affected by it we will be? Nadine gives us the evidence from her work with climate assemblies, and how members felt after their involvement – and after the Scottish government responded.

Plus, we get out the thesaurus to consider vitality, well-being, hope, optimism and thriving in a sustainability context; put negative emotions in the bin in favour of difficult emotions; remember to think about non-human people; and ask if is Paul undercharging for his therapy sessions?

Read about Nadine’s work with climate assemblies here: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_16/22/

Recent research on climate concern can be found here: https://www.lrfoundation.org.uk/news/global-concern-about-climate-change-reaches-record-high

And this is a resource for understanding the values action gap: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-action_gap

Episode Transcript