University of East London

And our guest today has devoted his life to thinking about these critical issues.

Alex Thomas is a senior lecturer at the University of East London and the author of The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism.

He first started studying transhumanism years ago when it was an abstract academic curiosity.

And he's watched as it's become, in his own words, arguably the most powerful ideological force on the planet.

But then also I'm finding working with some nutrition companies and some dietary supplement companies.

For instance, we have a great collagen research project going on right now in collaboration with East London University and Dr. Lee Brown out of there, who's a brilliant scientist in the UK, very passionate about firefighters.

working with Kent Fire and Rescue Services.

So we're doing a 12-week collagen study.

So I met obviously a lot of people from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, then just the U.S. Olympic Committee in London, and then moved over here soon after the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

So in London, I worked for the University of East London, and we hosted a lot of olympic and paralympic activity fun to talk about of which was the high performance training center for team usa it wasn't the most profitable but not a lot of people are terribly interested in talking about housing bus drivers For

that, you can check out my other podcast, Transit Tales.

Transit

And then it really went from there.

And that interest led me into doing a PhD, setting up the first coaching psychology program in the UK at the University of East London, working for a couple of the digital coaching businesses, CoachUp and Ezra as a SVP.

And really during the whole of that time, really going back to the 90s, doing coaching.

And then from the early 2000s, 2005, something like that, introducing coaching supervision and supervising clients.

People would say things like, oh, well, there's no point asking addicts because you can't believe anything they say.

There's this really dismissive environment around about actually just taking the time to hear people's accounts and and learn from them um and and also i was there was um like i was exchanging letters with another phd researcher at university of east london called anthea martin because she'd posted a little um thing in the letters column of the psychologist saying i'm doing a phd on addictions i'm doing qualitative work i'd be interested in speaking to other people who are doing this and we wrote actual letters sent them back and forward and anthea was doing uh discourse analysis and so the the conversation as it went back and forth really helped me to consolidate in my own head why I wasn't doing something more discursive and why I was interested in trying to take experience seriously.

And I found myself thinking back to things that I'd read as an undergraduate a few years before.

I had a bit of a gap between my undergraduate degree and my PhD.

Over a career spanning more than three decades, Ava has shaped national and international conversations about early years provision, childcare funding, quality, access, and the role of government in supporting childrens and families.

As Emeritus Professor of Early Childhood at the University of East London, Ava's research has influenced policymakers, practitioners, and sector leaders alike.

She is widely recognized for her work examining the impact of childcare markets, advocating for equitable access to high quality early education, and championing the needs of disadvantaged children and families.

Throughout her career, Ava has advised UK government departments, local authorities, and international governments on early years policy and childcare reform, helping to shape approaches to funding, quality, and access, both in the UK and overseas.

Hello, Michelle.

I'm Ava Lloyd.

I'm an Emeritus Professor of Early at University of East London, which means I retired.

I am retired.

Yeah.

[laughs] So Alex is a, a lecturer at the University of East London, and, um, is also a filmmaker.

There's a, a absolutely fantastic film that has, is it, like, a million views on YouTube?

I think it's got about-

which college did you go to?

University of East London.

Which is

in Tower Hamlets, that one?