Studio Erasmus was held in the foyer of Theatre Rotterdam every third Tuesday of the month for eight years. Geert Maarse is the regular presenter of the freely accessible late-night science talk show, a lively evening about science and current affairs with three guests, a mini-lecture and live music. Corona brought an end to it. Willem Scholten, a Science Programme Maker at Erasmus University Rotterdam, provided a valuable alternative: Studio Erasmus the podcast/video. A long, in-depth interview with a scientist about the effects of Corona every week.
Did you and Geert immediately decide: ‘We have to do something related to Corona?’
‘Studio Erasmus previously dealt with unique PhD research topics and actual questions in the city raised in online magazine Vers Beton, for example, such as waste processing or the terror of shared bicycles. But Corona is an issue that affects us all. We looked into how best to use the strength of the EUR. That is not by responding to every news item, but by looking at the issues from a scientific perspective, and by contemplating and explaining them.’
I’m glad you do this because I miss that in the regular talk shows.
‘I think that content is very important. I find it much more important than opinion. I think it’s our role and task as a university to put things in a broader perspective. We are a public institution that conducts research and gathers knowledge. It’s great that our scientists can share that knowledge. By showing the scientist and the person behind the scientist in the podcast, we hope that the listener will be able to make better assessments.’
The interviews take approximately 45 minutes each. That’s quite long.
‘We think it’s the right length for the podcast medium. And the subject needs it. Corona causes a lot of suffering. You can’t cover that in a few sound bites. For example, in the first podcast philosopher Marli Huijer asks elderly people to think about their death. If we reported that briefly, the sound bite could turn out something like: ‘The elderly should make way for the young.’ But that’s not what she’s saying. We can explore ethical issues in-depth in each podcast.’
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Curious about which interviews you can expect at Studio Erasmus the upcoming weeks? Check out the platform
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Text by: Esther Wienese
Photo: Studio Erasmus
