The project
Connect-Ed is the Entrepreneur in Residence network for Scotland's universities and colleges - a platform that connects experienced practitioners, mentors, visiting professors, and commercial champions with academic institutions.
The network includes the University of Edinburgh, University of Strathclyde, Edinburgh Napier, University of Stirling, the University of the West of Scotland, and organisations including the Scottish Government, the Scottish Funding Council, Converge Challenge, and Research and Innovation Scotland.
Between January and May 2025, Connect-Ed ran eight live events bringing together entrepreneurs, practitioners, and academic professionals around the theme of entrepreneurship in higher education.
The ambition
The ambition from the start was to produce something that would last - content that would serve the Connect-Ed community long after each event had ended, be useful to institutions across the network, and remain discoverable and relevant for years to come.
The conversations happening in those rooms had real value. The challenge was making sure that value reached beyond the rooms it happened in.
The production approach
We worked alongside the Connect-Ed team across all eight events, building our production approach around the reality of the people involved rather than a fixed template.
Some conversations were captured on the day. Others were scheduled as follow-up interviews in the days or weeks after - in person or remotely - depending on what suited each host and guest and what the content of that particular event called for.
Working with academics, senior practitioners, and institutional figures with demanding schedules and specific contexts requires flexibility and responsiveness, and that shaped how we approached every stage of this project.
Where it lives
The series is available on all major podcast platforms, on YouTube, and within Connect-Ed's community space on the Community Lab platform.
It is used by universities and colleges across Scotland as an educational and professional development resource and continues to be actively discovered across all platforms.
The content was built to last, and it has.
