Thoughtful Minds

Christopher Mastropietro is a philosopher and longtime collaborator with John Vervaeke on understanding the meaning crisis. In this conversation, we explore why modern life feels increasingly empty. We discuss how Western culture lost its shared frameworks for meaning, and what practices might help us recover a sense of purpose. A conversation about beauty, virtue, wisdom, and finding meaning in a fragmented world.

Fabio Miguel played football at Benfica and in England before his athletic career ended. Instead of staying in comfortable European coaching jobs, he became the strength and conditioning coach for the Palestinian national basketball team. In this conversation, we explore his journey from elite athlete to working in the West Bank and Saudi Arabia. We discuss what drew him to Palestine, how he navigates Middle Eastern culture as a Portuguese outsider, and what he's learned about meaning and purpose along the way.

In this episode, I sit down with historian Dr Lauren Banko to uncover the overlooked stories of pre-1948 Palestine. From medical deportees to patterns of displacement, she explores how microhistories reveal the human side of borders, belonging, and exile. Discover how individual narratives challenge our assumptions about history and why telling these stories matters today.

In this episode I sit down with Dr Peter Henne, an expert on Middle East politics and international religious politics.We dismantle one of the biggest clichés in global politics: the idea of a single, unified "Muslim world". Using network analysis and historical cases, Peter reveals deep fragmentation among Muslim-majority states and shows exactly when leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United States, Russia and elsewhere reach for religious language to gain leverage, and when that strategy backfiresWe also talk about the human cost: how repressing religion fuels migration, how diaspora Muslims live with politicised identities, and why Western policy and media keep misreading faith in international affairs.

Designer, educator, and researcher Annelys de Vet shares her experience working in Palestine and reflects on how design can be used as a tool for solidarity. She shares how working closely with local communities shaped her understanding of resistance, authorship, and the power of visual storytelling in occupied spaces.For more on Annelys work:https://disarmingdesign.comhttps://www.subjectiveeditions.org/https://www.bureaudevet.be/aboutListen to this podcast on YouTube:https://youtu.be/hEcTgRAbKKU?si=uFdE8ad-v7Vw3Riq

What’s it really like doing research in the UK as an international postdoc?In this episode, Dr Eleni Domzaridou shares the truth about life after a PhD. We discuss funding stress, competition, resilience, and the quiet struggles no one talks about.

In a world transformed by AI and plagued by disconnection, what’s the most valuable resource? Matthieu, a PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge, argues that self-awareness and alignment is the new gold in today’s fragmented society.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr Chris PreJean, a Christian scholar who’s spent years studying Islam. We talk about his unique path, the value of real interfaith dialogue, and why some misconceptions about Islam just don’t hold up. We also get into where religion fits in our fast-moving, modern world and how it can actually bring us closer together.