Founded by Honorary Associate Siobhán McHugh and Fiona Martin, the Department of Media and Communications’ Hub for Innovation in Podcasting (HIP) advances podcasting studies via international collaborations, while also teaching, producing and studying podcasts. HIP runs a signature series by internationally acclaimed podcast creatives.

The first session will feature host Patrick Abboud and co-producer Simon Cunich discussing The Making of The Greatest Menace, a remarkable narrative podcast at the intersection of queer history and true crime, about a ‘gay prison’ experiment in Australia.

The new Hub for Innovation in Podcasting‘s founding Directors are Honorary Associate Siobhán McHugh, award-winning podcast producer and author of The Power of Podcasting: Telling Stories Through Sound (UNSW Press 2022), and Fiona Martin, digital media researcher, sound designer, former broadcaster and an award-winning documentary maker.

Members include A/Prof Amanda Tattersall, host of ChangeMakers podcast from the Sydney Policy Lab, which features stories of people engaged in social change, futurist Mark Pesce, host of the award-winning The Next Billion Seconds podcast and Lea Redfern, an award-winning audio producer who teaches podcasting at MECO.

McHugh’s book The Power of Podcasting: Telling Stories Through Sound is a critical analysis of podcasting as new medium and booming industry, a ‘creative confessional’ in which noted insiders reveal their artistic and editorial process, and a homage to global audio storytellers, old and new. The book also investigates the current movement for diversity, inclusion and equality in podcasting.