The Access Folk podcast: co-producing research-based podcasts to enhance dissemination and stakeholder engagement

This short report will outline the case for using collaborative podcasts to curate and disseminate research findings for the benefit of stakeholders. The methods and approaches outlined will draw on the work of Access Folk, a participatory and action research project working with folk singers to increase access and inclusivity within community-based folk singing practices in England (Hield et al., 2026).

Podcasts have become an increasingly popular research output for academics and there is a growing literature on the production (Cook, 2023, Copeland & McGregor, 2021), value (Cox et al. 2023) and review (Beckstead et al., 2024) of such work. There is an abundance of guidance for setting up your own podcast on any subject, both through commercial podcast platforms, such as PodBean or Spotify, and from dedicated online and print publications. However, there has been less engagement with stakeholder and academic co-produced podcasts, balancing the demands of contemporary academia with the research’s value and use for stakeholders. This report will succinctly and critically explore the use of co-produced podcasts through a participatory research project.

Using season one of The Access Folk Podcast (Bones et al., 2023) as a case study, the report describes the stages of recruitment, production and decision making involved in co-producing a research based podcast with community stakeholders. We will present our top tips, potential pitfalls and critical tools for successful collaborative podcasting, including: time management, managing quality, supporting access needs, workflow and dissemination. The short report will be a resource for future engagement with co-produced podcasts as a method of dissemination for participatory research.