Episodios

  • 108: Generative AI Has a Body Bias: Who Gets to Be Seen?

    108: Generative AI Has a Body Bias: Who Gets to Be Seen?
    Mar 30 2026
    Welcome back to Appearance Matters: The Podcast! In this month’s episode, Kat speaks to Dr Aisha Sobey. Aisha is a Research Associate at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, where she studies the ethical implications of Generative AI and digital health systems, especially focusing on the impacts on non-normative bodies, employing Political Economy, Science and Technology Studies, Fat Studies, and Disability Studies theories in her work. Read more about Aisha’s work here: https://www.lcfi.ac.uk/people/aisha-sobey Read Aisha’s study on GenAI and weight bias here: Sobey, A. (2025). The thinness of GenAI: Body size in relation to the construction of the normate through GenAI image models. AI and Ethics, 5(4), 4181–4196. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-025-00684-x If you’re interested in hearing more about the Appearance Matters Conference, hosted by the Centre for Appearance Research (9th – 11th of June 2026), click here: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/appearance/news-and-events/am-conference Cover image by Trevor James Episode image by Yutong Liu & Digit / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music by Sian Evans & John Landau: toplinefilm.com Episode developed and produced by Kat Schneider
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    33 m
  • Episode 107: Social Media & Visible Difference

    Episode 107: Social Media & Visible Difference
    Mar 2 2026
    Welcome back to Appearance Matters: The Podcast! In this month’s episode, Ella speaks to Research Fellow Dr Emma Waite and Visiting Professor Dr Amy Slater from the Centre for Appearance Research about their work on social media and visible difference as part of the VTCT Foundation Programme of Research at CAR. They are also joined by Laure Dedecker, a PhD student at the Media Psychology Lab at KU Leuven in Belgium who researches the role of social media in body image development among young individuals with a visible difference. They talk about the social media experiences of people with visible differences, how social media might be used in a positive way, and discuss Australia’s new social media ban for under 16s. The social media resources discussed will be coming soon to the Visible Difference Support Hub: https://visibledifferencesupporthub.com/ Journal article (Guest et al., 2025) exploring the experiences of adults with visible differences in relation to social media: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0324938 Journal article (Dedecker et al., 2025) examining content and responses to influencers with visible different: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144525000725?via%3Dihub If you’re interested in finding out more about the Appearance Matters Conference, hosted by the Centre for Appearance Research (9th – 11th of June 2026), click here: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/appearance/news-and-events/am-conference Cover image by Armin Rimoldi via Pexels Music by Sian Evans & John Landau: toplinefilm.com Episode developed and produced by Ella Guest
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    1 h y 5 m
  • 106: In Conversation with Zali Yager – AM11 Keynote Speaker

    106: In Conversation with Zali Yager – AM11 Keynote Speaker
    Jan 16 2026
    Welcome back to Appearance Matters: The Podcast! In this month’s episode, Kat speaks to Zali Yager, an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Institute for Health and Sport at Victoria University, Australia, and the founder and executive director of the Embrace Collective. The Embrace Collective: https://theembracehub.com/ If you’re interested in hearing more about the Appearance Matters Conference, hosted by the Centre for Appearance Research (9th – 11th of June 2026), click here: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/appearance/news-and-events/am-conference Appearance Matters 11 early bird registration is available until the 31st of January! Cover image by Trevor James Music by Sian Evans & John Landau: toplinefilm.com Episode developed and produced by Kat Schneider
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    30 m
  • 105. In Conversation with Phyllida Swift - AM11 Keynote Speaker

    105. In Conversation with Phyllida Swift - AM11 Keynote Speaker
    Dec 15 2025
    Welcome back to Appearance Matters the podcast! This month we are kicking off our Appearance Matters 11 conference series. This month Maia speaks with Phyllida Swift CEO of Face Equality international about her inspirational work with the organisation, her path into working into the visible difference field, some highlights of her career so far, as well as goals for the future. Phyllida also speaks about her previous AM conference highlights and key messages she hopes to share in her keynote in June. Join us for a really reflective and insightful discussion about combining the personal and professional in the non-profit sector and to hear some teasers for Appearance Matters 11. To find out more about the work of Face Equality International click here: https://faceequalityinternational.org/ Registration for Appearance Matters 11 is now open! Early bird registration fees will be available until the 31st of January 2026! For more information about Appearance Matters 11 click here: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/appearance/news-and-events/am-conference or follow this link to go directly to the registration page: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/appearance/news-and-events/am-conference/registration
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    33 m
  • Episode 104: Family planning when you have a heritable visible difference

    Episode 104: Family planning when you have a heritable visible difference
    Nov 30 2025
    Welcome back to Appearance Matters: The Podcast! In this month’s episode, Ella speaks to Dr Kerry Montgomery, who is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Appearance Research, about the STAR Project. Kerry’s work explores how people with conditions that affect appearance and that can be passed on to their children make decisions about starting a family.  They talk about research Kerry has carried out with prospective parents who have visible differences and genetic counsellors. Please be aware that this episode contains discussion of pregnancy, family planning, and termination, which might be sensitive for some listeners.  If you’re interested in hearing more about the Centre for Appearance conference, Appearance Matters 11 (9th – 11th of June 2026) click here:  https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/appearance/news-and-events/am-conference Photo by Warren Umoh on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/a-chain-link-fence--qycBqByWIY?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink Music by Sian Evans & John Landau: toplinefilm.com Episode developed and produced by Ella Guest
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    41 m
  • 103: Weight-Inclusive Physical Activity

    103: Weight-Inclusive Physical Activity
    Oct 30 2025
    Welcome back to Appearance Matters: The Podcast! In this month’s episode, Kat speaks to Dr Luciana Zuest (Towson University, US) and Dr Eva Pila (Western University, Canada) about weight bias and weight stigma in sport and exercise settings, and how to make physical activity spaces more inclusive for all bodies. Dr Eva Pila: https://www.uwo.ca/fhs/kin/about/faculty/pila_e.html Body Image & Health Research Lab: https://bihlab.com/, @bihresearch (Instagram) Dr Luciana Zuest: https://www.towson.edu/chp/departments/kinesiology/facultystaff/luciana-zuest.html Weight-Inclusive Thinking for Fitness Spaces: https://www.weightinclusivethinking.com/ If you’re interested in hearing more about the Appearance Matters Conference, hosted by the Centre for Appearance Research (9th – 11th of June 2026), click here:  https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/appearance/news-and-events/am-conference Appearance Matters 11 abstract submissions are now open and the deadline is the 7th of November! Cover image by Trevor James Music by Sian Evans & John Landau: toplinefilm.com Episode developed and produced by Kat Schneider
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    41 m
  • 102: The Visible Difference Support Hub

    102: The Visible Difference Support Hub
    Sep 30 2025
    Welcome back to Appearance Matters: The Podcast! In this month’s episode, Maia speaks to Prof. Di Harcourt about the development of The Visible Difference Support Hub, a brand new website that is aims to provide easy access to evidence-based support for people with visible differences and their families which has been developed at CAR. Di and Maia talk about the research that has gone into creating these support resources, the development process of the support hub, and the kind of materials people can find on the website. If you’d like to explore or share The Visible Difference Support Hub please follow this link: https://visibledifferencesupporthub.com/ If you’ve spent time on The Visible Difference Support Hub and would like to provide us with some feedback, please click here: https://uwe.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_57m45grMC7LHeWa If you’re interested in hearing more about the Centre for Appearance conference, Appearance Matters 11 (9th – 11th of June 2026) click here: https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/appearance/news-and-events/am-conference Appearance Matters 11 abstract submissions are now open and the deadline is the 30th of October!
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    26 m
  • Summer Short Series: Visible Difference Parenting Toolkit

    Summer Short Series: Visible Difference Parenting Toolkit
    Aug 28 2025
    Welcome to our 2025 Summer Short Series! We're back with bitesize episodes showcasing recent work from our team at the Centre for Appearance Research! In this episode, we are joined by Dr Maia Thornton, Senior Research Fellow at CAR, who tells us about her recent paper entitled: The Visible Difference Parenting Toolkit: development of an ACT-based intervention to improve the well-being of parents and caregivers of children with appearance-affecting conditions and injuries. Maia discusses a support intervention for parents of children with visible differences, which she developed during her PhD. In this episode, we also introduce two new podcast hosts. Dr Kat Schneider and Dr Ella Guest are both Senior Research Fellows at CAR who will be joining the podcast team. Read Maia's open access paper: https://academic.oup.com/jpepsy/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jpepsy/jsaf054/8205549 Find out more about the Visible Difference Support Hub https://visibledifferencesupporthub.com/ Cover image by Trevor James Music by Sian Evans & John Landau: toplinefilm.com Episode developed and produced by Maia Thornton & Ella Guest
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    16 m