SEPTEMBER 2026 NEWSLETTER OF THE SOLOMON ATAH PODCAST

What does what researchers know mean for the way we live? The wording is deliberate. It begins with the researcher's knowledge but does not end there. It asks us to consider the relationship between expertise and the realities experienced by individuals, institutions and communities. What does an engineer's research mean for the infrastructure people depend on? What does agricultural science mean for food security and the livelihoods of farmers? What does medical research mean for the prevention and treatment of disease? What does social science reveal about the institutions that shape opportunity, inequality and public life? And, importantly, what prevents useful knowledge from making a difference? These questions invite researchers to step beyond the familiar language of academic specialisation and explain why their work matters in a wider context. Write your opening newsletter paragraph here. Use bold words for emphasis. There comes a point in any undertaking when the achievement itself becomes less important than what it has taught you. For The Solomon Atah Podcast, September was an opportunity to reflect on a significant milestone: 100 episodes devoted to conversations with academics, researchers and people whose work helps us understand the world we inhabit and the world we are creating. Reaching 100 episodes matters. It represents the time invested, the people who have participated, the questions explored and the willingness to keep asking questions that do not always have easy answers. But the number also presents an opportunity to ask a more consequential question. What should happen when knowledge moves beyond the conversation? A researcher may spend years investigating a problem. An engineer may develop a solution. A public health scholar may identify a preventable risk. An agricultural scientist may discover ways to improve food production. A social scientist may explain why an institution fails to serve the people it was established to support. Yet the distance between knowing something and doing something about it can remain considerable. The research may be published, the conference concluded, the thesis examined and the qualification awarded. But has the knowledge reached the people who need it? Has it influenced a decision, improved a process, informed public debate or helped solve a problem? These questions have become increasingly important to the direction of The Solomon Atah Podcast. Our purpose is not simply to make research more visible. It is to create conversations that encourage people to examine ideas, challenge assumptions and consider the consequences of what researchers know. As we look beyond our first 100 episodes, this is the question I want us to pursue together: What does what researchers know mean for the way we live? Welcome to the next chapter. 100 CONVERSATIONS: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? One hundred episodes provide more than a reason to celebrate. They offer an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between knowledge, expertise and society. Every serious research question begins somewhere. Sometimes it emerges from an observation that existing explanations cannot adequately account for. Sometimes it comes from a practical problem that has resisted conventional solutions. Sometimes it challenges an assumption that has been accepted for so long that people have stopped questioning it. Research begins by refusing to take the obvious for granted. That willingness to investigate, test, question and reconsider is one of the most valuable contributions scholars make to society. But the conversations also remind us that expertise alone does not guarantee influence. Knowing more about a problem does not automatically give a researcher the authority to change a policy, the resources to develop a solution or the platform to reach the people who need the findings. Knowledge operates within institutions, economies, political systems and cultures. Its influence depends partly on the conditions in which it is produced, communicated, received and applied. This is particularly important when we consider Africa's development challenges. Across the continent, universities, research institutions and individual scholars are producing knowledge in fields ranging from engineering and agriculture to public health, technology, economics and the social sciences. Yet the existence of expertise does not, by itself, guarantee that expertise will translate into infrastructure, enterprises, employment or better public services. We must therefore examine more than the quality of the research. We must also examine the systems surrounding it. Who funds research? Who determines which problems receive attention? Who can access the findings? Who is responsible for translating them into practical solutions? And who benefits when knowledge is successfully applied? These are not questions researchers can answer alone. They require engagement among academics, governments, businesses, communities, policymakers and the wider public. Episode 100 brought this spirit of inquiry into sharp focus. In "Does Africa Need to Rethink Freedom?", Professor Akinyele Umoja invites us to revisit a concept that is often invoked but not always examined closely enough. Freedom is not merely a word to celebrate. It is also an idea whose meaning, historical foundations and practical implications deserve scrutiny. What does freedom mean in different circumstances? How do societies understand it? What remains unresolved when political independence is achieved? And how should we evaluate the relationship between the freedom people possess and the conditions in which they live? These questions extend beyond a single conversation. They illustrate why intellectual inquiry matters: it helps us reconsider familiar concepts, interrogate inherited assumptions and think more carefully about the choices before us. Reaching 100 episodes is a milestone. Continuing to ask difficult questions is the work. Watch Episode 100 and explore the podcast archive: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSolomonAtahPod THE BIG QUESTION: WHAT HAPPENS TO KNOWLEDGE AFTER PUBLICATION? Consider a straightforward proposition: a society can produce considerable knowledge without making full use of it. This proposition deserves attention because discussions about development often focus on the absence of expertise. We need more researchers, we are told. More scientists. More engineers. More innovation. More graduates with advanced qualifications. These are important ambitions. But they do not fully explain why existing expertise sometimes fails to produce the expected results. Suppose an engineering team develops a technology that could improve access to electricity. The technical work may be sound, but implementation could depend on finance, regulation, infrastructure, procurement, maintenance and the willingness of institutions to adopt the solution. Or consider agricultural research that identifies ways to improve productivity. The findings may be valuable, but farmers might lack access to credit, equipment, extension services, markets or the information needed to apply them. In public health, evidence may identify an effective intervention, yet the intervention may not reach the people who need it because of limited resources, institutional weaknesses or communication failures. In each example, the problem is not necessarily a shortage of knowledge. It is the difficulty of connecting knowledge to the conditions required for action. This distinction matters. If we diagnose every development challenge as a knowledge deficit, we may invest in producing more research while neglecting the systems that determine whether research can be used. The more difficult questions concern the relationships between research and policy, universities and industry, innovation and finance, expertise and public understanding. Do our institutions create pathways for researchers to work with people who can apply their findings? Can entrepreneurs access relevant scientific expertise? Are policymakers equipped to interpret evidence and incorporate it into decisions? Do funding systems reward practical collaboration as well as academic publication? And when research does influence practice, how do we establish whether the resulting change is beneficial, sustainable and accessible to the people concerned? There are no universal answers. Different disciplines, institutions and societies face different constraints. But the questions deserve systematic investigation. The public should not be expected to accept that research matters simply because it has been conducted. Researchers and institutions should be prepared to explain what their work contributes, what remains uncertain and what would be required to put the findings to use. This is not an argument for reducing all scholarship to immediate economic returns. Research can have cultural, historical, theoretical and intellectual value even when its practical consequences are not immediately apparent. Fundamental research often creates possibilities that cannot be predicted at the outset. The challenge is to recognise the different kinds of value knowledge can produce while taking seriously the conditions under which that value reaches society. For Africa, this conversation is especially consequential. The question is not whether the continent possesses intelligence, creativity or expertise. It is how effectively its institutions and economies can connect those resources to the challenges and opportunities before them. The Solomon Atah Podcast will continue exploring that question, one conversation at a time. SEASON 3: FROM WHAT RESEARCHERS KNOW TO HOW WE LIVE The third season of The Solomon Atah Podcast builds on this concern. Its central question is: What does what researchers know mean for the way we live? The wording is deliberate. It begins with the researcher's knowledge but does not end there. It asks us to consider the relationship between expertise and the realities experienced by individuals, institutions and communities. What does an engineer's research mean for the infrastructure people depend on? What does agricultural science mean for food security and the livelihoods of farmers? What does medical research mean for the prevention and treatment of disease? What does social science reveal about the institutions that shape opportunity, inequality and public life? And, importantly, what prevents useful knowledge from making a difference? These questions invite researchers to step beyond the familiar language of academic specialisation and explain why their work matters in a wider context. They also challenge the rest of us. Research does not become relevant merely because an academic explains it in simpler language. Relevance requires us to understand the problem being investigated, the people affected, the limitations of the findings and the decisions that might follow. Season 3 is therefore not about demanding that every researcher become an entrepreneur, a policymaker or a public communicator. Nor is it about judging every research project by its immediate commercial potential. It is about creating room for a more complete conversation. We want to understand the person behind the research, the question that drives the investigation, the knowledge produced, the real-world possibilities, the tensions that complicate implementation and the future that might emerge if the findings are taken seriously. This means discussing not only discoveries and achievements but also uncertainty, institutional barriers, competing interests and unanswered questions. A successful conversation should leave us with more than a description of someone's work. It should help us understand something about the world that we did not understand before. It should give us a reason to reconsider an assumption, investigate a problem, ask a better question or recognise an opportunity that might otherwise have been overlooked. That is the ambition behind the new season. Explore Season 3 and the latest conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSolomonAtahPod THE PUBLIC INTEREST TEST: FIVE QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING At The Solomon Atah Podcast, we believe that conversations about research should encourage a deeper engagement with knowledge. One practical way to do this is to ask five questions whenever we encounter a new research finding, scientific discovery or academic argument. First: What problem does this knowledge help us understand? Before discussing the significance of a discovery, establish what it explains, challenges or makes possible. A clear understanding of the problem helps distinguish substantive contributions from claims that sound impressive but remain difficult to evaluate. Second: Who needs to know about it? The people who can benefit from research may not be the people who read academic journals. They might include teachers, business owners, farmers, public officials, community organisations, healthcare workers or other researchers. Identifying the intended audience is an essential step towards meaningful communication. Third: Who could benefit from its application? Potential beneficiaries should be identified rather than assumed. A technological advance, for example, may create opportunities for some groups while remaining inaccessible to others. Asking who benefits helps bring questions of access, distribution and public value into the discussion. Fourth: What prevents the knowledge from being applied? The barriers might include finance, regulation, infrastructure, institutional incentives, technical limitations or a lack of trust. Understanding these barriers helps us move beyond the assumption that evidence alone is sufficient to produce change. Fifth: What would change if we acted on it? This question brings the discussion towards consequences. What might improve? What resources would be needed? What risks or unintended effects should be considered? How would we know whether the intervention had worked? Together, these questions provide a simple framework for researchers, students, policymakers, entrepreneurs and curious members of the public. They do not replace rigorous disciplinary methods or detailed evaluation. Instead, they encourage us to connect the production of knowledge with its wider significance. They also remind us that public engagement is not a one-way process. Researchers have knowledge to share, but communities and practitioners possess experiences and practical insights that can shape the questions researchers ask. When these forms of knowledge meet constructively, the possibilities for understanding and action expand. We invite you to use these five questions in your own work, conversations and decisions. Share them with a colleague. Take them into a classroom, workplace or community discussion. Use them to examine a research claim that interests you. And tell us what other questions should be included. LOOKING AHEAD: THE NEXT 100 CONVERSATIONS A milestone can be a destination, but it can also be a starting point. For The Solomon Atah Podcast, the next phase is an opportunity to deepen the conversation about the relationship between research and public life. We want to keep asking questions that cross disciplinary boundaries. We want to explore how researchers understand the challenges facing their fields, how their findings relate to wider social and economic realities, and what happens when knowledge encounters the institutions responsible for turning ideas into action. We also want to hear from the people who use research, the people who fund it, the people who make decisions based on it and the people whose lives may be affected by those decisions. This is an invitation to participate in a continuing conversation about knowledge and its consequences. If you are a researcher, consider how you might explain the significance of your work to someone outside your discipline. If you are a policymaker or practitioner, consider which research questions remain insufficiently connected to the challenges you face. If you are a student, ask how the knowledge you are acquiring might help you understand the world beyond your course of study. And if you are simply curious about how the world works, keep asking questions. You do not need a doctorate to recognise an important problem, challenge a weak argument or ask what evidence supports a claim. You do, however, need a willingness to listen, examine evidence and remain open to changing your mind. That spirit of Socratic inquiry is central to what we hope to build. The next 100 conversations will not necessarily provide definitive answers to every question we raise. That is not the promise of serious inquiry. The promise is that we will continue investigating, questioning and learning, while taking seriously the relationship between what we know and what we do. The future will be shaped not only by the knowledge we produce but also by the questions we choose to ask, the institutions we build and the decisions we make with the evidence available to us. The work continues. YOUR INVITATION Watch an episode. Share a conversation. Introduce a researcher whose work deserves a wider audience. Tell us which questions you believe researchers should be addressing and which barriers prevent knowledge from making a difference. Visit our website: https://www.solomonatah.com/Watch and subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSolomonAtahPodThe Solomon Atah Podcast exists to encourage thoughtful conversations about the ideas, evidence and expertise shaping our world. We welcome researchers, academics, postgraduate students, policymakers, practitioners and curious members of the public who share that interest. Thank you to every guest who has contributed to these conversations and every viewer who has watched, listened, questioned or shared an idea with someone else. One hundred episodes mark a milestone. The questions ahead give us our direction. Stay curious and know tomorrow today. Solomon Atah Host: The Solomon Atah Podcast https://www.solomonatah.com/

"What does what researchers know mean for the way we live? "

— The Solomon Atah Podcast