Absolute Units

Send us Fan Mail What will farming look like in 100 years time? That's the question asked by a group of University of Reading PhD students, managed by Rosy Scholes and Ellen Knight, as part of the University of Reading's centenary celebrations. In this pod, Joe and Ollie catch up with Rosy and Ellen about their research and their project, which culminated in the burial of a time capsule in our garden, filled with research, creative responses, and visions of what the future of farming might be...

Send us Fan Mail How do you lead a rural history museum in 2026? What does that look like in practice? And how does our contemporary work vary to the vision of our founders back in 1951? In this second of two conversations with Kate Arnold-Forster, Director of The Museum of English Rural Life and the University of Reading's Museums and Collections, Ollie and Joe chat with Kate about our museum's ongoing evolution, the power of eBay for contemporary collecting, and what the future holds for un...

Send us Fan Mail So far we've spoken a lot about The Museum of English Rural Life's earliest years. Yet so much of what we are today results from a radical rethinking of what The MERL can be, which has happened under the brilliant stewardship of Kate Arnold-Forster, Director of The Museum of English Rural Life and the University of Reading's Museums and Collections. In this episode, we speak with Kate about her journey into museums, the significance of university museums, and her pivotal role...

Send us Fan Mail What have we been up to lately? What's coming up? And what's the rural significance of Bad Bunny's performance at the Superbowl? In this episode, Joe and Ollie have a general chat about a bunch of different topics, which each connect - in some surprising ways - to the collections we hold here at The Museum of English Rural Life. Guy Shrubsole on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/guyshrubsole.bsky.socialThe Skylon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(Festival_of_Britain)--- ...

Send us Fan Mail We're back with our second episode with the University of Reading's Tom Oliver and Marzia Briel! We continue talking about their Nature-centric Catalyst project, how we can rebuild our relationships with the natural world, and what's coming up next for our collaboration with Tom and Marzia at the museum. Relevant links: Nature-centric CatalystTom OliverMarzia Briel--- Absolute Units is the official podcast of The Museum of English Rural Life. This series is made possible thro...