Double Helix History

The Double Helix History team speak with Reece Williams and Andee Collard about their creative and artistic work with DNA. Reece is a poet and Andee is a visual artist. They share their insights about how engaging with genetic data has changed the way they work

Episode Four

Welcome to the Double Helix History Podcast, presented by Prof Jerome de Groot & Dr Matthew Stallard.

In our fourth episode we will be exploring the varied and dynamic ways in which family historians have built their comprehensive range of skills and experience through both community-organisation and personal interest and drive.

We turn then towards the advent and impact of DNA on our ideas of the past and the challenges this whole new set of scientific terms and knowledge have been tackled by genealogists.

We have an interview with Professor Turi King of the University of Leicester who discusses her work on high profile public genetic genealogy projects, most famously as the biologist who DNA-tested Richard III's remains.

Finally we report from our 2019 Double Helix History public event at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, seeing how the wider public knowledge of genetic genealogy is being disseminated by hearing from a range of researchers and museum visitors of all ages.

Episode Three

Welcome to the Double Helix History Podcast, presented by Prof Jerome de Groot & Dr Matthew Stallard.

In this podcast we will be discussing the impacts of family history, and particularly DNA testing, on questions of identity, ethnicity, and nationality and the benefits as well as ethical conundrums that are being brought to the fore as genetic genealogy becomes more prevalent.

As well as hearing from focus group discussions with family historians, we also have interviews with researchers engaging in research and advocacy on the cutting edge of many of these debates.

Dr Erin Battat explores some the of issues around the "ethnicity"profiling she has conducted with Ancestry.com.

Dr Krystal Tsosie of Vanderbilt University is a geneticist and bioethicist and a leading advocate for the rights of indigenous communities in ownership and protection of both biological knowledge and samples as well as cultural heritage.

Cheryl Garnett and Omer Jean Winborn are members of the Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society, prominently involved in genealogical and heritage projects, who discuss the challenges of African American family history research and the impact genetic testing has had on their studies.

Welcome to the Double Helix History Podcast, presented by Prof Jerome de Groot & Dr Matthew Stallard.

In episode we will be coming direct from Australia, exploring what it is that makes Australian family history different from elsewhere in the world, the radical impacts of genealogy and the influence of memory and remembrance on our family stories, and how DNA testing is challenging what we thought we knew about the past.

Contributions include excerpts from public talks at the State Library of New South Wales by Dr Tanya Evans (Macquarie University) and Dr Indira Chowdhury (Shristi School of Art, Design & Culture, Bengaluru), and Dr Ashley Barnwell (University of Melbourne)

Along the way we will also have discussion and reflections from our focus group interviews with family historians from cities across Australia.

Episode One

Welcome to the Double Helix History Podcast, presented by Prof Jerome de Groot & Dr Matthew Stallard.

In this first episode we will be discussing the rise of DNA for family history and the impacts it is having on what we know about the past and what we think about ourselves and our families.

We'll also be getting an introduction to genetic genealogy from one of the field's top experts, Debbie Kennett, and hearing from Dr Erin Battat, who has worked with Ancestry.com on their migration modelling research.

Along the way we will also have discussion and reflections from our focus group interviews with family historians across 3 continents.