E37 - New Year, new podcast (kind of)

Welcome to the new chapter! In this solo episode of Moms, Mats, and Manuscripts, I share what’s changing on the podcast in 2026 and my vision for the year ahead. 

I talk about the upcoming episode series focused on motherhood in and around academia, including family planning during a PhD, parenting as a postdoc or researcher, identity shifts after becoming a mother, and balancing ambition with care. I also introduce a series on alternative careers after academia, exploring non-linear career paths, leaving academia, and creating meaningful work beyond the traditional academic track.

If you’re looking for a podcast for PhD students, women in academia, academic mothers, or scientists questioning the traditional academic career path, this episode offers a preview of the conversations coming next - so I hope you stick around!

Let's hang out! 🎙️ Follow Moms, Mats, and Manuscripts for more conversations on academia, motherhood, and mindful living. And if this episode sparked something in you, don't forget to like and share the podcast so that more people can join our coffee-fueled chats!

I'd also love to hear your thoughts and questions, and if you have ideas for future episodes, drop me a line.

We're also on Instagram:
@moms.mats.manuscripts
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Reach out: moms.mats.manuscripts@gmail.com

Transcript

Speaker: 0:04

Hello, hello, welcome to Mom's Maths and Manuscripts. It's 2026, it's the first episode of the new year. Happy New Year! I hope it brings you so much joy, so much wonder, curiosity, excitement, adventure, all the good things that you want for yourself. And I wanted to kind of spontaneously jump on, record a little episode as an introduction, as the first episode of the year. Because of course we are in this space, in this period where everybody's talking about goals, everybody's talking about their vision and the plans and the lessons, and I'm one of them as well, guilty. So I want to talk a little bit about what's changing on the podcast and what is my vision for 2026. It does feel a little bit like a new year, new chapter, new year, new podcast kind of thing, but it's not going to be fully new. Like I still want it to give the same vibe, the same feeling of you and me are just sitting on a couch together and chatting it up about life, about science and academia, about parenthood or motherhood and this transition from maiden to mother, identity, mental health, all the topics that we've been covering here so far. And I want to bring you more, more interesting conversations, more interviews, more viewpoints, more new ones. But I still want to do it in a very, we're just having a coffee together kind of way, so not super serious, even when we're talking about the serious topics. But that being said, hopefully still useful, hopefully, with still some nuggets of wisdom or nuggets of help that you can take away and maybe implement in your life or think about. So that you can maybe feel better after listening to this podcast and its episodes. That's my hope. But what is new is that it's been like that for a while, but from now on, for sure, I want to be open that it's just going to be me uh hosting and leading this solo. There's no um big like fallout or any drama or anything. It was just completely peaceful, natural evolution for everybody involved, for both me and my co-host. And from now on, I'm taking this over. So it's gonna be a mix of me interviewing guests and inviting people to talk to them about different topics, and also probably some solo episodes in the mix where I'm going to just talk about things that I'm curious about, I'm passionate about, and yeah, hopefully bringing in also something useful for you. And regarding the vision for next year, I obviously want many things for this space. I want many things for this podcast, like growing it and getting more subscribers and more listeners would be nice. But I feel like certain things are a little bit out of my hands, and some algorithm gods have to come in and help me, or although obviously there is also work to be done from my side, and I'm planning to put more focus on it and do more regarding that this year. But I also wanted to talk to you about the topics that I'm curious about that I want to explore more this year, and for now they're shaping into sort of series of episodes. I don't know how it's going to be, whether it's going to be like in blocks, like one series of I don't know, five, six, seven, however many episodes, and then another one, another topic, or they're going to be happening interchangeably. But for now, the topics that are shaping up in my head are motherhood in and around academia. And we did talk about that with Asia in the last episode last year. We did talk about family planning in academia and how it's difficult and it's coming with so many challenges, and you're worried about your identity, you're worried about kind of inconveniencing people, quote unquote, about being maybe a little bit of a burden for your supervisors or your colleagues. And there's so many different things and different considerations that are coming into this question, into this decision. And I also want to talk to people at different stages of this process. So people who already have a baby or a child or maybe multiple children who got kids throughout the PhD, or afterwards, or as they were transitioning from academia to industry, or you know, different stages and different life situations, different lessons and um journeys that people had with when it comes to this huge life change and this huge life transition. And I have some guests planned for that because obviously my story is completely different. I was already having a baby outside of academia, even though there are probably some parallels between academia and running a business, or being a PhD student and running a business, there is some similarities, and I felt like maybe there's some lessons that could be applicable to either. But I want to kind of explore this motherhood in science and identity and ambition and pursuit of your personal goals and your personal dreams, maybe becoming a mother, becoming a parent, versus pursuing your science ambitions and your curiosity and how these things clash or how they can be aligned, how there is often lack of understanding of this in academia and you know, just all the different stories. Hopefully, it can be positive, hopefully it can be inspiring, hopefully the main message will be that it's possible and we can do that, but yeah, we'll have to see what kind of nuanced, um varied stories we're going to be talking about and telling on this podcast. Second series that I've been thinking about, and I also have some guests lined up and planned, is sort of alternative careers, alternative to academia, where we we did talk about this with ASEA as well, because I think Asia's episode, um, the first one that we did together, also kind of fits into this, where we talk about like how she's wearing many hats and she's doing her own startup, and she's also working as a consultant on another startup, and she's still a postdoc, so she's doing and balancing so many things and kind of moving slightly differently from the quote unquote typical path, which is your early education, bachelor's, master's, whatever, then PhD, then maybe a postdoc, or moving straight to academia, or strategic postdoc, and then um moving to industry, sorry. Um, maybe a strategic postdoc and then you're moving to industry. So there is kind of like a railroad track, and we don't always know or we don't always think about alternative paths and alternative career journeys. And sometimes even people might be feeling like you studied all this time for that, you know, to change your career to that. I've experienced that a lot, and I'm sure there are others who have heard that a lot: that you you did a PhD, you did a whole degree, uh, whole long years, many years of education, and now you're doing that. And how is that possible? So I want to also discuss and explore this kind of stories of people going alternative routes, finding careers that are or creating careers for themselves that are more aligned with their passion, more aligned with their values, and maybe are not exactly obvious. So that we all collectively can see what's out there, can see that there are so many paths actually, and in many cases, the world is our oyster, as uh tired as that sounds. And there is a lot of choice, and we don't have to be stuck on this railroad track if we don't feel it. And I think this is this is a very common issue that we feel like there is no other way, that there is no other choice for us. And I've I also felt that like what am I gonna if I quit, what am I gonna do? Because I don't I know nothing uh outside of this environment, outside of this space of academia or science. I have no other experience, I have no like, you know, no other knowledge, let's say, what am I gonna do? But there is actually so many things that we don't even consider because we kind of don't know what's out there, and we also don't really consider that if the spaces that we are in are not supportive, are not nurturing, and they're just just not good for us, we can create spaces that are good for us. And this is something that I want to talk about with multiple people and I want to get their opinions on and hear what they have to say, hear how their journeys look like. So this is going to be the second series of episodes with some guests, and maybe I will do a retelling of my own story at some point where it fits, and tell you more about how my also transition from science from PhD into entrepreneurship happened and how I'm feeling also the parallels and uh the possibilities, the lessons or the drawbacks of having an academic background are coming up for me in my life, in my journey. And of course, if there is any other topic that you want to be explored, you know, reach out, let me know. I think there's so many questions that I've been asked that I need to also kind of go back on, and instead of maybe sometimes answering them personally, this could be an episode in itself, this could be a discussion in itself. And always, you know, if you find something uh interesting, something curious, if you hear something on an episode and you want to know more, you want to hear more about it and like kind of let it be explored a little bit more, then you know, re reach out, email me, send me a message, let me know. I think I want this to be a bit of a co-creation process with the audience because I do want it to feel like it's a discussion, it's a conversation on a friend's couch or at brunch together. And I often, you know, feel a little bit like I'm just in my own echo chamber talking about things that are interesting for me. And while I do want to follow my curiosity, I do want to follow my joy, I also want to make it more interesting for you. So do let me know if there is something that you want to talk about. I think even though it feels like I'm working at the intersection of topics that are so different and maybe sometimes counterintuitive or like don't don't fit, don't mesh well together, you know, motherhood and academia, motherhood and science, I feel like there is so much richness at this intersection, at this kind of crossroads of all these topics. And if we bring also like yoga and maybe self-reflection, self-awareness into it, there is going to be a lot more beauty blossoming out of it. So I do think that these topics actually belong well together because there's a lot of discussions to be had on all these three points about identity, about ambition, about self-compassion, and all that. So I'm really curious, I'm really excited about the year ahead and about how these conversations are going to shape up, these topics are going to shape up, and I feel very good actually about the podcast. I I never thought that I would love it so much, and I feel so excited about what's ahead and really at peace with how it's it's been so far, really grounded in how it's been so far. So yeah, I hope that you enjoy it this year, that you stick around, that you listen, that you share, that you find something useful, find something valuable for you, and that we can make it bigger and better, that the the podcast can be a resource as well, a valuable resource, valuable tool in your toolkit to yeah, help you in some ways or support you in some ways, make you laugh, make you feel a bit more uplifted, a bit more joyful, even when the situation or life is lifing and uh things are maybe not going well your way. I hope that the podcast can be a bit of a refuge, a bit of a space to vent, or to know that you are actually not alone and there are other people going through similar things, and together we can find a way out or at least you know support each other, hold each other accountable and be kind of together, even if we're together just virtually. And with that, so very, very short episode, very quick one. Uh, with that, I'm so grateful for you for being here throughout this process of gradual evolution, gradual change, and finding our voices, finding the way how you know I want and we wanted to the podcast to look like. I'm really grateful for all the messages of support, also, people letting me know that they've listened to the episode and loved it. I would appreciate also any feedback at all. So, again, if there is anything that you want to say, do let me know. And yeah, I will see you very, very soon for another cup of coffee for another discussion, and hopefully we'll have a very fun and productive year together. Thank you. See you in the next one. Bye.