This is a recording of a live Public Engagement Toolbox conversation, where SRS’s Dr John Gallagher spoke with Dr Hetta Howes (City, University of London) and Dr Christina Faraday (University of Cambridge) about their experiences as part of the BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers programme. Each year, the BBC and the AHRC team up to work with ‘a new generation of academics who can bring the best of university research and scholarly ideas to a broad audience through the media and public engagement’. Christina and Hetta discuss the process of applying to the scheme, offer tips for potential applicants, and talk about their experiences of being New Generation Thinkers and what the scheme has meant for their engagement and media work.