The Origins of Dungeons and Doctorates[]
Dungeons and Doctorates was the brain child of Benjamin Keirnan in 2020.
He reached out to three fellow science communicators Kate, Ross and Joh, all of whom had different backgrounds in both scientific fields and table top roleplaying games and had previously collaborated with him on The Non-Peer Reviewed Podcast. At the time, only Ross (and Ben) had ever played D&D, although by the time that recording began, Kate had not only started playing but also DMing for friends during the Covid-19 lockdown.
All 4 cast members lived in different areas of Australia at the start of the show. Ben was based out of Victoria, Joh in New South Wales, Ross in Queensland, and Kate in Western Australia. As such, all episodes are recorded remotely using online platforms. In fact, the players have never all been in the same room at the same time.
Dungeons and Doctorates launched in August 2020 during National Science Week, with a plan to release episodes fortnightly.
Prior to release, 8 episodes had already been recorded, with recording sessions scheduled for 3 more.
In October 2020, the decision was made to move to a weekly release schedule.
Future Plans[]
Discussions were had shortly after launch about the potential for a "behind the scenes" series, to allow for interaction with the audience through questions and discussion about the characters and plots from the cast. This would become "The Common Room"