About
The show
The Research Diary is a podcast about the process of research, not the press release. Every paper, every result, every model that ends up in a journal has a backstory: false starts, abandoned ideas, unexpected pivots, the 3am moment when the proof finally worked. Those stories are almost never told. This show tells them.
Each episode is a long-form conversation with a researcher, across machine learning, operations, economics, biology, history, anywhere good work is being done, about a specific project: how it started, what almost killed it, what they learned that didn't make it into the paper, and what they'd do differently.
It's for graduate students figuring out how research actually works, for faculty who want to see how peers approach their craft, and for anyone curious about how knowledge gets made.
The host
Seyed Emadi is Associate Professor of Operations Management at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. His research spans operations research, causal inference, machine learning theory, and the economics of AI. He started The Research Diary because the conversations he has with colleagues about the actual process of their work are almost always more interesting than the polished talks they give about it.
How the show is made
Episodes are recorded remotely over a high-quality video platform, run 45–75 minutes, and are lightly edited for clarity. Audio versions are released on all major podcast platforms; video versions are released on YouTube. There are no ads, no sponsors, and no commitments asked of guests beyond the conversation itself.