The Van Leer Foundation has launched Birth of a Parent, an exciting new 12-episode podcast series exploring one of the least studied stages of human development: parenthood itself.
Hosted by Michael Feigelson, CEO of the Van Leer Foundation, the series brings together internationally renowned scientists, writers and public thinkers to examine how caring for a child reshapes the adult brain, body, identity and relationships.
For decades, science has transformed our understanding of how babies and young children develop. Birth of a Parent turns that lens around and asks: What is happening to the parent?
Drawing on neuroscience, evolutionary biology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy and public policy, the series explores the possibility that becoming a parent is one of the most profound transformations of adult life, and one that remains largely overlooked by science, culture and society.
Birth of a Parent is the first original podcast series from the Van Leer Foundation and is published on Early Childhood Matters, the Foundation’s platform for science, policy and human stories about the earliest years of life.
Twelve conversations about parenthood and human development
Each episode features an in-depth conversation with a leading scientist, writer or public thinker whose work sheds light on a different dimension of parental transformation.
The series begins with three episodes exploring some of the fundamental biological changes associated with becoming a parent.
In A Human Metamorphosis, historian of science Oren Harman considers whether parenthood might be understood as a form of human transformation. Neuroscientist Susana Carmona discusses evidence that pregnancy reshapes the brain in The Mom Brain Revolution, while anthropologist Lee Gettler explores how fatherhood can change men’s biology and hormones in The Dad Bod Theory.
Later episodes explore the connections between parents and children, the rituals that support families during uncertainty, the challenges of decision-making and the ways parenthood changes how adults experience identity, work, nature and relationships. Learn more about upcoming episodes and guests here.
Listen to Birth of a Parent
The first three episodes are available now. New episodes will be released weekly until 23 September 2026.
