In the Vox podcast In a Nutshell, hosts Jara Majerus and Antonia Leise take a deep dive into the university's most interesting, strange, and exciting research. Every two weeks, they invite Radboud researchers to talk about their favourite topics – explained in bite-sized episodes. In today's episode, Antonia talks with Ea Utoft about an often-forgotten group of people: singles.

From 25-year-old single women being historically referred to as ‘spinsters’ to Bridget Jones singlehood jokes of the early 2000s – singles don’t always have it easy. And, until recently, they were also neglected when it came to being academically studied as a distinct group of people.

The sixth episode of In a Nutshell is entirely dedicated to this rising global demographic of singles. For this, we have invited the ‘accidental’ singlehood researcher Ea Utoft into the studio. Together, we talk about the drawbacks and the benefits of modern singlehood – and everything in between.

Ea Utoft is an assistant professor at Radboud University and an expert in singlehood studies. She started writing about singlehood during her PhD research and especially during the pandemic, when many single people were outside of any social bubbles and largely isolated, and has been fascinated with the topic ever since.

Would you like to learn more about the science behind and experiences of being single? Follow Ea’s tips and read Rebecca Traister’s book All the Single Ladies or Glynnis MacNicol’s memoir No One Tells You This. Or have a listen to the podcasts Solo – The Single Person’s Guide to a Remarkable Life and Spinsterhood Reimagined.