Studio De Nok began as a three-minute audio story recorded in a room with paper walls. Stew with Za'atar was Elena Dikomitis' first-ever audio production. The piece won the Jury Prize at the Oorzaken Korte Golf competition in 2021. Elena developed the story further and three minutes became thirty minutes. Her audio documentary Drawn was awarded with the Rising Star Audio Prize at the Prix Europa Festival in 2022.

Together with musician and partner Bram Verhaeghe, she created Studio De Nok in 2023 to also share other people's stories.

Non-profit organisations are often looking for creative ways to reach more people with awareness campaigns. A podcast series, an audio documentary or an audio portrait can take the listener on a journey, bring participatory projects to life and serve as a call to action.

Week after week, Studio De Nok strolled through the Brussels neighbourhood of The Marollen with a group of female and non-binary adolescents in 2023. The participants explained why they felt unsafe or unwanted in some areas, and thus came up with solutions for an inclusive neighbourhood. This resulted in a four-part podcast series: Girls Make The City. 

Commissioned by ZIJkant vzw (2023). Photographs by Lynn Delbeecke.

Academic podcasts can make research more tangible and accessible to a wider audience. Podcasting can also offer a space where scholars and people with lived experiences co-create, debate and share knowledge in a more fluid and inclusive manner. 

Autistic Counterstories (2024) was born out of the knowledge that lived experiences of people with autism need to complement existing autism research. The series was commissioned by the University of Antwerp's Autism Ethics Network. It presents listeners with a selection of 'counterstories' to dispel myths and counter oppressive narratives, and instead honours the diversity of autistic lives. The interviewees played an important role in defining the topics of conversation. Each of the three episodes dives deep into an underexposed element in research about autism. This non-narrated podcast series is entirely driven by the voices of people with autism. After the release of Autistic Counterstories, the production team organised collective listening sessions and co-authored academic publications with some of the podcast interviewees. These papers explore critical questions which were raised during the production process. Autistic Counterstories won two Anthem Awards in 2024 (Silver & Anthem Community Voice Award Diversity, Equity & Inclusion). 

Podcast cover art by Eva Roelandt.

For the production of Sikh Silences across Generations (2024), Studio De Nok spent some time in the Sikh community in Kent, England and in the Punjab in India. The project continues today in collaboration with Professor of Medical Anthropology and Social Sciences, Lisa Dikomitis, and Professor of Psychiatry, Sukhi Shergill. 

Photographs by Jaspreet Bath (above) and Elena Dikomitis (below).