Beyond the Jargon

Who comes to mind when you think about playwrights? Authors like William Shakespeare tend to dominate the conversation, but this doesn’t reflect the incredibly diverse history of playwriting. In this episode, English master’s student Mahayla Galliford discusses her work on Lady Rachel Fane’s May Masque, a play written by a fourteen-year-old girl roughly 400 years ago. Music credits: “Symphony No....

What does justice mean, and who gets to define it? In this episode, Law and Society PhD student Aaron Leakey discusses his work on “the justice gap”: the disconnect between how legal institutions administer justice and how people who have experienced violence actually perceive justice. Through his work with the Access to Justice Center for Excellence (ACE) legal design lab at UVic, Aaron explores...

How do scientists keep track of wild animal populations? One common method is tagging, but things can get complicated when those tags fall off. In this episode, Math and Statistics PhD candidate Arjun Banik discusses his work developing mathematical models to better understand tag loss in wildlife studies. Read about Arjun’s work on Dolly Varden, a species of Arctic fish, here: https://cdnsciencep...

This week’s episode explores one of the great unifiers of the human experience: sleep! Stephanie Engstrom, an Anthropology master’s student, shares her research on how our sleep patterns have changed throughout history and what that might mean for getting a better night’s sleep today. Music credits: "Be My" by Outback x Angela – listen here: https://cfuv.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-cfuv-mar-1st-201...

How do you learn an Indigenous language when there aren’t any first language speakers around to help? In this episode, Nicki Benson, a PhD student in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, shares how adult learners are finding creative, community-driven ways to bring Indigenous languages back into daily life.    Want to learn more?  Explore NEȾOLṈEW̱, an Indigenous language revitalization p...

How did colonialism unfold off the coast of the Pacific Northwest? Jesse Robertson, a PhD student in the Department of History, explores how encounters between Indigenous mariners and colonial newcomers at sea shaped the course of history. From shipwrecks to shifting power dynamics, we dive into how the ocean became a central stage for colonial encounters. Want to learn more? You can find Jesse on...

What if we could make chemical reactions faster, cleaner, and smarter? This week, I’m joined by Ian Chagunda, a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry, who studies catalytic reactions—key processes behind the production of everything from medicines to materials. Using mass spectrometry, he uncovers their hidden mechanisms to make chemistry more efficient and sustainable. Want to learn more? Ch...

How does the growth of cities affect the lakes around us? Biology master’s student Ashley Mickens is using a small but mighty fish—the threespine stickleback—to investigate how urban development impacts freshwater ecosystems on Vancouver Island. Want to learn more? Tune in to Ashley’s podcast, OceanBites Out Loud: https://oceanbites.org/oceanbitesoutloud/ Explore blog posts about marine science re...

Immigrating to a new country is never easy, and for Sikh women in Canada, the experience comes with its own unique challenges. Jasmine Padam, a master’s student in the Department of Sociology, explores the stories of Sikh women in the Lower Mainland to fill a critical gap in our understanding of immigration. We discuss how history, policy, and community shape their experiences—and why their voices...

This week, we’re exploring how education policies can shape a student’s future—especially for those new to the country. Alycia Garcia, a PhD student in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, breaks down how American educational policies impact newcomer students and what that means for their learning, belonging, and success. Want to learn more? Check out Alycia’s podcast, Teaching Appeal: ht...

In today's episode, we’re zooming out from individual stars to entire galaxies! Max Kurzner, a PhD student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, takes us on a journey through the Virgo Cluster—the closest galaxy cluster to our own. Want to learn more? Check out Max's research on his website: maxkurzner.com Explore a visual guide to the Virgo Cluster here: https://www.eso.org/public/images/es...

This week on Beyond the Jargon, we’re looking to the stars—literally! Breanna Crompvoets, a PhD student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, joins us to break down the science of star formation and what fuels the birth of these celestial giants. Want to learn more? Check out Breanna’s research on her website: bcrompvoets.github.io Take a peek at the stunning image she studied during her mas...

This is the last episode of Beyond the Jargon 2024!  Our final guest is Sophia Mastrangelo, a 2nd year Master's student in Kinesiology.  This was a super interesting final episode of this season, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot about how we can classify pain and the depth of what pain really is and how it can be reactive to different prompts and situations. If you’re interested in more Beyond t...

The guest for this episode is Tara Cooper, who is a 2nd year master’s student in the department of Psychology, specifically in Lifespan Health and Development. I invited Tara on the podcast because I wanted to give her an opportunity to come onto a show at CFUV to promote her own show The Gradcast, broadcasting soon on CFUV, and I’m so glad I did, because I feel like I’ve learned a lot more about...

On the second episode of Beyond the Jargon Season 10, I spoke to Cleo Yong. Cleo is a second-year master’s student in musicology, focusing on a very interesting piece of contemporary Mexican Opera. I invited Cleo on to highlight the work being done at this level in analysing and promoting music research especially centred around areas and regions that aren’t always talked about as much.  If you ar...

Beyond the Jargon exists to give a platform to graduate students at UVic so they can discuss their research in an accessible and non-formal way.  I will be interviewing graduate students from various faculties at different points in their academic careers, asking them about their research topics, their experiences as grad students, and what their future plans may be.  The first guest is Luke Seybo...

Olvie 李 (she/keoi) was born from migrants of Hong Kong, and raised on Turtle Island. She moved to Lekwungen Territories to complete her masters degree in Social Dimensions of Health at UVic. Her project focuses on youth-led research with Indigenous youth about sexuality and sexual wellness in Wiikwemkoong, a community she calls home and has lived/worked within. She is also a nurse, birth/postpart...

Thomas recently completed his Master’s in Sociology. He and I have been working on a project related to older adults and the use of technology to support aging in place and healthy aging.  The name of the project is Knowledge Implementation for Scale-up, Spread and Sustainability of Assistive Technology (KISSS-AT) MSFHR Implementation Science Team Grant, here at the University of Victoria. In this...

This episode explores essential concepts regarding substance use. Daniel provides proper wording to refer to substance use and other key concepts and tackling stigma and discrimination while participating in conversations. In this episode we will chat about the public policies to address the dual public health emergencies in British Columbia, a) the related deaths due to COVID-19 and b) the overdo...

Eli is part of the Chair in Transgender Studies and their supervisors are Dr. Aaron Devor from Sociology and Dr. Nancy Clark from the Social Justice Studies Program. Eli is an international graduate student and they share part of their academic journey and some resources for other international students. Eli has a social psychology background and they share their research work with community-based...

In this episode, theatre grad student, Lindsay Delaronde shares her journey in academia and how her trajectories of personal growth influenced her desires of being in the healing field. From fine arts, to counselling; from art therapy to theatre; from land-based to academia settings. Lindsay shares her processes of working with and in community while working in academia and how she keeps the balan...

Luke Kernan is an anthropology graduate student at the University of Victoria currently researching psychosis narratives for his PhD. His research focuses on studying the sensory states of madness within people’s psychosis narratives. He is interested in imaginative ethnography and how comics-poetry can be incorporated in anthropological writing. How can depth and expression break and remold plate...

Talya Jesperson is an MA student in Sociology concentrating in Cultural, Social, and Political Thought (CSPT) at the University of Victoria. She holds a BA Honours in Sociology with a minor in Technology and Society from the University of Victoria. Her research interests are the democratization of digital media and digital technologies, knowledge commons, internet decentralization, digital platfor...

Caitie Frenkel is a first year master's student in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria studying why and where commercial fishing gear gets lost in the Salish Sea. Caitie’s previous career experience includes an internship with Ocean Networks Canada, a naturalist in Victoria’s whale watching industry, coordinating commercial fishing data at Archipelago, and collaborati...

This interview features guests Shannon Cherry and Wolfgang Vachon.  Shannon is a school based CYCP (from care) who has been working in Child and Youth Care for nearly two decades. She has recently completed her masters at Ryerson University, where her primary focus has been youth leadership in child welfare.  Wolfgang has been working with children and youth for close to three decades including th...