GradCast

This week, we engage in the third episode of our collaboration with  Inspiring Minds , a campus-wide partnership between Western Research, the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the Writing Support Centre, Western Libraries, Student Experience and Western’s 11 faculties. Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research while enhancing transferrable skill...

Just in time for Valentine's Day, GradCast hosts Anthony Cruz, Riya Sidhu, and Liam Clifford discuss all things love in graduate school. The hosts review a series of would-you-rather questions centered around dating within academia, planning a wedding during graduate school, and balancing research-related and romantic demands. Recorded on February 4, 2025. Produced by Anthony Cruz Theme song provi...

For our seventh episode of #BookCast, we discuss “The Book of Two Ways” by Jodi Picoult—a story that explores whether we make our choices—or our choices make us. Our story begins with a plane-crash, where our main character, Dawn Edelstein is faced with the choice to return home to her life as a death-doula, or continue on to Egypt to complete her doctoral studies researching the coffin-texts and...

This week, hosts Garth Casbourn and Ryan Baxter speak with GradCast's own Mohammad Zeraati, a third-year PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering about some of the real-world implications of his research into the “Instability behaviour of granular soil and tailings and particle cementation.”  Some of the topics discussed include mining regulation, computational methods, and the environme...

Hosts Mark Ambrogio and Maris Schneider are joined by Sananda Sahoo, a Postdoctoral Associate at the Faculty of Information and Media Studies. In Sananda's PhD dissertation, her research extrapolated how mainstream English-language Indian newspapers represent Muslims in the context of cow violence. She discusses the tension between the Muslims and other communities, mainly Hindus from colonial Ind...

This week, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Liam Clifford are joined by Jessica Eblie, a student in the professional master's program in Media, Journalism, and Communications. Jessica shares her fascinating journey from a music background to journalism and communications, discussing how her experience as a musician brings valuable skills and perspectives to her work as a journalist.     Recorded on January...

This week, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Scott Walters are joined by Aloa Alota, a PhD Candidate in Western's Faculty of Information and Media Studies. His research focuses on political journalism in Nigeria following the June 12 Crisis, the annulment of a presidential election that plunged the country into a political turmoil. Listen to learn about the guerilla journalism that ensued while Nigeria work...

This week, we engage in the second episode of our collaboration with Inspiring Minds , a campus-wide partnership between Western Research, the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the Writing Support Centre, Western Libraries, Student Experience and Western’s 11 faculties. Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research while enhancing transferrable skill...

Hosts Mark Ambrogio and Liam Clifford are re-joined by William Laur, PhD Candidate in the Biology Department. His research focuses on exploring representations of and attitudes towards snakes in online media, through an ethnozoological approach. He was previously in the GradCast studio over the summer ( Episode 470 ). This time around, William completed his written scoping review and qualitative a...

In our sixth installment of our #BookCast mini-series, we discuss Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies. The novel builds upon childhood events and grows into a personal epic spanning decades of national and world history, centered through the perspective of an older academic looking back over his life. The story begins, and the main characters all originate from, Deptford, a fictional town based on...

Hosts kirstyn seanor and Maris Schneider interview our own Bruno Mesquita, a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at Western and a member of the Cognitive Neuroscience of Communication and Hearing Lab. Topics discussed include how experience shapes our perception of auditory stimuli, voice familiarity, and speech intelligibility. For the discerning listener, they even discuss “selective hearing”!   Recor...

In this installment of #TheScoopOnSOGS, host Liam Clifford is joined by Andrew Grgas-Svirac, a PhD Candidate in Western's Department of Civil Engineering who currently serves as the Chair of the Academic Committee at the Society of Graduate Students (SOGS). Listen to this episode to learn about Andrew's research and all of the amazing initiatives led by the Academic Committee, including the 125th...

Hosts Meghan Voll and Liam Clifford are joined by kirstyn seanor, as she talks about her research on how the design and navigation systems of pornography websites influence users' exposure to content. Along the way we will also discuss how to define pornography, and how access and availability of this content has changed over time. Check out Kirstyn's s research Instagram Here !   Recorded on Nove...

Here is our first-ever collaboration with Inspiring Minds , a campus-wide partnership between Western Research, the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the Writing Support Centre, Western Libraries, Student Experience and Western’s 11 faculties. Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research while enhancing transferrable skills. GradCast will feature se...

Katie McCoy, a PhD candidate in political science, joins Liam Clifford and Garth Casbourn. She tells us about her research on why people vote how they do, especially in rural communities. She also discusses how MPs from rural areas may differ in behaviour compared to urban MPs. Recorded on November 6, 2024 Produced by Riya Sidhu Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot).

Host Mark Ambrogio welcomes John Hutchenreuther, a PhD student in the Department of Geography and Environment, to discuss the transformative potential of the "15-minute city" in urban planning. John’s research envisions a shift towards walkable cities, where essential amenities are accessible within a short walk or bike ride, making cars a choice rather than a necessity. He delves into the challen...

This week, hosts Garth Casbourn and kirstyn seanor are joined by Eric Scarfone, a Master of Media in Journalism and Communication (MMJC) student in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies. Eric talks about his transition from undergraduate to graduate studies and delves deeper into what the MMJC program entails. He shares his goals in broadcasting and what is a part of good journalistic story...

For our fifth installment of our book club series, the #BookCast team read Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi.  Join us for a discussion led by Garth Casbourn with co-hosts Meghan Voll, Riya Sidhu, and Scott Walters.  We dive into the complex narrative of Gifty, a young scientist getting her PhD at Stanford, attempting to discover secrets behind addictive behavior. This story is one of grief, hope,...

This week, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Ryan Baxter are joined by Lauren Jarman, a Masters of Music Education Candidate in the Don Wright Faculty of Music. Her research is focused on the impact of policy, globalization and neoliberalism and how it affects students with disabilities through a windband pedagogy. Lauren explores how AI and technology enable learning for musicians and how it can improve st...

Hosts Anthony Cruz and Meghan Voll are joined by Emiko Muraki, a PhD candidate with the University of Calgary, and a visiting PhD student at Western University. Emiko studies how context and differences between people affect how we learn and use concepts, and understand language. She also studied people with aphantasia, who can't form mental images, and found that they may still engage in sensorim...

Hosts Mark Ambrogio and Meghan Voll are joined by Shengpei (Leslie) Li, a Ph. D. student in Media Studies. Leslie discusses his research on rap music in China and the politics surrounding it. Recorded on October 1, 2024. Produced by Riya Sidhu Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot).

Hosts Mark Ambrogio and Ryan Baxter are joined by Elisabeth (Libby) Roberts, a Ph. D. candidate in the music cognition specialization at the University of Western Ontario, Don Wright Faculty of Music. Libby discusses her research in music-evoked autobiographical memory and how she combines methods from behavioural sciences, sociology, and music theory. She discusses how social media, a space of in...

In this installment of the three-part #TheScoopOnSOGS miniseries, host Liam Clifford is joined by Jasmine Proctor, a PhD Student in Western's Faculty of Information and Media Studies who currently serves as the Vice-President Advocacy at the Society of Graduate Students (SOGS). Listen to this episode to learn about Jasmine's research, background, and roles at SOGS, as well as what she enjoys about...

This week, hosts Maris Schneider and Garth Casbourn are joined by writer, curator and visual culture PhD candidate at the Department of Visual Arts, Ashar Mobeen. Ashar studies ancient and indigenous civilizations  and the manifestation of astronomical understanding within their art and architecture. He explores the stories of groups marginalized by Eurocentric ideologies. Ashar chats about his lo...

In this installment of the three-part #TheScoopOnSOGS miniseries, host Liam Clifford is joined by Cherin Chung, a PhD Candidate in Western's Department of French who currently serves as the President of the Society of Graduate Students (SOGS). Listen to this episode to learn about Cherin's research, background, and roles at SOGS, as well as what she enjoys about being a student leader. If you woul...