GradCast

In this week’s episode, Anthony Cruz and Maris Schneider are joined by our newly reappointed international commissioner, Lucas Ferreira Marques dos Santos. Lucas is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry, but today he is telling us all about his experience moving to Canada, conducting research as an international student, and sharing the exciting new opportunities he pours his heart and so...

In this week's episode, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Ryan Baxter interview Kelly Wang, a first-year PhD Student in Education. Kelly is exploring how digital media tools can enhance English language learning to support learners who are older adults and seniors. With her research, Kelly aims to contribute to a field that heavily emphasizes supporting children and youth, and less on older adults and senio...

In this week's episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Mark Ambrogio interview Pilar Rodriguez Mata, a PhD Student in Digital Humanities and Hispanic Studies. Pilar is studying Spanish-language tweets written from 2009 to 2022. Rooted in the humanities, Pilar studies the digital form, utilizing coding – to study the more than 3.5 million tweets she collected, with a focus on learning what enormous amou...

Doing science is never about a single approach. Join hosts Bruno Mesquita and Rafaela Platkin as they chat with guest Camdyn Holmes, a MSc student in Biochemistry whose research compares two different approaches in examining what makes us human. Most people know that our DNA is an important part of who we are, but not all genes are active everywhere in our body. How do scientists study and measure...

Hosts Garth Casbourn and Milan Mammen are joined this week by psychology student and member of the Psychobiology of Eating and Related Disorders (PEAR) Lab, Taylor Nicole Breddy.   Taylor is in the first year of her Master of Clinical Psychology, though she already has multiple years under her belt as a member of Western’s research community. We learn first about her current focus on individual ap...

In this week's episode, hosts Ryan Baxter and Mark Ambrogio interview Jasmine Proctor, a PhD candidate in Media Studies, in Western's Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS).  Jasmine ("Jazz") is interested in how queer K-pop fan communities negotiate gender and sexuality through transcultural networked fan labour across digital platforms.  Ryan and Mark ask Jazz about the emergence of K-p...

GradCast heads to the  Western Research Forum ! Get a glimpse into Western's largest multidisciplinary graduate research conference as hosts Chrishma Perera, Victor Lau, Maris Schneider, Milan Mammen, and Anthony Cruz conduct short interviews with the graduate student presenters. This year's conference featured over 100 different presentations from across Western's 11 faculties. See below for time...

This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Mark Ambrogio are joined by Marc Lalonde, the longtime manager of The Grad Club and recent recipient of the Western Award of Excellence. For over 20 years, Marc has played a central role in shaping The Grad Club as a community space for graduate students, faculty, and staff. In this episode, Marc discusses his journey from Canadore College to Lake Louise, the West...

This week, PhD candidate (Nursing) Azmat Jehan shines a light on older adults and their experiences in long-term care. How are they supported by family, or by other care partners? How do cultural practices intersect with the healthcare system to make individuals feel more heard, cared for, and respected? What are some of the potential barriers that remain, hindering the realization of what's been...

In honour of International Nurses' Day (on Tuesday, May 12), hosts Chrisma Perera and Mark Ambrogio interview Mehtab Jaffer, a PhD candidate in Nursing here at Western University.  While many topics of study are divided between practitioners and researchers, Mehtab is uniquely positioned as both, as she is a registered nurse here in Ontario studying the place of Internationally Educated Nurses (IE...

BookCast is an ongoing series where we delve into novels set in an academic context.  For the 10th edition of BookCast, Garth Casbourn, Milan Mamman, and Mark Ambrogio discuss the 2006 novel Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl. Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a darkly hilarious coming-of-age tale and a richly plotted suspense story, told with dazzling intelligence and wit. ...

In this week's episode, PhD student Hannah Corenblum joins hosts Rafaela Platkin and Spencer Schmitz to talk about her research on abstract mental state concepts. Hannah is interested in understanding the individual differences in mentalizing abilities and how these relate to people's capacities to process cognitive concepts. Mentalizing is the ability to understand one's own and others' mental st...

PhD candidate Catherine George joins hosts Milan Mammen and Mark Ambrogio to discuss her research on falls and their risk factors among stroke survivors aged 30–65 living in the community. Guided by supervisors Joy MacDermid and Janelle Unger, Catherine uses a community-based participatory action research approach to center the voices of individuals with lived experience of stroke. Listen to this...

How do artistic and scientific ways of thinking meet, overlap, and challenge each other? In this special Arts & Sciences mini-series episode of GradCast, hosts Ryan Baxter and Riya Sidhu are joined by Rebekka Lagace Cusiac, a PhD student in Psychology studying music and numerical cognition, and Seyed Mohammad Tonkaboni, a DMA student in music composition whose work engages with Persian literat...

Political science PhD candidate Katie McCoy returns to the podcast this week. She chats with hosts Scott Walters and Garth Casbourn about the new directions her research has taken over the past 18 months. She explains how the focus of her dissertation has broadened from the urban/rural divide to place-based identity. We get a sneak peek at some hot-off-the-presses analyses of how the places people...

This is the fourth and final episode of the Thinking with the Earth miniseries, 2026. In this episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Ryan Baxter speak with Haorui Zhou, a second-year Master's student in Geography and Environment.  Haorui shared key insights from his research on mobility patterns in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area, highlighting trends and challenges in urban transportation. He also...

PhD student Kailey Cutillo joins hosts Maris Schneider and Mark Ambrogio to talk about her work in Theory and Criticism. Kailey is interested in better understanding the politics of care, particularly within institutions such as universities. The "politics of care" is a framework that examines the social, ecological, and physical welfare of individuals' opportunities within systems, but also consi...

This is the third episode of the Thinking with the Earth miniseries. In this episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Ryan Baxter interview Javier Ponce de Leon Eyl, a PhD student in Hispanic Studies. Javier also serves as the Sustainability coordinator for the Society of Graduate Students (SOGS) sustainability committee and shared a lot of insights into how the Western student community can engage in s...

This is the second episode of the Thinking with the Earth miniseries. In this episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Spencer Schmitz speak with Dharma Raj Dhakal, a second-year PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering.  Dharma shares insights from his research on how landfills can contaminate groundwater, the water we rely on but rarely see. Beyond his research, Dharma also reflects on his j...

In this week's episode, hosts Bruno Mesquita and Zoe Kallenekos are joined by Samantha Hopkins, a PhD candidate from the department of biology who is investigating the exciting and complex world of carbon fluxes in dryland ecosystems. Outside of her studies, she is also a student athlete for the Team Canada Football team and is one of the top 24 scouted players in Canada. Listen to learn more abou...

In this week’s episode, hosts Maris Schneider and Kelly Wang are talking with Yuhan Zhao, a MA student in the department of Education. Yuhan looks at how adults who learned English as their second language use derivatives when they are writing. For those who need an English refresher, a derivative is a word formed from another word (like actor, which is derived from the word act). Yuhan hopes that...

In this week's episode, hosts Anthony Cruz and Rafaela Platkin are joined by Alex Muth, an MSc student in the Psychology department at Western University. Alex shares an in-depth look at his research on the communication systems of two chickadee species, like did you know birds have accents just like humans?! He also reflects on his experience at the intersection of psychology and biology, explain...

This is the first episode of the Thinking with the Earth miniseries. In this episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Garth Casbourn interview Madison Robinson, an MSc student in Biological Sciences, about her research on butterflies and her involvement in collaborative specialization of environment and sustainability at Western University. From studying the ecology of butterfly populations to contribut...

This week, Purvaja Karthikeyan, a PhD candidate from Electrical and Computer Engineering is joined by hosts Mark Ambrogio and Victor Lau. Purvaja is supervised by Dr. Jayshri Sabarinathan, and is focusing on improving optical chip function for eventual deployment into space.. within ultra-small satellites known as CubeSats! Listen to hear more about Purvaja’s work, and how it contributes to a bigg...

In this week’s episode, hosts Kuljeet Chohan and Rafaela Platkin interview Jake Daigle, a MSc student in bioinformatics, about his research on modelling mutation accumulation (buildup of genetic mistakes) in viruses. From a bachelor's degree in math to starting a masters in bioinformatics, he discusses insights on his day-to-day life researching mathematical models that can hopefully be applied to...