Naturally Speaking

In our latest interview, Joey Humble and Taya Forde chat with Paul Baker – a Lecturer in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from Glasgow Caledonian University and self-described ‘twitcher’ (or ‘birdwatcher’ for those who don’t know the lingo!). In fact, Paul now works on several bird monitoring projects connected with the University of Glasgow. Tune in […]

Ever wondered who plants the wildflowers on campus? Or how many species you might spot on a walk around Glasgow? In this episode, Naturally Speaking’s Emma Plant and Alexa Roditi interview not one, but three guests in a roundtable discussion about wildlife on campus. Agnes Berner, the biodiversity coordinator of Glasgow University’s Environmental Sustainability Team...

Efforts to return Scotland’s land to a more natural state could be spurred on by an unlikely helper: an independent, hardy and terribly cute breed of horse, the Exmoor pony. In this podcast, Naturally Speaking’s Joey Humble interviews PhD student Debbie Davy, a guardian and advocate for the Exmoor pony, who has recently introduced a […]

Plastic seems to be everywhere. In this podcast, Naturally Speaking’s Dr Keila Meginnis, Dr Lucy Gilbert, and Eleni Christoforou, joined by Institute researcher  Rachel Francoeur, meet to discuss and explore different areas of research around plastics. The unfortunate truth is that plastic is having effects in almost every ecosystem on our planet. Tune in to […]

  Economics is not something usually associated with an “Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine”. Professor Nick Hanley joined the Institute in 2017 as Chair of Environmental and One Health Economics. In this interview, Naturally Speaking’s Keila Meginnis and Lucy Gilbert speak with Nick about his research and find out how economics can […]

Killing them softly The welfare of farm animals is an issue very much in the public eye. While we often think about welfare in terms of animals’ quality of life, a less-considered aspect is the quality of death. In this episode, University of Glasgow researcher Dr Dorothy McKeegan tells us about her research in this […]

  In this episode of Naturally Speaking, Mar Pineda catches up with fellow Masters of Research (MRes) student Bugge Vick to talk about some of his field work. Bugge’s research project focused on the South American grey fox (Lycalopex griseus), recently introduced onto the Falkland Islands – a remote archipelago in the South Atlantic. In […]

Species at being lost at an alarming rate around the world. Luckily, there are large-scale efforts underway to document and utilize population genetic diversity for species conservation. In this episode, we are joined by Dr Klaus-Peter Koepfli, a research scientist from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Species Survival and visiting speaker within the […]

We hope that the UK will never see another major livestock disease outbreak such as foot and mouth disease or avian influenza. But if we do, we will be much better prepared to deal with it thanks to EPIC, the Centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks. This interdisciplinary group of researchers from several Scottish […]

Visiting speaker and workshop facilitator Dr Ana Payo Payo speaks about her research on migratory birds and her involvement in promoting equal opportunities for women and men in STEM

For International Women’s Day this year, the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine celebrated with a special social event in the museum, where an extra special speech was given by one of our highly respected senior academics. In this episode, we capture the highlights of Prof Pat Monaghan‘s Women’s Day talk, wherein she […]

The aquaculture industry is growing at a rapid rate, but our understanding of the factors that contribute to fish ‘performance’ – that is, how to ensure optimal health and growth – is not keeping pace. Rather than conduct costly field experiments, researchers at the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine are taking a […]

Imagine being able to predict the reservoir species for a newly-found virus just from its genetic code. Using cutting edge machine learning techniques, that is precisely what researchers from the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine and the Centre for Virus Research have managed to do. Join us in this […]

Episode 2: What lies beneath? Join us again aboard the Royal Research Ship Discovery, cruising towards the mid-Atlantic to an area known as the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. As we heard in the previous episode, this unique cruise brought together researchers from multiple disciplines to apply their specialist skills to collect data in the region. In […]

This podcast celebrates the past, present and future of the Hunterian Zoology Museum located in the Graham Kerr Building at the University of Glasgow. And who better than our Museum’s specialist curator to reveal the life and times of this majestic place? In this Naturally Speaking episode, Maggie Reilly tells Naturally Speaking editor Martina Quaggiotto […]

Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine researcher Prof Rod Page was recently awarded the Ebbe Nielsen prize for his proposal to help document the biodiversity of Australia by linking a variety of open sources of data. Tune in to hear about the challenges and opportunities associated with the exciting field of ‘biodiversity informatics’ […]

Malaria – a disease transmitted between people by mosquitoes – remains a major cause of death globally, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. While recent efforts to control mosquitoes have been very successful in reducing malaria, particularly insecticide-treated bed nets, mosquito populations seem to be persisting. In this episode of Naturally Speaking, editors Ellen Hughes and Taya [&...

Episode 1: The Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone On the 6th June 2017, an international team of scientists led by Dr. Ewan Wakefield departed Southampton on the Royal Research Ship Discovery. Their cruise number was DY080 and their aim was to gather multiple data from an area in the mid-Atlantic where the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ) interrupts […]

We are highlighting this archived episode in celebration of Pint of Science, which will be held this coming week, May 20-22, 2019: https://pintofscience.co.uk/events/glasgow

Episode 61: Linked Migrations “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” but nature has the magical ability to charm everyone. Scientists want to know more about its secrets through research, while artists study every minute detail to portray it on canvas. Naturally Speaking brings you some insights into the work and experiences of Derek […]

Every year on the 12th of February, Charles Darwin’s birthday, the scientific community recognises Darwin Day. This is a celebration of evolutionary biology and all that we have learnt since Darwin introduced us to the concept of natural selection. To mark the event, the Institute holds an annual Darwin Lecture. This is a highly prestigious […]

Episode 59: Resilience in Academia It’s unlikely that anyone has ever said that a career in academic research is easy. It is highly competitive, requires an incredibly large skill set, and “rejection” is essentially part of the job description. However, despite all these challenges, most of us couldn’t imagine doing anything else! In this episode, […]

Episode 58: Lumped together – explaining species co-existence The competitive exclusion principle states that in the long term, the number of species should never exceed the number of available resources. Phytoplankton species paradoxically violate this rule. Instead, species with similar traits co-exist in “clumps” in which there is redundancy among species occupying the same niche, [&#8230...

Episode 57: Of Mice and microbes Are parasites always harmful? How diverse are the microbial communities living within individual hosts? These are questions that Dr Sarah Knowles – a researcher at the Royal Veterinary College in London – has set out to address. She visited IBAHCM in January as a guest lecturer in the Institute’s […]

Episode 56: Seasonal Cheer at IBAHCM Every year in December, the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine takes a look back on the year and celebrates its successes in the form of a potluck and  Ceilidh (traditional Scottish dance). This year, Naturally Speaking editors Jacqueline Jacot and Laurie Baker interviewed Institute members at […]