How can we predict the future of biodiversity? What are the challenges in analysing cause and effect in ecological studies? And is species decline directly linked to climate change? In the new episode of our podcast series Bench Talks, macroecologist and Humboldtian Brian McGill (University of Maine) and science journalist Sahana Ghosh (Nature India) get together in Berlin to talk about global data collection, attribution and how smart investments and better communication can help protect life on earth.   

Brian McGill is a Professor of Ecological Modelling at the University of Maine. He works at the intersection of biodiversity, human-caused global change, and big data approaches. He is a recipient of the Humboldt Research Award (2023) and was Editor-In-Chief of the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. He is also one of three co-authors of the popular academic ecology blog, Dynamic Ecology.  

Sahana Ghosh is an Associate Editor at Nature India. Trained in microbiology she now reports on science and environment with a special interest in the history of science. She is a founding member of the Science Journalists’ Association of India and a member of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network.   

Bench Talks is part of the Communication Lab, a joint programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the International Journalists’ Programmes. 

Voiceover by Amie Liebowitz 

In the second episode of Bench Talks, Daphnee Iglesias, former German Chancellor Fellow, UN Consultant, and specialist on data access and human rights protection, and Sarah Tekath, foreign correspondent on Women’s and LGBTQ rights, talk about the role of digitalisation in the global refugee crisis and the threat of gender-based violence and racism online. How exactly do technology and social media divide us? But how can they also help to create spaces of economic and social opportunity for women, and especially female refugees? Daphnee and Sarah share their professional and personal experience with gender discrimination.

Venue: Schillerpark, Berlin – Wedding

Date: 15 August 2022

Find more information on the Bench Talkers here.

Bench Talks is part of the Communication Lab, a joint programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the International Journalists’ Programmes.

Voiceover by Amie Liebowitz

In the first episode of Bench Talks, Albert Steinberger, journalist at Deutsche Welle Brasil, and Fabio Fornari, sustainability researcher and alumnus of the German Chancellor Fellowship, talk about misinformation and climate change, the role of science and media in the 2022 Brazilian presidential elections, and what “debate” means or can mean in the age of fake news and populism.

Venue: Mauerpark, Berlin – Prenzlauer Berg

Date: 23 June 2022

Find more information on the Bench Talkers here.

The next Bench Talk will be published in November 2022 on the topic of "Women Crossing Borders: Refugee Rights and Digital Inclusion".

Bench Talks is part of the Communication Lab, a joint programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the International Journalists’ Programmes.

Voiceover by Amie Liebowitz