TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains sensitive content relating to eating disorders. 

In this episode, Ruby (Host) and Hayley (Co-Host) chat with Dr. Jaclyn Siegel about her experiences and research relating to eating disorders. Dr. Siegel completed her PhD at Western University in social psychology. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at San Diego State University in the Body Image, Sexuality, and Health Lab. Visit https://www.jaclynasiegel.com/ to discover more about her research. 

In this episode, Michaela Kent, a PhD student in neuroscience, at Western University, joins Ruby and Julia for a discussion on Zoom fatigue. Michaela draws on her expertise in, and research on, virtual socialization to explain why Zoom fatigue leaves many of us feeling unmotivated and unfilled at the end of the day. As an international student, Michaela shares her experiences of being a "Zoom student" in the midst of the pandemic. 

Mentor-mentee relationships are dynamic & often complex, especially when discussing mental health. In this episode, Dr. Melanie Anne Atkins, a mental health advocate and researcher & Acting Associate Director at Graduate Programs at the Center for Teaching & Learning at Western University, takes us through ways to establish expectations and a positive relationship on both ends. Additionally we chat about how to talk about mental health with a mentor/supervisor. Episode 1 highlights the rate of graduate student success and how supervisor-supervisee relationships are a crucial source of support for graduate students.

Welcome to the very first episode of Brain Matter Chatter (BMC). In this episode, the BMC team - Ruby, Niveen, Julia, Olivia, and Hayley - comes together to answer three big questions about the show.