In this special year-in-review episode, Carol and Jeevan are joined by their producer Kylé to share some of their favourite From Here Forward moments from 2024. Find out which conversations inspired them, changed their perspectives, and even drove them to change their decision-making. Enjoy this fun throwback to the year that was.

FEATURED EPISODES

●     Episode 16: Finding Hope in Climate Activism with Abul Bashar

●     Episode 12: Risky Genes: Uncovering the Genetic Basis of Breast and Ovarian Cancers with Dr. Steven Narod

●     Episode 11: Wildfires, climate change, and the future of forest management with Dr.Lori Daniels

●     Episode 17: Bringing a start-up mentality to environmental conservation with Dax Dasilva

●     Episode 15: Reimagining the dating experience for Gen Z with Connor Rose

●     Episode 19: The Bard goes digital: Emerging technologies and Shakespeare’s First Folio with Dr. Pennefather

●     Episode 23: What’s at Stake in the 2024 US Elections with Paul Quirk

●     Episode 13: Sipping, Savouring, and Safeguarding BC Wine

LINKS

●     Stories of Change Film (Bashar's Documentary)

●     Join the alumni UBC Wine club

Did you know that UBC has a glassblower on staff? In this episode, get to know Brian Ditchburn, the scientific glassblower for UBC’s Chemistry Department. Find out what his days in the glass shop look like and why he feels that his job is the best one on campus. Brian shares some of his philosophy about the impermanence of glass and how he sometimes helps students relieve stress with a little destructive therapy.

LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE

Glassblowing Services at UBC

The 2020 US presidential election and the unprecedented events that followed have set the stage for a tumultuous contest in 2024. In this episode, hosts Carol and Jeevan talk to Dr. Paul J. Quirk, professor and Phil Lind Chair in US Politics and Representation in UBC's Department of Political Science, about the upcoming election and what its outcome could mean for democracy in the US. They delve into the back story of the Electoral College, discuss possible scenarios for election night and the weeks that follow, and look at the impact this election could have on Canadian democracy too.

Want some post-election analysis? On November 7, Dr. Quirk will be on the panel for the alumni UBC webinar “US Elections 2024: Analyzing the Trump-Harris showdown”.

LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE

• UBC profile: Professor Paul J. Quirk
• alumni UBC webinar: US Elections 2024: Analyzing the Trump-Harris showdown — register here
• Continued reading:
  • Richard Hasen's book on protecting American democracy
  • Paul Quirk's book on democracy in the US and Canada

It’s the start of a new academic year and UBC’s student athletes are back in action. It’s an exciting time, but for some it can be challenging to balance the pressures of being both a student and a high-performance athlete. In this episode, hosts Carol and Jeevan talk to Dr. Whitney Sedgwick, a licensed psychologist and mental performance/mental health lead for UBC Athletics, and Sam Pritchard, the senior manager of sport science and sport medicine at UBC Athletics, about the UBC Thunderbirds Mental Health Initiative, which supports student athletes so they can perform their best.

Links:

UBC Thunderbirds Mental Health Initiative

UBC Athletes Hub
Twitter/X: Carol / Jeevan

In this special Pride episode, hosts Carol and Jeevan talk to Dr. Amin Ghaziani, a professor of sociology and Canada Research Chair in Urban Sexualities at UBC, about his new book Long Live Queer Nightlife: How the Closing of Gay Bars Sparked a Revolution. They speak about the evolution of queer nightlife, the nuances of intersectional belonging, and the importance of intentional allyship.

Link List

UBC Profile: Amin Ghaziani

Amin Ghaziani: Website / Linktree

Amin’s Social Media: Instagram / X

Amin’s Books: Princeton University Press

Amin’s Review in The Nation: The State of the Gay Bar | The Nation

Amin on JVN’s Getting Curious Podcast: Where Have All The Gay Bars Gone?

Amin on NPR’s Marketplace Podcast: Why Gay Bars Are Closing - And What’s Taking Their Place

Twitter/X: Carol / Jeevan

Check out our full archive of episodes here

In this episode, Carol and Jeevan talk to UBC alum and lawyer Melanie Ash (LLB’96) about her path into the legal profession and her work to support a framework of racial justice and equity for New York City’s government. They also discuss some of the differences in the legal and social justice landscape between Canada and the United States.

Links

Melanie Ash: LinkedIn 

Twitter/X: Carol / Jeevan

Check out our full archive of episodes here

When UBC acquired a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio in 2021, it was only the first step in an initiative to digitize and improve access to this historic text. In this episode, hosts Carol and Jeevan speak to Dr. Patrick Parra Pennefather, Associate Professor at UBC Theatre and Film in the Faculty of Arts, about why this acquisition was so important to the university and how emerging technologies including touch tables, mixed reality, and generative AI are enhancing users’ interactions with the folio and interpretations of Shakespeare’s work.

Links
UBC Profile: Dr. Patrick Pennefather
Dr. Patrick Pennefather: Website
The Shakespeare First Folio | UBC
Emerging Media Lab | UBC
Twitter/X: Carol / Jeevan
Check out our full archive of episodes here

In this episode, Carol and Jeevan speak with Jordyn Rice and Sarah Heath from UBC's Aging, Mobility, and Cognitive Health Lab about the impacts of exercise in preventing cognitive and mobility decline. They discuss common barriers to exercise, the value of health coaching, and emphasize the point that even a little bit of physical activity is better than nothing. They also offer an opportunity for listeners to get involved in a study.

Links from the episode:

Aging, Mobility, and Cognitive Health Lab: Website 

Falls Prevention Clinic: Website 

Jordyn Rice’s profile: Website

Sarah Heath’s profile: Website 

Current Clinical Study on SuPA Mobility: Website 

Dr. Teresa Liu-Ambrose’s profile: Website 

Center for Aging Smart: Website

In this episode, hosts Carol and Jeevan speak to UBC alum Dax Dasilva (BA’23), CEO of the commerce company Lightspeed and the founder of the environmental alliance Age of Union. Dasilva shares his entrepreneurial origin story, discusses his early acts of environmental activism, and explains why he thinks it’s critical for the next generation to get outside and fall in love with nature. He also emphasizes the impact that bold storytelling and filmmaking can have on conservation.

This episode is Part 2 of the Climate Change and Environment series. You can listen to Part 1 here.

Links from the episode:

Never Apart (LGBTQ gallery Dax had)

Age of Union Book (Link to download Dax’s book)

@daxdasilva | Linktree (Dax’s Linktree)

Caught  (Movie Dax worked on)

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (Society Dax worked with for Caught movie)

Wildcat | Age of Union (Movie Dax worked on)

The Corridor (Movie Dax worked on) 

Twitter/X: Carol / Jeevan

Check out our full archive of episodes here

When UBC economics student Abul Bashar Rahman was in ninth grade, he learned that one-third of his country, Bangladesh, would be underwater by 2050 as a result of climate change. This realization set him on a path towards climate action that took him as a UBC delegate to COP27 in Egypt in 2022 and inspired him to cycle across Bangladesh to see the effects of climate change first-hand and hear the stories of some of the people most affected by it. In this episode, Carol and Jeevan speak to Bashar about some of the key moments in his activism and storytelling journey.

This episode is Part 1 of the Climate Change and Environment series. You can listen to Part 2 here.

Links from this episode:
Twitter/X: Carol / Jeevan
Check out our full archive of episodes here
UBC Arts E-Co-Op Program (UBC program Bashar is enrolled in)
Abul Bashar's LinkedIn
Stories of Change Film (Bashar'ss Documentary)
Stories of Change Website (Website for the Bashar's climate work)
Atlas  (Climate atlas for Bangladesh)