For our July book of the month, the #BookCast crew reads Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. Tune in a discussion of the novel led by Garth Casbourn featuring hosts Scott Walters, Meghan Voll, Mark Ambrogio, and special guest Helen Button! We discuss the literary format of the novel, its relation to our experiences as academics, and the historical context behind this witty work of fiction! Airing August 29 at 11am on Radio Western.

Recorded on August 13, 2024

Produced by Scott Walters, Edited by Amalie Hutchinson

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

Audio clip from Lucky Jim (1957) - British Lion Films

Join GradCast Hosts Meghan Voll and Mark Ambrogio as they chat with our favourite repeat guest, Alex Mayhew. This time, Alex discusses what it's like in the final few months of a PhD, from wrapping up to writing to deciding when to defend, there IS light at the end of the tunnel. 

Recorded on August 13, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Meghan Voll are joined by a MSc Psychology student, Lincoln Inglis. Covering everything from AI ethics to how producing plays with children sparked his interest, they talk about how Lincoln uses Deepfake technology to help understand how we categorize the voices we hear.

Recorded on August 6, 2024

Produced by Riya Sidhu

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

This week, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Liam Clifford are joined by William Laur, to talk about his PhD work on attitudes towards his favourite animal, the snake. To help inform conservation efforts, William studies the perception of snakes through analysis of social media posts, as well as articles written by scientific researchers. William also talks about how snakes have been important throughout his life and throughout history. 

Recorded on July 20, 2024

Produced by Riya Sidhu

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

This week, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Liam Clifford are joined by a gentleman who seems like he's done it all, Law PhD student Joel Welch. Student by day and bartender by night, in this episode Joel delves into his work examining the lessons we can learn from science fiction. He also delves into his past experience working with the RCMP and speaking at fan conventions.

Follow Joel on X (formerly known as Twitter) @Joel_Welch and on Instagram to @joelwelch.

Also, check out his podcast The SciFi Pubcast!

Joel at the future birthplace of Captain Kirk in Riverside Iowa.

Recorded on July 23, 2024

Produced by Suzy Lee

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

Join us for our second edition of #BookCast where we discuss The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker. Your hosts for this episode are Mark Ambrogio, Amalie Hutchinson, Meghan Voll, Scott Walters and Garth Casbourn. Note for listeners, this episode contains many spoilers! Sweet dreams....

Recorded on July 16, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Maris Schneider are joined by Tanja Grubnic, a PhD Candidate in Western's Department of English. Tanja is interested in the ethics of generative AI. Tanja organized an event at Western called Can AI Be Creative? where she invited several guest speakers to tackle this topic. In this episode, Tanja shares some tips for other graduate students who might be interested in hosting similar events! For her PhD research, Tanja is conducting several case studies on so-called instapoets to explore how literature develops and spreads in the 21st century. Listen to learn all about her work. 

If this topic interests you, be sure to visit DLC+, Tanja's fantastic open-access research network for literary scholars!

Recorded on July 9, 2024.

Produced by Anthony Cruz.

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot).

What do graduate students get up to during the summer? Tune in to hear what Amalie Hutchinson, Meghan Voll, and Mark Ambrogio have planned this summer. 

Recorded on July 2, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot)

In this special episode, host Anthony Cruz is joined by Tyson de Moura Umberger, a PhD Student in Hispanic Studies. Tyson researches the evolution of Spanish, French, and Portuguese in the Western hemisphere. How are these gendered languages evolving over time? Listen to find out. We also discuss Tyson's work as the Society of Graduate Students' Pride Commissioner.

Recorded on June 25, 2024.

Produced by Anthony Cruz.

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot).

This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Mark Ambrogio are joined by Brianne O'Sullivan, a PhD Candidate in Health Information Science. Brianne's doctoral research focuses on medical delivery drones, which deliver essential healthcare supplies to people in hard-to-reach places. Could drones play a vital role in healthcare in the future? In addition to her doctoral research, Brianne is a policy analyst on Canada's World Health Organization team at the Public Health Agency of Canada. Brianne is also passionate about STEM education! Listen to learn all about her work.

Recorded on June 25, 2024.

Produced by Anthony Cruz.

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot).