For our first #BookCast recording, hosts Scott Walters, Amalie Hutchinson, Mark Ambrogio, Garth Casbourn, and Meghan Voll discuss The Idiot by Elif Batuman. Join our book club for a discussion about writing style, dissociation with the world around you, and how we can all relate to being a bit of an idiot. 

Note: no spoilers, so if you've read the book already or haven't yet, you'll be able to enjoy this podcast.

Recorded on April 9, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

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

Join hosts Carly Charron and Liam Clifford in their chat with biology MSc student Lauren Rego. Studying how mitochondria change during hibernation in thirteen-lined ground squirrels, Lauren shares her expertise in squirrel trapping and care, the physiology behind hibernation and what ground squirrels really do all winter. 

To learn more about Lauren's work, check out her twitter @laurenrego3

Recorded on April 16, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

Ground squirrel audio from youtube

Ground squirrel photo available here

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

For this special #PostDocsTalk episode, former GradCast managing editor Dr. Ariel Frame joins hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Carly Charron to share his stories and advice on all things post-doc. We chat about finding a position, dealing with setbacks, how to defend work/life balance, and the trick of striving for your ideals while keeping expectations low (or at least manageable).

To find Ariel on social media--though don't expect any comments--look for @arielframe on everything. 

Recorded on April 9, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

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

This week, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Liam Clifford interview MLIS student Aleesa Prendergast. Aleesa shares about some exciting projects she's done for her coursework, including investigating old tomes of fairytales and determining how libraries can be made more accessible for all. 

Recorded on April 9, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

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

In the third installment of interviewing LIS Ph.D Candidate Alex Mayhew, we turn to Alex’s work on Aging Justice. Approached through a bio-ethical and health justice perspective, Alex makes the bold claim that aging should not only be treated at the same level as disease, but that it is necessary in order to expand capacity and quality of life for older people.

Read Alex’s article here!

Additional articles mentioned in the episode:

• "Just Because I'm 90 Doesn't Mean I'm Ready to Die - Or Disposable"

Listen to Alex's previous episodes:

• 234 | Cataloging without Plato

Recorded on April 2, 2024

Produced by Suzy Lee

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

This week, Amalie Hutchinson and Anum Anjum are joined by a fellow GradCast host, Apurva Desai. A Master's student in Health Promotion here at Western, Apurva shares about the three components of health, how qualitative research methods fit his goals of connecting with people, and general wisdom to create healthy habits. 

To find out more about Apurva's research journey, check out his LinkedIn profile linked here: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/apurva-desai-uwofans4285091

Recorded on March 26, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

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

This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Carly Charron speak with Riya Sidhu, a PhD candidate in psychology specializing in music cognition. Riya explains the three different projects she's working on to evaluate the factors that influence synchronizing in various contexts, such as during walking or in response to music. These factors include empathy, music training, and dance training and she focuses on talking about groove behaviour. Riya also describes her experience setting up a synchronization study using motion capture technology at the University of Oslo. 

Recorded on March 19, 2024

Produced by Jordan VanderBurgt

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

This week, GradCast hosts Meghan Voll and Mark Ambrogio are joined by Farshid Soltani, a PhD candidate in physics studying all about the nature of black holes. If you were ever curious about the science of black holes, the value of both classical and quantum physics, or wanted to know about the mysterious "white hole", tune in to this week's episode!

Recorded on March 12, 2024

Produced by Suzy Lee

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

This week, Scott Walters and Meghan Voll interview one of our own producers, Maria Khan. Maria shares about her master's program in clinical science and audiology. She tells GradCast what a degree in audiology looks like and what an audiologist actually does. Maria is involved with other research activities at Sick Kids, and discusses her research with infant screening tests for hearing, and more. 

Check out Maria's other producing efforts, the Hear Here podcast at Sick Kids at this link.

Recorded on March 5, 2024

Produced by Amalie Hutchinson

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

This week, hosts Anum Anjum and Anthony Cruz join Gabriel Jobin, a PhD student with the Drover Research Group working with fundamental chemical reactions to design new and efficient catalysts. We dive into how Gabriel’s research relates to sustainability, life outside of the lab and future directions of addressing global challenges with chemistry. Tune in for Al-uminating chemistry puns!

Recorded on February 27, 2024

Produced by Maria Khan

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