Welcome to this episode of Half Time Scholars, where we delve into the world of circular economy and digitalisation with PhD candidate Agnes Toth-Peter. Joining us from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, Agnes is a recipient of the QUT Postgraduate Research Award scholarship and is a part of the QUT ACE Centre and the QUT Centre for a Waste-Free World.

In this episode, Agnes shares her expertise on the link between digitalisation and circular economy, highlighting potential solutions for sustainable development through new business models. Specifically, she discusses the benefits and opportunities of Industry 4.0 tools and how digital technologies can support the implementation of circular economy principles, enabling a shift towards more sustainable production and consumption patterns.

With a background in systems thinking and system dynamics, Agnes believes that the solution to any complex problem starts with a shift in our mindset and mental models. Prior to her Ph.D. studies, Agnes completed her undergraduate studies in London, Paris, and Valencia, and a Master of Business at the University of Queensland, where she received the Dean's Honour Roll Award for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Social Impact & Sustainability.

Tune in to gain insights from Agnes Toth-Peter on how circular economy and digitalisation can contribute to sustainable development and the shift towards more sustainable production and consumption patterns.

Vibhuti Rao, a PhD candidate from Western Sydney University, is researching Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a complex disorder affecting Indian women. She's exploring the potential of Ayurvedic diet and yoga therapy to manage the condition and provide alternative, sustainable, and effective lifestyle options. Her study focuses on assessing the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of a standard Ayurvedic lifestyle program for overweight/obese ethnic Indian women with PCOS. PCOS has no cure and there is a need for alternative, sustainable, and effective lifestyle options. Lifestyle modification is the first-line treatment of PCOS, however has limited research.

Ayurveda and yoga are traditional medicinal systems originated in Indian sub-continent, are now popular worldwide for their effect in managing various chronic and lifestyle-related. A lifestyle program constituting the Ayurvedic diet and yoga therapy (AY) based on Ayurvedic principles may help reduce weight and improve metabolic and reproductive outcomes in women with PCOS.

This exploratory, sequential and mixed-method study will be conducted in Australia and India, aiming to present a standard AY lifestyle program and assess its feasibility, acceptability, and safety in ethnic Indian women with PCOS who are overweight/obese. This study will include a randomised feasibility trial of over 12-weeks. Follow Vibhuti's interesting work on twitter @drvibhutirao 

Rubina Mulchandani is a graduate in Life Sciences and post graduate in Clinical Research, currently a PhD scholar in Clinical Research at the Indian Institute of Public Health, Public Health Foundation of India. Her research area is interdisciplinary and combines the fields of cardiovascular epidemiology and pharmacovigilance. Rubina is actively involved in teaching post graduate students and health professionals in the ongoing academic programmes and short-term training at the institute.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are responsible for a third of all global deaths a majority of which occur due to heart attacks and stroke. About 80% of these deaths occur in the developing countries, with mortality being the highest for the low- middle income countries.

Rubina’s research includes establishing a cohort to assess the neuro-cognitive changes among statin users over time. This is a longitudinal study where adults prescribed statins for dyslipidaemia in the last 1 year have been recruited from the Cardiology Out Patient Department of the study hospital. Her study hopes to add to the knowledge pool for this under-researched area of study in Asians, hopefully shedding light on the statin safety profile. This could help generate new hypotheses and provide a leeway for larger studies, with the ultimate aim of enhancing patient care. Please follow Rubina’s interesting work on Twitter  @Rubina_BigB_EF

On this episode we speak with Isabella Gonçalves, a Brazilian second-year doctoral candidate at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, and a recipient of a DAAD Scholarship. Isabella currently researches the stereotypical framing of migrants and refugees in media coverage comparing Brazil and the United Kingdom (UK). Isabella is also the head of the Brazilian team on the Digiworld scientific network.

Isabella’s interests focus on the interactions between ingroups and outgroups, media framing of marginalized groups, political communication, and comparative approaches, including countries from the Global South and Global North. Follow Isabella’s interesting work on Twitter @bellasgon and https://www.igoncalves.com/homepage

Enas Aref is a board-certified Ergonomist, researcher and instructor with experience in the areas of Ergonomics, Occupational Safety, Human Factors, Usability, Statistics Product Design, and Project Management. An Ergonomist designs or modifies the work to fit the worker, not the other way around. 

Lucas Whittaker is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology (BEST Centre) at the Queensland University of Technology. His research focuses on the application of synthetic media such as ‘deepfakes’ within marketing contexts and psychological factors which may influence consumer appraisal of such media.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning have given rise to the deepfake, a method of creating highly realistic yet inauthentic digital audio, images, and videos. For marketers, deepfakes present new opportunities for customer value creation and engagement, but factors such as the level of realism inherent in the media and the presence of disclosure may influence consumer appraisal. Cognitive biases and predispositions to modes of information processing may also influence how deepfakes are perceived.  Lucas’ PhD conceptually and empirically explores such factors pertaining to deepfakes and the wider implications of such synthetic media for marketing.

Please follow the Lucas's interesting work on Twitter@LucasWhittaker  

Enas Aref is a board-certified Ergonomist, researcher and instructor with experience in the areas of Ergonomics, Occupational Safety, Human Factors, Usability, Statistics Product Design, and Project Management.  An Ergonomist designs or modifies the work to fit the worker, not the other way around. The goal is to eliminate discomfort and risk of injury due to work. Ergonomics can roughly be defined as the study of people in their working environment. Enas has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s in Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management, and is Enas has  over 10 years of experience in several engineering and managerial positions including Industrial Production, Production Planning, Project Management, Sales, Import and Export

Dr. Pradyumna Jairam’s research is placed within the broader domain of how the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party constructs its idea of Indian history through an identity-centric rubric. Using history textbooks, the party prescribed in the north-western state of Rajasthan in 2017. His research uncovers how in order to branch out its national ideology of Hindutva to suit a regional context, the party regionalises the history of the nation, in order to satisfy a state-oriented narrative.

Dr. Pradyumna Jairam completed his PhD in Politics and Education from King’s College, London in 2022. His research examines how the Bharatiya Janata Party constructs a particular narrative of Indian Identity, centred around Hindu majoritarianism in the school history textbooks of Rajasthan. He is at present a Teaching Fellow at the Department of Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He is also a yearly Visiting Lecturer at City, University of London. He was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Department of War Studies, King’s College from 2017 to 2021, and prior to his PhD was a school history and political science teacher in New Delhi, India from 2012 to 2016.