Talking Feral

An episode from the Patreon archives where I complain to my long-suffering dog and therapist, Willow.

Dr. Ally Menzies recently defended her PhD at McGill University in Montreal. She studied how boreal mammals behaviorally and physiologically respond to variation in their environment. We spoke about how it feels to have finished her degree, where she sees her career going now that she is finished, and how we might better prepare students and train scientists through tertiary education to better serve the needs of society. 

Andrea Wishart is a Ph.D student in biology at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research looks at red squirrel life history and caching behavior in the Yukon. In this two part episode we spoke about trying to be effective educators teaching remotely and while in grad school, about the ongoing inequalities in academia and how these manifest in field, and about how all these influences impact how we conduct science .

Andrea Wishart is a Ph.D student in biology at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research looks at red squirrel life history and caching behavior in the Yukon. In this two part episode we spoke about trying to be effective educators teaching remotely and while in grad school, about the ongoing inequalities in academia and how these manifest in field, and about how all these influences impact how we conduct science .

Joel is a urban/rooftop gardener, traveler extraordinaire, all around good guy and a close friend. We talk about choosing university over working after high school, travelling when your young and fighting the pressure to take on university debt, and feeding ourselves and a growing population. 

Dr. Wayne Linklater is the Chair and Professor of the Department of Environmental Studies at California State University. Wayne completed his Ph.D studying the Kaimanawa feral horses in New Zealand after completing a masters degree in freshwater science. We discuss how we ended up following a remarkably similar path in our academic careers, conservation science as a discipline, and the challenges and shortcomings of New Zealand's ambitious "Predator-free 2050" objective. 

Marnie Prickett is a freshwater policy campaigner and advocate from New Zealand. She headed the influential Choose Clean Water campaign which brought awareness around freshwater issues and failing policy to the height of public awareness. She continues to fight for meaningful and effective freshwater policy in New Zealand, and shares her thoughts on the barriers in achieving this, potential solutions, and her hopeful future for New Zealand's waterways. 

Dr. Doug Clark is an associate professor from the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan. His research His research has focused on conservation social science in the Canadian North, working with polar bears, bowhead whales, and many other arctic species. His early research and grad school experiences highlighted the importance of social science and reflexivity  in conservation work, particularly in remote Indigenous communities. 

Dr. Melanie Boudreau is US based post-doctoral researcher from Canada. She completed her PhD research on snowshoe hares in the Yukon, Canada, and now her main research focus is on black bear conservation in the south-eastern US, working out of Mississippi state. We spoke today about many different aspects of research and grad school, and the ongoing gender inequality in science and academia, and how we approach conservation issues as scientists and people.