Thinking Out Loud

Jorge Cham makes graduate students and academics laugh – he is the creator of PhD Comics, a comic strip that is part tribute, part send up of the challenges of academic life. He stopped in to Concordia’s Studio C for a conversation with one of his fans, Professor Paula Wood-Adams (Dean of Graduate Studies, Concordia Research Chair on the Physics of Advanced Materials). They talk communicating science, comics, and graduate school.

Kathy Reichs is best known for writing that weaves what she calls good old fashioned murder mysteries with science – but how do fictional portrayals of science in novels and television – think Bones, CSI – measure up in the lab, with the real science? A conversation on the ways crime, chemistry and fiction intersect, and the real deal on Bones-style science and crime featuring Kathy Reichs (forensic anthropologist, author), and Cameron Skinner (Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry), and PhD student Brigitte Desharnais (Chemistry/Biochemistry). Moderated by André Picard.

The technology that will replace needles, diversity and film, why you need to move…..some of the topics by 10 PhD candidates doing short talks (5 minutes each).the birds-eye view of what’s next….featuring Concordia University’s first cohort of Public Scholars — Erin O’Loughlin, Desirée de Jesus, William Robinson, Lisa Ndejuru, Rocco Portaro, Nadia Naffi, Leanne Keddie, Alexander McClelland, Lucas Hof, and Gonzalo Quintana Zunino. Moderated by Lucinda Chodan, in collaboration with the Montreal Gazette.

Award winning singer/artist Tanya Tagaq and Concordia University’s Heather Igloliorte (Assistant Professor, Aboriginal Art History) in a wide ranging conversation about arts and culture and creating and celebrating indigenous communities/experience. Moderated by Craig Offman.

Irish drag performer and gay rights activist Panti Bliss first made headlines for calling out media personalities for being homophobic. Emer O’Toole, assistant professor in the School of Canadian Irish Studies, has brought Bliss to Concordia to speak about the experience – during one of the visits this conversation was recorded in front of a live Thinking Out Loud audience. They talk about drag, gender performance and how what we wear can reflect much more than personal style and fashion. Moderated by Erin Anderssen.

Binge watching, streaming, piracy, and all that great new content – what is television now?

Emily Nussbaum (The New Yorker television critic and Pulitzer Prize winner) and Concordia University’s Joshua Neves (Canada Research Chair of Global Emergent Media, Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema) in conversation about TV, criticism and the new cultural status of the so-called small screen. Moderated by Hannah Sung.

The inside baseball on baseball - author and baseball analyst Jonah Keri talks about his combined love of journalism and baseball, recorded at the Reader’s Digest Annual Public Lecture in Journalism. Introduced by Enn Raudsepp, Jonah Keri shares stories about baseball followed by a short conversation with Arpon Basu.

Why does design matter for cities? More than aesthetics, design shapes much of our experience of cities. In this episode Ken Greenberg (author and urban designer) talks with Carmela Cucuzzella (Director of Concordia’s Institute for Urban Futures) – they talk cities, the role of design, and why some of the rules about city life may get in the way of innovation. Moderated by Alex Bozikovic.

What does an Indigenous future mean? How does technology play a role? Jason Lewis tells us about projects that connect the imaginary, and notions of an Indigenous future to new technologies.

Yeast is the answer? Research Malcolm Whiteway tells us how his work with yeast can help develop a new generation of drugs with fewer side effects - particularly for those with compromised immune systems. Healing faster with yeast?