Wide Open Air Exchange

Dr Anne Casey is an internationally acclaimed poet from west Clare in Ireland. Throughout this conversation, Anne kindly reads and introduces several of her poems and shares insights from her academic research.

Anne Casey's doctoral research was on 'The second-wave impact in Australia of the Great Irish Famine: reviving lost histories through poetics of resistance'. We hear about some of Anne's archival research and her own family history that evidence British colonial atrocities in Ireland.

Anne's poetry also vividly takes us to her seaside hometown on the Atlantic coastline of west Clare, showing her strong connections to place and culture

Former US champion barista Charles Babinski is now in Sydney as owner-operator of Cafe 143 in Bronte.  In this conversation, Charles reflects on some of his vocational experiences as a coffee specialist and his approach to running a coffee shop.

For the week of International Women's Day, we're putting a spotlight on research related to gender equality and social inclusion in the WASH workforce (water, sanitation and hygiene services).

Our guest is Avni Kumar who is a Senior Research Consultant in the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS with a background in development economics.

The discussion extends to themes that are relevant for women in the wider workforce, the importance of including men in gender inclusion efforts, and Avni's own experience of returning to work from maternity leave.

Lucy Haslam from United in Compassion reflects on her more than 10 years as a medical cannabis advocate in Australia as she prepares for the UIC 2025 Australian Medical Cannabis Symposium.

Dr Emma Lawrance from Imperial College London specialises in the intersections between climate change and mental health. Emma is the Climate Cares Centre Lead and Mental Health Lead at the Institute of Global Health Innovation.

Emma explains how climate change is a risk multiplier for mental health difficulties and how climate action is an opportunity multiplier for better mental health.

With a DPhil in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford and a background in studies of Science and Science Communication, Emma brings to her work a great technical knowledge along with a longstanding personal interest in nature and a curiosity about the human mind.

Tangiora Hinaki shares stories and insights from her varied and impressive vocational life including running a shearing shed and home schooling her eight children to being CEO of Ngaarda Media, the only First Nations media hub in the Pilbara.

This is a good one for holiday listening. I'll be back with new conversations in Feb 2025. Take care and dig in to the Wide Open Air Exchange podcast back catalogue in the meantime. Best wishes, Christine Gallagher.

This episode was first broadcast on radio 2SER 107.3FM Sydney:

A Song for You is a vocal ensemble with a rotation of around 50 members from a community of artists in the Berlin live soulful music scene. Co-founder Dhanesh Jayaselan shares the origins and ethos of the project which serves to elevate the voices and stories of BIPOC artists.

Film aficionado Davis Rivera shares his memorable movie viewing of the past 12 months including The Brutalist, Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros, Aggro Dr1ft, Juror #2, In Water, and Last Summer.

For more than 30 years, Bonnie Barlow has been involved in the narration and writing of audio description for the theatre, television, feature films, museums, historical sites, and more.

Bonnie gives us an introduction to the role of an audio description specialist and her professional approach to providing accessible services for people who are blind and visually impaired.

Bonnie is also a trainer of other audio description specialists and shares some of the foundational lessons and core principles she teaches.

Dr Erica Sze Lok Ho is a founder of peer support communities for PhD candidates and other higher degree by research (HDR) students and a Research Analyst at UTS Business School where she promotes HDR student engagement and wellbeing.