Shows / GradCast
GradCast
The official podcast of the Society of Graduate Students at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. We aim to showcase the innovative research that graduate students are conducting at Western University and appeal to various audiences including those within and beyond the academic community.
Episodes
GradCast577 | Environmental Justice For All: How Climate Change Effects the Trans Experience
In this episode of GradCast, hosts Anthony Cruz and Rafaela Platkin are joined by Kat Newman-Seymour, a PhD student in Western's Department of Gender…
GradCast576 | Brain-inspired AI: Exploring Adversarial Robustness and Sustainability
In this week's episode, hosts Kuljeet Chohan and Mark Ambrogio interview Ehsan Ur Rahman Mohammed, a PhD candidate in Computer Science. In their conversation…
GradCast575 | Psychedelics, VR, & chairs? Exploring dimensions of the mind
We often assume that reality is objective, but as researchers, how do we tackle perceived reality in our subjects? For psychology master’s student Isaac…
GradCast574 | Don't Look Up: Philosophy and the Study of Climate Change
This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Bruno Mesquita are joined by Sara Varon Echeverri, a PhD student in Western University's Department of Philosophy studying…
GradCast573 | Building Towards Next-Generation Vaccines for HIV
This week, MSc (PhD-intended!) candidate Alexander Gain talks about his research on modelling and testing immune responses to different HIV vaccines. Although…
GradCast572 | Aging, HIV Stigma, and Mental Health among Older Adult Across Communities
This week, PhD student Bright Ofori talks about his research on HIV stigma and mental health among older adults living with HIV. With advances in treatment…
GradCastThrive, Don’t Just Survive #5: Advocating for Fairness
We’re back with our mini-series, chatting with folks on campus who support graduate students in every aspect of life! This week, your hosts, Maris Schneider…
GradCast571 | Hereafter and Evermore: Art History, Archaeology, and Cemeteries
In this week's episode, hosts Ryan Baxter and Mark Ambrogio interview Rory Succee as he graduates with his MA in Archaeology and Biological Anthropology. A…
GradCast570 | Sound in the Round: How the Brain Maps Multiple Lines of Music
In this episode, hosts Anthony Cruz and Ryan Baxter are joined by neuroscience PhD student Nima Zargarnezhad. An amateur musician from an early age, Nima…
GradCast569 | Foraging Shin Bones: Studying Tibias Across History
This week, freshly-graduated MA Cristina Lama talks about her research, and why it’s cool to be studying human bones. Why can the tibia be a better candidate…
GradCast568 | Health Literacy, Patient Activation, and Specific Learning Conditions: The Impact of Health Communication
In this week's episode, hosts Anthony Cruz and Anika Bushra interview Stephanie Brocca, a master’s graduate in Health and Rehabilitation Science. Stephanie…
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567 | The Young and the Restless: The Effects of Testosterone on Song Sparrows
In this week's episode, hosts Ryan Baxter and Mark Ambrogio interview GradCast's own Garth Casbourn, a PhD candidate in Biology. In his research, Garth studies…
GradCast566 | More than Meets the Archive: Sustainable Approaches to Preserving Shared Identity and Culture
This week on GradCast, hosts Anthony Cruz and Milan Mammen are joined by Jordan Sellers, a PhD student in Library & Information Science (LIS). Jordan…
GradCast565 | There and Back Again: Amalie Migrates Home to GradCast
In this week's episode, host Mark Ambrogio interviews GradCast alumna Amalie Hutchinson, a PhD candidate in Biology. Amalie was a GradCast host and producer…
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564 | What are Metals Hiding? Zooming in on Corrosion
This week, PhD candidate Mila Strelnikova gives a crash course into adapting the scientific spirit, and exploring problems in electrochemistry with a basic…
GradCast563 | A 21st century essay towards a real character language
In this week's episode, hosts Ryan Baxter and Mark Ambrogio interview John (Jack) Kausch, who recently completed his PhD in Library and Information Science…
GradCast562 | Birds, Fatty Acids, and Isotopes: A Story About Where Fresh and Marine Waters Meet
In this week's episode, hosts Ryan Baxter and Mark Ambrogio interview GradCast's own Scott Walters, a long-time host and producer. Shortly after his successful…
GradCast561 | Popping the Bubble: International Experiences at Western
In this week’s episode, Anthony Cruz and Maris Schneider are joined by our newly reappointed international commissioner, Lucas Ferreira Marques dos Santos…
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560 | Confidence, Speaking, and Digital Tools: Supporting Older Adult English Language Learners in Canada
In this week's episode, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Ryan Baxter interview Kelly Wang, a first-year PhD Student in Education. Kelly is exploring how digital media…
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559 | #Feminismo: Feminism and the Digital Hispanosphere
In this week's episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Mark Ambrogio interview Pilar Rodriguez Mata, a PhD Student in Digital Humanities and Hispanic Studies. Pilar…
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558 | How do we think about cells? There isn't one right way
Doing science is never about a single approach. Join hosts Bruno Mesquita and Rafaela Platkin as they chat with guest Camdyn Holmes, a MSc student in…
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557 | Minding the Body: How Does Mental Health Correlate With Exercise?
Hosts Garth Casbourn and Milan Mammen are joined this week by psychology student and member of the Psychobiology of Eating and Related Disorders (PEAR) Lab…
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556 | K-Queer Regionality and Digital Affinities: Queer Identity in K-pop’s Transcultural Fandom
In this week's episode, hosts Ryan Baxter and Mark Ambrogio interview Jasmine Proctor, a PhD candidate in Media Studies, in Western's Faculty of Information…
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Special Episode: 40th Annual Western Research Forum
GradCast heads to the Western Research Forum! Get a glimpse into Western's largest multidisciplinary graduate research conference as hosts Chrishma Perera…
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555 | Marc Lalonde and The Grad Club, the Heart of Grad Life at Western
This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Mark Ambrogio are joined by Marc Lalonde, the longtime manager of The Grad Club and recent recipient of the Western Award of…
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554 | Culturally Safe Long-term Care: Supporting Seniors with Diverse Cultural Backgrounds
This week, PhD candidate (Nursing) Azmat Jehan shines a light on older adults and their experiences in long-term care. How are they supported by family, or by…
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553 | Internationally Educated Nurse (IEN) Beyond Borders: Reality, Resilience, and Research in Canadian Health Care
In honour of International Nurses' Day (on Tuesday, May 12), hosts Chrisma Perera and Mark Ambrogio interview Mehtab Jaffer, a PhD candidate in Nursing here at…
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#BookCast 10 | Special Topics in Calamity Physics
BookCast is an ongoing series where we delve into novels set in an academic context. For the 10th edition of BookCast, Garth Casbourn, Milan Mamman, and Mark…
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552 | Understanding the Abstract & Each Other: How Mentalizing Shapes the Way we Think
In this week's episode, PhD student Hannah Corenblum joins hosts Rafaela Platkin and Spencer Schmitz to talk about her research on abstract mental state…
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551 | Navigating Falls After Stroke: Research Shaped by Community Voices
PhD candidate Catherine George joins hosts Milan Mammen and Mark Ambrogio to discuss her research on falls and their risk factors among stroke survivors aged…
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Art or Science #1| Music
How do artistic and scientific ways of thinking meet, overlap, and challenge each other? In this special Arts & Sciences mini-series episode of GradCast, hosts…
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550 | Where are you From? How Placed-Based Identity Affects Political Behaviour
Political science PhD candidate Katie McCoy returns to the podcast this week. She chats with hosts Scott Walters and Garth Casbourn about the new directions…
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Thinking with the Earth 4: Where and Why People Move
This is the fourth and final episode of the Thinking with the Earth miniseries, 2026. In this episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Ryan Baxter speak with Haorui…
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549 | Caring About Caring
PhD student Kailey Cutillo joins hosts Maris Schneider and Mark Ambrogio to talk about her work in Theory and Criticism. Kailey is interested in better…
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547 | Thinking with the Earth 3: Rooted in Community
This is the third episode of the Thinking with the Earth miniseries. In this episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Ryan Baxter interview Javier Ponce de Leon Eyl…
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546 | Thinking with the Earth 2: The Water We Don’t See
This is the second episode of the Thinking with the Earth miniseries. In this episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Spencer Schmitz speak with Dharma Raj Dhakal…
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548 | It's All About Carbon and Football
In this week's episode, hosts Bruno Mesquita and Zoe Kallenekos are joined by Samantha Hopkins, a PhD candidate from the department of biology who is…
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545 | Ungetable: Exploring How English as a Second Language Speakers Navigate Derivatives
In this week’s episode, hosts Maris Schneider and Kelly Wang are talking with Yuhan Zhao, a MA student in the department of Education. Yuhan looks at how…
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544 | Chick-a-Dee-Coding the Accents of Birds
In this week's episode, hosts Anthony Cruz and Rafaela Platkin are joined by Alex Muth, an MSc student in the Psychology department at Western University. Alex…
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543 | Thinking With the Earth 1: Flight Paths Toward Sustainability
This is the first episode of the Thinking with the Earth miniseries. In this episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Garth Casbourn interview Madison Robinson, an…
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542 | #Inspiring Minds 16: Optical Payload in Western Skylark CubeSat to Demonstrate the Future of Space Communication
This week, Purvaja Karthikeyan, a PhD candidate from Electrical and Computer Engineering is joined by hosts Mark Ambrogio and Victor Lau. Purvaja is supervised…
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541 | The Math Behind Viruses
In this week’s episode, hosts Kuljeet Chohan and Rafaela Platkin interview Jake Daigle, a MSc student in bioinformatics, about his research on modelling…
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540 | Demystifying Job Hunting Through Peer Advising
In this week's episode, hosts Milan Mammen and Chrishma Perera are joined again by Varsha Vasudevan, a PhD candidate in the Health & Rehabilitation Sciences…
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539 | #Inspiring Minds 15: Inside Speech Development, Altered Auditory Feedback, and Growing Voices
In this week's episode, hosts Maris Schneider and Mark Ambrogio talk to Jessica Holmes. Jessica is completing a combined MCISc/PhD in Speech-Language Pathology…
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538 | Studying Shape: From Human Histories to Earth Processes
In this week’s episode, hosts Kelly Wang and Scott Walters interview Sorcha Rountree, a PhD student in Earth Science, about their journey from archaeology to…
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537 | Zola, but Make it Funny: The Comedies You Missed
This week, French studies PhD candidate Kaitlyn Gagnon takes hosts Garth Casbourn and Mark Ambrogio into both the literary and theatrical worlds of…
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536 | How Kids Process Stories and Sharing our (Scientific) Stories with the World
In this week's episode, hosts Garth Casbourn and Bruno Mesquita interview Jessica Lammert, a fifth year PhD student in the Cognitive, Developmental, and Brain…
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535 | #Inspiring Minds 14: “One-Size-Fits-All” Myth: Concussions are Different in Male and Female Brains
In this week's episode, hosts Milan Mammen and Kuljeet Chohan interview Emilie Potts, a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering, to talk about what we still…
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534 | Midwives on the Frontline of Maternal Mental Health Care
In this week's episode, hosts Anthony Cruz and Bruno Mesquita interview Shahnaz Shahid Ali, a PhD student in Nursing under the supervision of Dr. Panagiota…
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533 | #Inspiring Minds 13: Accessibility by Design: Musical Instruments in Student Hands
In this week's episode, hosts Ryan Baxter and Mark Ambrogio interview Ran Jiang, a PhD candidate in Music Education, in Western's Don Wright Faculty of Music…
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532 | Taking a Close Look at Protein Oxidation Using Mass Spectrometry
In this week's episode, hosts Anthony Cruz and Milan Mammen interview Evelyn MacKay-Barr, a third year PhD student in Physical/Analytical Chemistry. Evelyn is…
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531 | #Inspiring Minds 12: Walking to the Beat: Music, Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation, and Parkinson’s
In this week's episode, hosts Kelly Wang and Mark Ambrogio speak with Marina de Oliveira Emerick, a PhD candidate in Neuroscience. Marina's research looks at…
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530 | Changing Minds: Improving Hiring Practices with Growth Mindset Messaging
This week, hosts Garth Casbourn and Maris Schneider speak to Sarah Capellaro, a master's student in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Sarah is developing…
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529 | #Inspiring Minds 11: We Were Saying This All Along: Person-Centered Long Term Care and Small Homes
In this week's episode, hosts Milan Mammen and Kelly Wang interview Denise Bedard, a PhD candidate in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Health and Aging)…
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#BookCast 9 | People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
For this edition of #BookCast, your hosts Garth Casbourn, Meghan Voll, and Scott Walters cover the unique writing of People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, a…
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528 | #InspiringMinds 10: Caravaggio with a Cellphone: Merging Tradition With Digital Identity
In this week's episode, hosts Ryan Baxter and Mark Ambrogio interview Natasha Beaudoin, a student in the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program. The MFA has both…
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527 | STEM Teacher Retention and our Sense of Belonging in Education
This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Mark Ambrogio interview Aoife Hawthorne, a master's student in Western's Curriculum Studies program in the Faculty of…
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526 | #InspiringMinds 9: Relations, Not Relationships: Values, Algorithms, and Dating Platforms
In this week's episode, hosts Ryan Baxter and Mark Ambrogio interview Meghan Voll, a PhD candidate in Media Studies here at Western University. GradCast…
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525 | #InspiringMinds 8: Challenges to LGBTQIA+ Rights in Education:
This week on GradCast, hosts Garth Casbourn and Bruno Mesquita are joined by Carlos Eduardo Barzotto, a PhD Student in Western's Department of Education…
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523 | A Pocket Guide to Trans Inclusivity through Art and Activism
This week on GradCast, hosts Maris Schneider and Milan Mammen are joined by Sydney Brouillard-Coyle, a PhD Student in Western's Department of Gender…