Hosts Anthony Cruz and Meghan Voll are joined by Emiko Muraki, a PhD candidate with the University of Calgary, and a visiting PhD student at Western University. Emiko studies how context and differences between people affect how we learn and use concepts, and understand language. She also studied people with aphantasia, who can't form mental images…

Hosts Mark Ambrogio and Meghan Voll are joined by Shengpei (Leslie) Li, a Ph.D. student in Media Studies. Leslie discusses his research on rap music in China and the politics surrounding it. Recorded on October 1, 2024. Produced by Riya Sidhu Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot).…

Hosts Mark Ambrogio and Ryan Baxter are joined by Elisabeth (Libby) Roberts, a Ph.D. candidate in the music cognition specialization at the University of Western Ontario, Don Wright Faculty of Music. Libby discusses her research in music-evoked autobiographical memory and how she combines methods from behavioural sciences, sociology, and music theo…

In this installment of the three-part #TheScoopOnSOGS miniseries, host Liam Clifford is joined by Jasmine Proctor, a PhD Student in Western's Faculty of Information and Media Studies who currently serves as the Vice-President Advocacy at the Society of Graduate Students (SOGS). Listen to this episode to learn about Jasmine's research, background, a…

This week, hosts Maris Schneider and Garth Casbourn are joined by writer, curator and visual culture PhD candidate at the Department of Visual Arts, Ashar Mobeen. Ashar studies ancient and indigenous civilizations and the manifestation of astronomical understanding within their art and architecture. He explores the stories of groups marginalized by…

In this installment of the three-part #TheScoopOnSOGS miniseries, host Liam Clifford is joined by Cherin Chung, a PhD Candidate in Western's Department of French who currently serves as the President of the Society of Graduate Students (SOGS). Listen to this episode to learn about Cherin's research, background, and roles at SOGS, as well as what sh…

This week, hosts Garth Casbourn and Riya Sidhu are joined by Kevin Young, a PhD Candidate in Western's Department of Biology. Kevin researches how the omega-3 fats in the diets of migratory shorebirds help them regulate their body temperature and save energy during their long journeys. Listen to learn about some of the amazing avian research happen…

In this installment of the three-part #TheScoopOnSOGS miniseries, host Liam Clifford is joined by Evan Sauve, a PhD Candidate in Western's Department of Economics who currently serves as the Vice-President Finance at the Society of Graduate Students (SOGS). Listen to this episode to learn about Evan's research, background, and roles at SOGS, as wel…

This week, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Garth Casbourn are joined by Astronomy PhD student Sami Lambier. Sami researches ultracool dwarfs, some of the smallest stars in the Universe. Sami also discusses her work at the Cronyn Observatory. Listen to learn some ultra-cool facts about the night sky! Recorded on September 3, 2024. Produced by Anthony Cruz. …

For our August book of the month, the #BookCast team tackled The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, the discussion led by Meghan Voll and joined by Mark Ambrogio, Garth Casbourn and Maria Khan. The team looks at the writing style, character development, accuracy to real-life academia and problematic elements in the storyline. Will this experiment co…

This week, join hosts Ryan Baxter, Mark Ambrogio, and Anthony Cruz as they discuss graduate student life at Western. Topics include Summer travel, musical performance, and the hosts' various research interests. Recorded on August 27, 2024. Produced by Anthony Cruz. Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot).…

This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Riya Sidhu are joined by psychology PhD student Joseph Rovetti. Taking a different look at our ability to understand speech in different environments, Joseph is studying the cognitive side to speech perception - and just how deep that goes. If you've ever had trouble understanding someone in a noisy room, tune into…

For our July book of the month, the #BookCast crew reads Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. Tune in a discussion of the novel led by Garth Casbourn featuring hosts Scott Walters, Meghan Voll, Mark Ambrogio, and special guest Helen Button! We discuss the literary format of the novel, its relation to our experiences as academics, and the historical context …

Join GradCast Hosts Meghan Voll and Mark Ambrogio as they chat with our favourite repeat guest, Alex Mayhew. This time, Alex discusses what it's like in the final few months of a PhD, from wrapping up to writing to deciding when to defend, there IS light at the end of the tunnel. Recorded on August 13, 2024 Produced by Amalie Hutchinson Theme song …

This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Meghan Voll are joined by a MSc Psychology student, Lincoln Inglis. Covering everything from AI ethics to how producing plays with children sparked his interest, they talk about how Lincoln uses Deepfake technology to help understand how we categorize the voices we hear. Recorded on August 6, 2024 Produced by Riya …

This week, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Liam Clifford are joined by William Laur, to talk about his PhD work on attitudes towards his favourite animal, the snake. To help inform conservation efforts, William studies the perception of snakes through analysis of social media posts, as well as articles written by scientific researchers. William also talks …

This week, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Liam Clifford are joined by a gentleman who seems like he's done it all, Law PhD student Joel Welch. Student by day and bartender by night, in this episode Joel delves into his work examining the lessons we can learn from science fiction. He also delves into his past experience working with the RCMP and speaking a…

Join us for our second edition of #BookCast where we discuss The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker. Your hosts for this episode are Mark Ambrogio, Amalie Hutchinson, Meghan Voll, Scott Walters and Garth Casbourn. Note for listeners, this episode contains many spoilers! Sweet dreams.... Recorded on July 16, 2024 Produced by Amalie Hutchinson Theme s…

This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Maris Schneider are joined by Tanja Grubnic, a PhD Candidate in Western's Department of English. Tanja is interested in the ethics of generative AI. Tanja organized an event at Western called Can AI Be Creative? where she invited several guest speakers to tackle this topic. In this episode, Tanja shares some tips f…

What do graduate students get up to during the summer? Tune in to hear what Amalie Hutchinson, Meghan Voll, and Mark Ambrogio have planned this summer. Recorded on July 2, 2024 Produced by Amalie Hutchinson Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot)Από τον Anthony Cruz, Amalie Hutchinson, Meghan Voll, Scott Walters, Mark Ambrogio, Ryan Baxter, Suzy Lee, Apurva Desai, Maria Khan, Garth Casbourn, Liam Clifford

In this special episode, host Anthony Cruz is joined by Tyson de Moura Umberger, a PhD Student in Hispanic Studies. Tyson researches the evolution of Spanish, French, and Portuguese in the Western hemisphere. How are these gendered languages evolving over time? Listen to find out. We also discuss Tyson's work as the Society of Graduate Students' Pr…

This week, hosts Anthony Cruz and Mark Ambrogio are joined by Brianne O'Sullivan, a PhD Candidate in Health Information Science. Brianne's doctoral research focuses on medical delivery drones, which deliver essential healthcare supplies to people in hard-to-reach places. Could drones play a vital role in healthcare in the future? In addition to her…

This week, GradCast hosts Amalie Hutchinson and Anthony Cruz chat with Maddie Bloomberg, a Master's student in the department of psychology. Maddie shares her research into category learning and individual differences that can arise between neurotypical and neurodivergent fish-categorizers. To find out more about Maddie's work, check out her linked…

This week, hosts Mark Ambrogio and Garth Casbourn are joined by Alan Oldham, a PhD candidate in Western's School of Kinesiology. In his work, Alan asks some challenging questions about sports. Is it fair for games to end in a tie? How do we decide who can or can't play a sport? Sports play a huge role in our lives, but these questions aren't easy t…

In this very special episode, Meghan Voll and Mark Ambrogio interview soon-to-be Master of Media Studies graduate student Janelle Allan. In this episode, Janelle asks our hosts her burning question about all things grad school, from getting a teaching assistantship, to managing new academic workloads. If you're entering a graduate program, you'll w…