GradCast

Special Episode: 39th Annual Western Research Forum

GradCast heads to the Western Research Forum! Get a glimpse into Western's largest multidisciplinary graduate research conference as hosts Liam Clifford, Mohammad Zeraati, Riya Sidhu, & Mark Ambrogio conduct short interviews with attendees, presenters, and organizers. This year's conference featured over 60 different presentations from across Western's 11 faculties. See below for interview questions and timestamps.

Funding for the 39th Annual Western Research Forum was provided by Western's Society of Graduate Students (SOGS), Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, and the Academic Joint Fund, a partnership among Western Research, SOGS, and Western's School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (SGPS).

Recorded on March 14, 2025.
Produced by Anthony Cruz.
Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ (Produced by White Hot).

 

Interview Questions & Timestamps

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What’s the biggest takeaway from your presentation?
What inspired you to pursue this research?
What is the effect of your research on real life?

01:00 - Jeremias
02:57 - Caitlin
04:47 - Elisabeth
06:24 - Rafaela

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How has presenting here helped you refine your ideas?
What’s one skill that has helped you succeed in your research?
What’s your best networking tip for first-time conference attendees?

07:37 - Sid
09:51 - Lauren
11:10 - Xavier
13:10 - Liam

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Summarize your research in one sentence.
What has been the highlight of the WRF?
How has AI influenced your research?

14:36 - Chloe
15:49 - Saghar
16:34 - Reza
19:29 - Andrew
20:16 - Aranya
21:25 - Anthony
22:12 - Ashley
23:09 - Olivia

502 | You'd Better Be Done!

In his fourth time with us, Alex Mayhew joins his fellow office-mates in Western's Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS), hosts Mark Ambrogio and Meghan Voll, as he rapidly approaches the finish line. By the time this episode airs, Alex may officially have his PhD in Library and Information Science! Alex discusses what is involved in the final weeks of one's PhD, such as his forthcoming public lecture. He also shares the experience of receiving feedback from his students (in the Master of Library and Information Sciences program) to some of his ideas around Aging Justice. And how feedback is not always a bad thing.

EDIT: Alex successfully defended his dissertation on Tuesday, April 22.  Congratulations, Dr. Mayhew!


Recorded on Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Produced by Mark Ambrogio

Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by White Hot).

 

#GlobalGrads Redux: Policy and Practice

In the second episode of #GlobalGrads, hosts Liam Clifford and Anthony Cruz are joined by Eva Deligiannis — a MSc student in Neuroscience and the PSAC610 Communications Chair. Eva shares her background in research, her journey through activism, and highlights key contemporary developments affecting international students at Western.

Shifting from the personal to the political, the conversation explores Navitas — a private education company whose proposed international student pathway was previously rejected by the Western community. Eva breaks down what Navitas is, how the proposal could impact international student prospects, and how both the union and broader campus community are organising in response.

Tune in for insight on how institutional policy affects our international colleagues and how domestic students can show solidarity.

For updates on the matter, follow @stopcutsatwesternu and the union @PSAC610 on Instagram. You may find additional information on the local's and UWOFA's respective websites.

Recorded on April 8, 2025
Produced by Liam Clifford

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

501 | #InspiringMinds: Fit or Fixated? Unpacking Emerging Fitness Ideals and the Role of Disordered Eating

This week, join us for the 5^th episode of our collaboration with Inspiring Minds, a campus-wide partnership between Western Research, the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the Writing Support Centre, Western Libraries, Student Experience and Western’s 11 faculties. Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research while enhancing transferrable skills. 

Hosts Maris Schneider and Anthony Cruz sit down with guest Lisa Zhu, a master’s student in clinical psychology, to explore the psychological impacts of today’s fitness trends that idealize muscularity. Lisa’s research investigates the often-overlooked connection between fitness ideals and food-related behaviours, revealing how disordered eating can be masked as "healthy" habits. She sheds light on how these unrealistic muscular ideals perpetuate harmful perceptions of health, especially among men, whose experiences with body image and disordered eating are frequently ignored. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation that challenges conventional ideas of fitness and wellness.

Check out Lisa's Inspiring Minds showcase here!

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of body image and disordered eating.

Recorded on April 8, 2025.
Produced by Anthony Cruz.
Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by White Hot).

500 | Big Brain Energy

Hosts Liam Clifford and Ryan Baxter meet with Rafaela Platkin, a MSc student in Cognitive, Developmental and Brain Sciences Psychology. Her research looks at how engaged children become with different story themes, and how this may influence broader cognitive domains (listening effort, attention, load, etc). She discusses studies with behavioural dual task to measure listening effort through reaction time, gaze and EEG brain activity. The hope is to better understand how children engage with auditory-only narratives and general stimuli and see how their listening effort and/or fatigue are affected. Rafaela talks about how she became charmed by the field of Psychology and her future plans for her PhD, to look at hearing aid users to see whether there is a disproportionate increase in listening effort.  

Recorded on April 1, 2025

Produced by Maria Khan

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

499 | Third Time's a Charm: Exploring Representations of, and Attitudes Towards, Snakes

And yes, he's back!  Liam Clifford and Mark Ambrogio are joined, for the third time, by William Laur, a PhD candidate at Western in Biology, as he shares how he is making good progress on his doctoral research.

William discusses his research on snakes; more specifically, he is interested in the human reaction towards snakes, which he studies by looking at both the scientific literature and social media posts.  Topics discussed include threat perception, human-animal conflict, and the importance of ecological diversity.  Snakes are not as dangerous as commonly perceived; indeed, it is possible, as William discusses, for us to learn to live alongside them.  

Recorded on Mark 25, 2025
Produced by Mark Ambrogio

Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by White Hot).

#BookCast 8 | The Secret History by Donna Tart

For this edition of #BookCast, we dive deep into The Secret History by Donna Tart, the origin of the dark academia genre. Join us as we discuss the book, which follows a student at a prestigious New England College, where he experiences new friends, an eclectic professor, and murder. The Secret History is a novel heavily laced with classical symbolism, and we discuss some of the central themes as well as engage in a breakdown of the main characters.

This episode was recorded on March 5, 2025

Produced by Scott Walters

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

#GlobalGrads Redux New Horizons: From Nepal to Western: Deepmala Rana Bhat's Journey as an International Student and Advocate for SOGS

#GlobalGrads is back! In this episode, hosts Liam Clifford and Riya Sidhu sit down with Deepmala Rana Bhat, a PhD student in Epidemiology from Nepal and the International Commissioner for SOGS at Western. As an international student herself, Deepmala shares insights into Nepal’s rich culture, fun facts, and her experiences advocating for international students. They also dive into the evolving landscape of international student policies in Canada and how these changes impact students like Deepmala. Tune in for a lively and informative conversation about culture, advocacy, and student life!

This episode was recorded on March 18, 2025 

This episode was produced by: Jessica Eblie

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ 

Produced by White Hot

498 | #InspiringMinds 4: Development of Parasports in Ghana

On our fourth episode of our collaboration with Inspiring Minds, a campus-wide partnership between Western Research, the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the Writing Support Centre, Western Libraries, Student Experience and Western’s 11 faculties. Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research while enhancing transferrable skills. 

Our hosts Riya Sidhu and Ryan Baxter are joined by Dennis Osei-Nimo Annor, a PhD candidate in the Department of Kinesiology, under the Faculty of Health Sciences. His research examines the ways in which sport can be used as a toolkit to address physical and sociocultural challenges faced persons who experience disability (PWEDs). By addressing this gap, he hopes to use sports as a tool for social inclusion to address harmful cultural stereotypes and perceptions about disability in Ghana. Dennis also talks about his journey to his PhD and his work in sports journalism.

Check out Dennis' Inspiring Minds Showcase here!

Recorded on March 11, 2025

Produced by Maria Khan

Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot

497 | Am I Pronouncing This Correctly? Reading, Context, and Word Recognition

In this week's episode, hosts Liam Clifford and Bruno Mesquita interview Niki Sinha (they/them), a PhD candidate in Neuroscience. Niki's research delves into the processes by which, when we read, we connect letters with sound and words with meanings.  As an example, the word "lead" has a very different meaning (and a very different pronunciation!) in the context of "lead singer," as opposed to "lead pipe."

These cognitive processes are so quick as to almost appear automatic.  In this interview, we learn, from Niki, that making connections between visual information and language isn't something that our brain is programmed to do by itself (unlike recognizing faces for instance), but it is something almost all of us learn to do anyways. 

Do tune in for a very erudite and engaging conversation! 

Recorded on Mark 4, 2025
Produced by Mark Ambrogio

Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by White Hot).