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 and Garth Casbourn, are chatting with Melanie Molnar, the Ombudsperson at Western University. Melanie is a professional mediator who supports graduate students as they move through their programs and learn to navigate complex relationships with supervisors and advisors. Tune in to learn more about Melanie’s role in graduate life and how you can use the Ombudsperson to support your academic journey.
If you would like to learn more about the Ombudsperson or access their services, you can find all of the information here https://www.uwo.ca/ombuds/index.html.
 
Recorded on Tuesday, Sep 15, 2026Produced by Kuljeet ChohanTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

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 newly-minted Western graduate, Rory is about to begin a PhD in Art History – also here at Western. Congratulations, Rory!
In their conversation, Ryan and Mark ask Rory about research he undertook at St. Dominic's Cemetery in D'Hanis, Texas — a cemetery of German heritage.  Rory shares anecdotes about his fieldwork at the cemetery, as well as how he learned from oral history and archival research, not to mention enjoying the famous "southern hospitality" from the local Texans.
As he enters his PhD, Rory is interested in the work of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, as well as other noteworthy Latin American artists, including Frida Kahlo, Poty Lazzarotto, Candido Portinari, and Fernando Botero.
 
 
Recorded on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026
Produced by Evelyn MacKay-Barr
Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by White Hot)

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 relates how, as an undergraduate in electrical engineering, he developed a fascination with how the human brain works. For his Master's research, Nima was able to combine the strands of his musicianship, his computational skills, and his neurological interests, and bring all three to bear on a project at Western's Centre for Brain and Mind. Using a sound equipment array known as the audiodome, he created virtual sound spaces to study how the human brain interprets positional information from the sounds in its environment.
You can learn more about Nima and his research at the following links:
https://nimazargarnezhad.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nima-zargarnezhad/
 
 
Recorded on Tuesday, September 1st, 2026
Produced by Garth Casbourn
Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by White Hot)

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 than other bones, when doing research in bioanthropology? What sort of problems and models can we take from the literature, and use that to develop hypotheses and investigate our own questions? What are some of the complexities in working with human samples?
 
Join Mark Ambrogio and Victor Lau as they hear more about some of the richness of Cristina’s investigations into the literature, and how she’s used that to translate her rigour and scientific approach to analyzing scans in the human tibia. 
 
Listen to hear about some of the fascinating methods Cristina is applying, as well as how she considers ethical questions around handling human samples in a respectful manner! Finally, Cristina shares a little about her upcoming doctoral studies at the University of Toronto.
 
Links:
PAVElab (https://www.pavelab.ca/) 
SchroederLab (https://www.laurenschroederlab.com/)  
 
 
Recorded on Tuesday, August 25th, 2026
Produced by Ella Siciliano
Theme tune "Feelin Good" provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week's episode, hosts Anthony Cruz and Anika Bushra interview Stephanie Brocca, a master’s graduate in Health and Rehabilitation Science. Stephanie researches how current methods of communicating health information can be a barrier to health literacy, patient activation, and health competencies in individuals with specific learning disorders, a field not well studied. Outside of research, Stephanie is passionate about mental health awareness and has written a book of poetry on trauma, stigma, and mental health called The Pains of Living, taking inspiration from true stories across the GTA. Tune in to learn more about the health literacy, patient activation, and the importance of accessible communication in the health field!
 
Anyone interested can reach out to Stephanie via Linkedin at www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-brocca
 
Recorded on Tuesday, August 18, 2026Produced by Evelyn MacKay-BarrTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

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 how an animal's internal physiology shapes its behaviour, looking at the influence of testosterone on the song sparrow, a migratory bird.  
 
The changes in behaviour that Garth studies are chiefly migration-related, looking at both adult males and juvenile sparrows.  Garth is studying two related hypotheses:  First, the gonadal hypothesis is the idea that sex hormones, including testosterone, are actually what causes migratory behaviour to develop.  Secondly, it is hypothesized that migration in sexually mature birds may have evolved from the dispersal behaviour of juveniles.
 
During his PhD, Garth has been an active member of GradCast, serving as both a host and as a producer.  
 
Garth's research has been conducted through Western's Advanced Facility for Avian Research and the Centre for Animals on the Move.
 
 
Recorded on Tuesday, August 11, 2026Produced by Anika BushraTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

This week on GradCast, hosts Anthony Cruz and Milan Mammen are joined by Jordan Sellers, a PhD student in Library & Information Science (LIS). Jordan researches sustainable digitization practices in community archives, challenging the traditional narrative that full digitization is the only way to accessibly and sustainably archive materials. Her long-term goal is to create an online toolkit to help community archivists figure out the best way to steward their knowledge. Tune in for a fun conversation about the way we store information!
Recorded on Tuesday, August 4, 2026Produced by Evelyn MacKay-BarrTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

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, ultimately serving two terms as Chair and Managing Editor. She returns to GradCast as she prepares to enter the fourth year  of her program (after a maternal leave – congratulations, by the way!).In her research, Amalie studies how hummingbirds use torpor, a state of inactivity characterized by a lowered body temperature and decreased metabolic rate, to preserve energy at night. While this phenomenon is not entirely unique to hummingbirds, the extreme temperature they lower their body to is. Amalie is currently looking at the energy demands of migration, using the wind tunnel at Western's Advanced Facility for Avian Research to study how hummingbirds consume energy over long-distance flights.In their conversation, Amalie and Mark also discuss their shared history with GradCast as well as ways of staying grounded as graduate students.Anyone interested in Amalie's research may contact her at: asaab4@uwo.ca
 
 
Recorded on Tuesday, July 28, 2026Produced by Evelyn MacKay-BarrTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)
 

This week, PhD candidate Mila Strelnikova gives a crash course into adapting the scientific spirit, and exploring problems in electrochemistry with a basic science focus (and pioneering steps towards making novel, state-of-the-art microscopy approaches usable across Ontario’s nuclear ecosystem!). 
What is pitting corrosion? Why is it something that’s harder to catch when we’re inspecting metal equipment breaking down, and why is this important? How are these problems being tackled and broken down in the lab?
Join Chrishma Perera and Victor Lau as they hear more on Mila’s journey in learning about and building at the edge of this field. Come to hear about the electrochemistry and how she’s been supported by a great group of lab mates, and stay a bit longer to hear about her involvements as a grad student outside her research.
People can reach out to Mila via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/liudmila-strelnikova/ ;And find more about the Gateman lab at https://sites.google.com/view/gatemanresearchgroup/home .
Recorded on Tuesday, July 21st, 2026Produced by Anika BushraTheme tune "Feelin Good" provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

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, formally graduating in June.In his research, Jack looks at past attempts to establish a universal language, as a way of communicating knowledge and ideas across linguistic and cultural divides. Attempts to establish a universal language can be said to go back to ancient Egypt and continued with Francis Bacon and the quest for a "perfect language."Using Real Language Character ontology, Jack built, in his dissertation, a knowledge organization system which is a work of art intended to provoke questions concerning our assumptions about the cross-linguistic universality of knowledge, and also demonstrate expanded potentials for information retrieval in the era of machine learning.You can find the web-art implementation of Jack's work  here: https://realcharacterlanguage.world*The episode title is a reference to John Wilkins' famous 1668 essay "An Essay Towards a Real Character and Philosophical Language."
 
Recorded on Tuesday, July 14, 2026Produced by Bruno MesquitaTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

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 PhD defence on June 11, Scott's thesis was​ published on the Western website.
Scott's research explored how the feeding patterns of water-associated birds are reflected in the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their bodies. Surprised by the results, Scott talks the hosts through some of the prevailing hypotheses that contextualized his research and talks through an explanation for his findings.
In their conversation, Ryan and Mark also listen as Scott recounts his journey from the West Coast to Western. With Scott's time at GradCast winding down, they reminisce about collaboration with Radio Western, playing analogue music (vinyl and CDs) live on air, and the importance of family and friends to a well-rounded graduate experience.Scott's PhD thesis:https://uwo.scholaris.ca/items/59896d8f-a9c8-457f-b087-81ecdfc25065Recorded on Tuesday, July 7, 2026Produced by Kuljeet ChohanTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week’s episode, Anthony Cruz and Maris Schneider are joined by our newly reappointed international commissioner, Lucas Ferreira Marques dos Santos. Lucas is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry, but today he is telling us all about his experience moving to Canada, conducting research as an international student, and sharing the exciting new opportunities he pours his heart and soul into to help make Western a welcoming community for all. Tune in and get ready to think about how your soul is doing!
Check our Lucas' work here:https://www.instagram.com/sogs.international/
https://www.instagram.com/westernuinternational/
https://www.instagram.com/lucas_forgeron/
 
Recorded on Tuesday, June 30, 2026Produced by Anika BushraTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)
 

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 tools can enhance English language learning to support learners who are older adults and seniors. With her research, Kelly aims to contribute to a field that heavily emphasizes supporting children and youth, and less on older adults and seniors in their English language learning journey. The goal of her research is to support older newcomers in English-speaking regions to learn the language more efficiently and with greater confidence.
Tune in to hear Mark, Ryan, and Kelly’s conversation about her family’s immigration story, how it influenced her research, and how she’s preparing for her upcoming comprehensive exam.
Recorded on Tuesday, June 23, 2026Produced by Evelyn MacKay-BarrTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)
 

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 is studying Spanish-language tweets written from 2009 to 2022. Rooted in the humanities, Pilar studies the digital form, utilizing coding – to study the more than 3.5 million tweets she collected, with a focus on learning what enormous amounts of data can tell us about feminism in the Spanish-speaking world.Chrishma and Mark talk with Pilar about what brought her to Western, her journey learning computational tools for her research, and how therapeutic music and reading can be for graduate students.
UWO Cultureplex Lab:  https://cultureplex.ca
Pilar's linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pilarrodriguezmata?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_android
Recorded on Tuesday, June 16, 2026Produced by Kuljeet ChohanTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

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 Biochemistry whose research compares two different approaches in examining what makes us human. Most people know that our DNA is an important part of who we are, but not all genes are active everywhere in our body. How do scientists study and measure the different ways our genes express throughout our cells?
 
Recorded on Friday, June 9, 2026
Produced by Milan Mammen and Zoe KallenekosTheme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)