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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
Wednesday Nov 04, 2020
Wednesday Nov 04, 2020
In this episode of GradCast, hosts Gavin Tolometti and Francesco Colosimo chat with Kristin Prentice (a PhD Candidate in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences researching leisure activity in older adults) and Adam Debosscher (a PhD Candidate in English Literature studying popular fantasy literature), about the various struggles they have faced as students in the COVID-19 era. Together, they enlighten us about how the pandemic has affected their research, measures they undertaken to keep their projects moving forward and personal strategies they have to stay productive.
If you want to learn more about Kristin Prentice's work you can email her at kprenti4@uwo.ca
If you want to learn more about Adam Debosscher's work you can read his article #ForTheThrone in the journal This Years Work on Medievalism
Full video available on YouTube
Recorded on Oct 29, 2020
Produced by Gavin Tolometti
Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot
Wednesday Oct 28, 2020
Wednesday Oct 28, 2020
When we listen to the world around us, we can tune the brain to focus on sounds or voices. Do you remember when you were last on the train or bus and there was a certain sound that stood out to you? You could figure out what that sound was right? That is you perceiving the surrounding environment. For the human brain, this is a complex yet routine ability and is something we do not think about on how it works. Now try teaching a machine the same ability. Sounds hard right? Well, in this episode, hosts Liam Clifford and Gavin Tolometti talk with M.Sc student Haider Al-Tahan from the Department of Computer Science about his research using machine learning to train algorithms to distinguish audio from human speech.
To check out more from Haider go to his website haideraltahan.com
Full video available on YouTube
Recorded Oct 22, 2020
Produced by Ariel Frame
Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io Produced by White Hot
Tuesday Oct 20, 2020
Tuesday Oct 20, 2020
In this episode of GradCast, hosts (Elizabeth Mohler and Nikol Posnov) talk with Anna Sui (PhD Candidate in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences) about her research which looks at how women story their experiences of requesting and receiving tubal ligation (getting their tubes tied). Specifically, her research explores how various intersecting social identities (race, disability, gender, etc.) shape these experiences. We learn from Anna that this process is more difficult and complicated by myriad barriers than one might believe, especially in how medical professionals regard female patients.
To learn more about Anna's research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anna_Sui 
Recorded on October 13, 2020
Full video available on YouTube
Produced by Yousuf Hasan
Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io Produced by White Hot
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
Erlantz Etxeberria (PhD Candidate in Philosophy) chats about his research on scientific method and explanations in science with hosts (Yousuf Hasan and Liam Clifford). What is the scientific method? Should we trust science? Can philosophy inform science? Is there a clash between scientific evidence and politics? We talk about these issues with Erlantz. He also shares with us what he thinks about Richard Feynman’s quote on philosophy of science: “[it is] as useful to scientists as ornithology [the study of birds] is to birds.”
To learn more about Erlantz' research, visit his Rotman profile at Western. 
Recorded on October 09, 2020.
Produced by Yousuf Hasan
Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io Produced by White Hot
Monday Oct 05, 2020
Monday Oct 05, 2020
In this episode Elizabeth Mohler and Ariel Frame become informed by Francesco Colosimo on his research investigating the health information being distributed to the public on COVID-19. In his Masters of Health Information Science, Farncesco seeks to assess which information is trusted, which is correct and which channels are disseminating correct information opposed to misinformation. During a global pandemic, this information is important to get right and Francesco's research seeks to find the best way of getting there.
To hear more from Francesco, find him on Instagram @francesco.colosimo or Facebook
Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io Produced by White Hot
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
Jaclyn Siegel (PhD Candidate in Social Psychology) joins us (Yousuf Hasan and Yimin Chen) to discuss three fascinating HRTO cases involving Western University. Jaclyn has lately been fascinated by how HRTO handles applications and appeals of harassment and discrimination. As a feminist, Jaclyn provides valuable insights on related issues as well. She also discusses some of the more pernicious forms of harassment, for instance, harassment by vexatious litigation.
Disclaimer: No one in this video is a lawyer and nothing described is a legal advice; the three HRTO cases narrated are from the publicly available documents below:
1. https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2017/2017hrto1536/2017hrto1536.html
Appeal: https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2018/2018hrto477/2018hrto477.html
Recorded on Sep. 16, 2020
Produced by Yousuf Hasan
Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io Produced by White Hot
Monday Sep 28, 2020
Monday Sep 28, 2020
Produced by Laura Munoz Baena
Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io Produced by White Hot
Friday Sep 25, 2020
Friday Sep 25, 2020
As a graduate student, we face academic rejection in various forms. From a journal declining your manuscript, being told you were not good enough to join a research lab or postgraduate institution, to rejection from peers because of your choices in course work. In this #GradLife episode, hosts Viki Tellios, Gavin Tolometti, and Monica Molinaro open the floor to GradCast committee members Ariel Frame, Rhys Patterson, Laura Beana, Elizabeth Mohler, Danica Martina, and Liam Clifford to share their academic rejection experiences and how graduate students can learn from them and cope with rejection in their lives.
To hear previous #GradLife episodes, follow us at @GradCastRadio on Twitter and Instagram, and visit our website gradcast.ca
Full episode available on YouTube
Recorded on Sept. 16th, 2020
Produced by Gavin Tolometti
Theme song Upbeat Party produced by Scott Holmes
Tuesday Sep 22, 2020
Tuesday Sep 22, 2020
For university students, the question “what are you going to do after you graduate?” often proves to be the bane of their existence. This stems from not only its repetitiveness from friends and family members alike, but more so from the existential dread that it causes. They may have an idea of what they want to do, but nobody truly knows for certain what will transpire, especially in the era of COVID-19. However, fear not as PhD student Shannon McKechnie from the Faculty of Education reassures hosts Yousuf Hasan and Liam Clifford that there is in fact hope. Her focus with the Critical Policy, Equity, and Leadership research arc seeks to ask how student employability post-graduation is represented in policy, and what change might be possible to better support students. The conversation that ensues covers what students can do to help themselves succeed, how universities can complement that, and how we as a society can rethink the value of recent graduates.
To learn more about Shannon's research, follow her on Twitter @s_mckechnie
and visit her website www.shannonmckechnie.ca
Full video available on YouTube
Recorded on Sept 15th, 2020
Produced by Gavin Tolometti
Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot
Friday Sep 11, 2020
Friday Sep 11, 2020
The amazing varsity cross-country runner, Jenna Schulz, discusses medial knee osteoarthritis (OA) and the effect of high tibial osteotomy (HTO) surgical intervention on changes in loading and inflammation. "Exercise is medicine" is a common phrase used by our guest which quickly became a hot topic discussed between Jenna and hosts Viki and Nikol. This episode is packed with lots of tips and tricks that Jenna encountered during graduate school, in particular related to the MPT/PhD program, time management and how to protect your knees, all of which have overall made her experience as rewarding as possible.
To get in touch with Jenna and her research, you can find her @the.rungry.researcher on Instagram.
You can also learn more about Jenna's research by reading this article: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/13/771
Full Video Available on YouTube
Recorded on Sep. 08, 2020
Produced by Gavin Tolometti
Theme song provided by https://freebeats.io/ Produced by White Hot