In this week's episode, hosts Bruno Mesquita and Anthony Cruz interview Rebekka Lagacé-Cusiac, a PhD candidate in Psychology. Rebekka discusses her PhD research on ratio processing, her passion projects, and how music and math may have more in common than you think. Recorded on Tuesday, June 10, 2025 Produced by Riya Sidhu Theme song provided by Fr…

In this week's episode, hosts Garth Casbourn and Mark Ambrogio interview Zoltan Richter-Bisson, a PhD candidate in Chemistry. Zoltan is studying the interaction between proteins, abundant in the human body, and the breakdown of implanted medical devices. While there are a large number of such devices, Zoltan is specifically interested in hip and kn…

Hosts Garth Casbourn and Kirstyn Seanor are joined by Rawan El Moghrabi, a student in the master's program in computer science. How can human attitudes, behaviors, and expectations influence the internal representation and behaviors of AI? In this quite topical episode, Rawan offers some insight into the behind-the-scenes of large language models, …

Hosts Maris Schneider and Mark Ambrogio interview Taylor Northwood, a Master's student in Public History. Taylor is interested in exploring the experience of teens in the past, particularly teens living in Windsor, Ontario, during the 1950s. Taylor shares her insights into how teens navigated a postwar world shaped by shifting cultural values, emer…

In this week's episode, hosts Riya Sidhu and Ryan Baxter interview Catherine Birt, a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) candidate in Performance and Literature. Catherine is studying collaborative piano -- this, though, is just the tip of the iceberg! In addition to her interest in piano, Catherine explores the emerging interplay between climate activism…

In this week's episode, Maddie Hertz, a PhD candidate in Anthropology, is interviewed by hosts Garth Casbourn and Mark Ambrogio. Maddie's research touches upon the intersection of aging and physical activity. More specifically, her research looks at bone loss in menopausal women, to see how physical activity may mitigate bone loss, comparing the ef…

In this week’s episode, hosts Maris Schneider and Meghan Voll interview Carly Charron, a PhD candidate in Biology, and previous GradCast host! Carly breaks the news about the dangers of eating raw chicken and eggs (say goodbye to that cookie dough batter!) as she researches how to make food safer for consumption, starting at the source – chickens. …

This follows up on a previous “Chairs Chat” from March 2021 Special Episode: Chairs Chat | GradCast, which commemorated 500 episodes. This “Chairs Chat” commemorates another milestone; namely, over 600 episodes, with specials, and hitting 500 regular episodes, wherein we interview individual graduate students about their research. In this episode, …

Hosts Anthony Cruz and Garth Casbourn sit down with Jenny Richmond-Bravo, an EdD candidate and coordinator of Western’s Own Your Future program, to discuss how she is helping PhD students identify, build, and market their skills for career success beyond academia. Recorded on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 Produced by Riya Sidhu Theme song provided by Fre…

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 Weste…

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 …

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 t…

This week, join us for the 5th 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…

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 d…

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 look…

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 symbol…

#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 internatio…

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 e…

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!) i…

Hosts Mark Ambrogio and Meghan Voll welcome Alanna Acchione, a PhD student in Media Studies at Western University, to discuss her research on data harms and the role of algorithms in curating hate engagement on social media. Alanna explores how platforms intentionally foster ideological clashes by amplifying content that triggers emotional response…

Hosts Maris Schneider and Meghan Voll welcome Sarah Bidinosti to discuss her research on adapting traditional bone analysis methods for the digital age using CT scans. Sarah explains how techniques for estimating age, biological sex, and stature—commonly used in forensic and archaeological studies—must be refined when applied to digital scans. By c…

Hosts Mark Ambrogio and Ryan Baxter welcome back Kian Esmailian, a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at Western University, to discuss his research on ultrafast ultrasound imaging and Doppler applications. Kian shares his journey from Iran to Western, detailing his passion for merging engineering and medicine. He explains how ultrasound imaging…

This week, we engage in the third 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 stud…

Just in time for Valentine's Day, GradCast hosts Anthony Cruz, Riya Sidhu, and Liam Clifford discuss all things love in graduate school. The hosts review a series of would-you-rather questions centered around dating within academia, planning a wedding during graduate school, and balancing research-related and romantic demands. Recorded on February …

For our seventh episode of #BookCast, we discuss “The Book of Two Ways” by Jodi Picoult—a story that explores whether we make our choices—or our choices make us. Our story begins with a plane-crash, where our main character, Dawn Edelstein is faced with the choice to return home to her life as a death-doula, or continue on to Egypt to complete her …