This is the first episode of the Thinking with the Earth miniseries. In this episode, hosts Chrishma Perera and Garth Casbourn interview Madison Robinson, an MSc student in Biological Sciences, about her research on butterflies and her involvement in collaborative specialization of environment and sustainability at Western University.

From studying the ecology of butterfly populations to contributing to the interdisciplinary program and helping organize the Climate Hope Conference 2026, she shared insights into her research and experiences working at the intersection of ecology and environmental engagement.

Recorded on Tuesday, February 24th, 2026 Produced by Milan Mammen Theme tune "Feelin Good" provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

This week, Purvaja Karthikeyan, a PhD candidate from Electrical and Computer Engineering is joined by hosts Mark Ambrogio and Victor Lau. Purvaja is supervised by Dr. Jayshri Sabarinathan, and is focusing on improving optical chip function for eventual deployment into space.. within ultra-small satellites known as CubeSats!

Listen to hear more about Purvaja’s work, and how it contributes to a bigger ecosystem (referencing the ‘nature’ of things and the Western Skylark project).

Here are some links accompanying’s Purvaja’s project, alongside hobbies outside of her research work!

https://space.uwo.ca/research/Missions%20and%20Instruments/Skylark.html

https://www.instagram.com/root_cycle?igsh=cTMxY2J3aHF1eHE0

Recorded on Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 Produced by Milan Mammen Theme tune "Feelin Good" provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week’s episode, hosts Kuljeet Chohan and Rafaela Platkin interview Jake Daigle, a MSc student in bioinformatics, about his research on modelling mutation accumulation (buildup of genetic mistakes) in viruses.

From a bachelor's degree in math to starting a masters in bioinformatics, he discusses insights on his day-to-day life researching mathematical models that can hopefully be applied to the real world. Listen to find out the importance of asking "who cares" when formulating research questions and if you can ever know when you get something "right"?

Recorded on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026 Produced by Scott Walters and Milan Mammen Theme tune "Feelin Good" provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week's episode, hosts Milan Mammen and Chrishma Perera are joined again by Varsha Vasudevan, a PhD candidate in the Health & Rehabilitation Sciences department at Western University, in the Health Promotion stream. Varsha went into depth in her work in a previous episode. Here, she goes more into her life outside her research, expanding on her journey as a Peer Advisor and the services available to help one market their skills in the job market and how peer advising can even empower oneself.

Click on the link to learn about the services offered by the Peer Advising team. Check out Western Connect it you would like to apply to become a Peer Advisor (Western Connect > Job Postings > Western Peer Leader Program > Job ID 126956 (Peer Advisor - Career Education).

Recorded on Tuesday, February 24, 2026 Produced by Evelyn MacKay-Barr and Anika Bushra Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week's episode, hosts Maris Schneider and Mark Ambrogio talk to Jessica Holmes. Jessica is completing a combined MCISc/PhD in Speech-Language Pathology and Health & Rehabilitation Sciences. Her work focuses on how children respond when hearing the sound of their own voice subtly shifted, and what that reveals about speech development.

Jessica explains how altered auditory feedback is used to study children’s speech adjustments, what it's like to work with children in the lab, and what it’s like to balance clinical training with research.

Recorded on Tuesday, February 17, 2026 Produced by Kuljeet Chohan and Victor Lau Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week’s episode, hosts Kelly Wang and Scott Walters interview Sorcha Rountree, a PhD student in Earth Science, about their journey from archaeology to geology and what studying ancient skull shapes can tell us about identity in the past.

Sharing insights from their MA research on cranial modification in Prehispanic Peru, Sorcha explains how geometric morphometric methods help researchers study shape and cultural practices, what their results revealed about identity and social status, and how their interdisciplinary background opened the door to a new path in Earth Science.

Recorded on Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 Produced by Milan Mammen Theme tune "Feelin Good" provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

This week, French studies PhD candidate Kaitlyn Gagnon takes hosts Garth Casbourn and Mark Ambrogio into both the literary and theatrical worlds of mid-nineteenth-century France. Her research focus is the short-lived foray of Émile Zola into writing comic works for the stage. We learn about the various pitfalls and opportunities this work afforded him, and how it fit into the broader picture of his life and career.

Follow the links below to learn more about Kaitlyn's research, and about that of her supervisor, Dr. Geneviève De Viveiros.

https://www.instagram.com/zolaspy?igsh=Y3R4MnJrbnpxbDZh&utm_source=qr

https://www.uwo.ca/french/people/faculty/deviveiros.html

Recorded on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 Produced by Garth Casbourn Theme tune "Feelin Good" provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week's episode, hosts Garth Casbourn and Bruno Mesquita interview Jessica Lammert, a fifth year PhD student in the Cognitive, Developmental, and Brain Sciences research cluster in Psychology, to talk about her work studying narrative processing and storytelling in children.

Jessica also shares past projects bridging the arts and science to facilitate scientific communication and the importance of open science practices.

Recorded on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 Produced by Evelyn MacKay-Barr Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)