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)

In this week's episode, hosts Milan Mammen and Kuljeet Chohan interview Emilie Potts, a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering, to talk about what we still don’t fully understand about concussions, brains, and biological sex differences.

Sharing what it's like to bridge engineering and neuroscience, Emilie explains what surprised her most about female vs male brains and the life lessons she took from her PhD.

Recorded on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 Produced by Evelyn MacKay-Barr Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week's episode, hosts Anthony Cruz and Bruno Mesquita interview Shahnaz Shahid Ali, a PhD student in Nursing under the supervision of Dr. Panagiota Tryphonopoulos. Shahnaz's research explore midwives' experiences providing physical and mental health care to women during pregnancy, childbirth, and afterbirth. Tune in to learn how sociocultural factors shape midwifery practice, where gaps exist in screening and referral pathways, and how improved training and structured mental health care systems can lead to better outcomes for mothers and families.

Follow this link to learn more about Shanaz.

Recorded on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 Produced by Milan Mammen Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week's episode, hosts Ryan Baxter and Mark Ambrogio interview Ran Jiang, a PhD candidate in Music Education, in Western's Don Wright Faculty of Music. In her research, Ran explores how certain norms sometimes go unquestioned in music; especially, by non-disabled people. Music-making is sometimes associated with an "ideal" body, such as having above-average dexterity. In her field work, Ran works with secondary school students in China who use computer software and DIY electronics to expand what musical instruments are and who they are for. In their conversation, Ryan, Mark, and Ran also discuss piano music and what it is like at Western's music faculty, as a place for research in music, music-making, and as a community. Ran's supervisor is adam patrick bell, who, in addition to teaching at Western, is also the Canada Research Chair in Music, Inclusion, and Accessibility.

Recorded on Tuesday, January 6, 2026 Produced by Mark Ambrogio and Ryan Baxter Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week's episode, hosts Anthony Cruz and Milan Mammen interview Evelyn MacKay-Barr, a third year PhD student in Physical/Analytical Chemistry. Evelyn is studying the effects of oxidation on protein structures and dynamics. Though her lab studies small model proteins, their findings have big implications for larger protein therapeutics! Tune in to learn how they use mass spectrometry and other techniques to study protein behaviour.

Evelyn, Anthony, and Milan also discuss finding the right research group for you and the importance of having a supportive research environment. Follow these links to learn more about Evelyn's research and her supervisor, Dr. Lars Konermann, and his research group!

Recorded on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 Produced by Evelyn MacKay-Barr Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week's episode, hosts Kelly Wang and Mark Ambrogio speak with Marina de Oliveira Emerick, a PhD candidate in Neuroscience. Marina's research looks at the relationship between music and cognition; more specifically, how music and non-invasive brain stimulation can affect walking patterns (gait) in healthy older adults and those with Parkinson's Disease. Although walking feels automatic, it relies on brain systems that help us start moving and keep a steady rhythm, which can be disrupted by aging and Parkinson’s. Early studies with young adults show promising improvements in step rhythm when people synchronize their steps to music. Marina is now expanding this work to older adults and those with Parkinson's, which means she is working directly with a clinical population. In addition to being found on LinkedIn, Marina has a ResearchGate profile. Marina's supervisor is Dr. Jessica Grahn, a cognitive neuroscientist who studies music. Those in the broader London area may find more information and community support from the Parkinson Society of Southwestern Ontario. Recorded on Tuesday, December 9, 2025 Produced by Mark Ambrogio and Kelly Wang Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

This week, hosts Garth Casbourn and Maris Schneider speak to Sarah Capellaro, a master's student in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Sarah is developing methods to reduce bias against autistic people seeking to enter the workforce. Her particular focus is on promoting a growth mindset amongst hiring managers via carefully prepared infographic interventions. She studies how viewing these interventions affects managers' attitudes towards autistic applicants.

Sarah has been able to recruit a very impressive 400 participants in her experiment and shows us that it is possible to change, or at least momentarily influence, people's biases to create more fair hiring practices.

Recorded on Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Produced by Evelyn MacKay-Barr

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

In this week's episode, hosts Milan Mammen and Kelly Wang interview Denise Bedard, a PhD candidate in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Health and Aging). Denise shares with us her immense professional and academic experience in long term care, including reimagining person-centered care in small home service areas. Denise also kindly shares the difficult lessons learned about long term care through the COVID pandemic and its many impacts, especially on older adults in long term care; please consider this a content warning if this is a particularly sensitive subject for you. Denise is part of the Caregiving Research (CARE) Lab at Western University.

Recorded on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. Produced by kirstyn seanor. Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot).