Gradcast Radio

Gradcast Radio Research podcast by Western University grad students. Tuesdays at 11 am on Radio Western (94.9 FM). Tune in to 94.9 FM CHRW radio on Tuesdays at 6 PM!

A weekly radio show featuring the innovative research by the graduate students at Western University. Hosts: Alex, Susan, Yimin, Ariel, Taniya, Chantal, Roger, Navaneeth

Episode 572 | Aging, HIV Stigma, and Mental Health among Older Adults Across Communities This week, PhD student Bright O...
09/29/2026

Episode 572 | Aging, HIV Stigma, and Mental Health among Older Adults Across Communities

This week, PhD student Bright Ofori talks about his research on HIV stigma and mental health among older adults living with HIV. With advances in treatment, people living with HIV are living longer. However, this raises new questions about what aging with HIV looks like; what happens when the social impacts of HIV (including stigma, shame, and fear of disclosure) last after diagnosis?

Bright’s research compares the experiences of older adults living with HIV across two different settings: the Ashanti Region of Ghana and African, Caribbean, and Black communities in Ontario. How do culture, community, and social support shape experiences of HIV stigma? How can stigma affect mental health, including experiences of depression and anxiety? And how can researchers capture these experiences while ensuring that the people and communities affected have a meaningful role in building a stronger voice for affected individuals?

Join Kuljeet Chohan and Victor Lau as they hear more about Bright’s methodologies and tackling how stigma exists, to understand a little more about the prevalence of HIV stigma and persisting through with mental health challenges.

Listen to Bright’s episode at the link in our bio!

GradCast is recruiting! Come see us at the Grad Club Board Room anytime from 3-6 pm on October 7th 🎙️⭐️
09/28/2026

GradCast is recruiting!

Come see us at the Grad Club Board Room anytime from 3-6 pm on October 7th 🎙️⭐️

09/22/2026

Tune in at 11am on Radio Western 94.9 FM to listen to Melanie’s episode!

Thrive, Don’t Just Survive #5: Advocating for Fairness We’re back with our mini-series, chatting with folks on campus w...
09/22/2026

Thrive, Don’t Just Survive #5: Advocating for Fairness

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.

Episode 570 | Sound in the Round: How the Brain Maps Multiple Lines of MusicIn this episode, hosts Anthony Cruz and Ryan...
09/08/2026

Episode 570 | Sound in the Round: How the Brain Maps Multiple Lines of Music

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.

Listen to Nima’s episode at the link in our bio!

09/01/2026

Tune in at 11am on Radio Western 94.9 FM to listen to Cristina’s episode!

Episode 569 | Foraging Shin Bones: Studying Tibias Across HistoryThis week, freshly-graduated MA Cristina Lama talks abo...
09/01/2026

Episode 569 | Foraging Shin Bones: Studying Tibias Across History

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.

Listen to Cristina’s episode at the link in our bio!

08/25/2026

Listen to Stephanie’s episode at the link in our bio!

Episode 568 | Health Literacy, Patient Activation, and Specific Learning Conditions: The Impact of Health Communication ...
08/25/2026

Episode 568 | Health Literacy, Patient Activation, and Specific Learning Conditions: The Impact of Health Communication

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!

Listen to Stephanie’s episode at the link in our bio!

Episode 567 | The Young and the Restless: The Effects of Testosterone on Song SparrowsIn this week’s episode, hosts Ryan...
08/18/2026

Episode 567 | The Young and the Restless: The Effects of Testosterone on Song Sparrows

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 s*x hormones, including testosterone, are actually what causes migratory behaviour to develop. Secondly, it is hypothesized that migration in s*xually 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.

Listen to Garth’s episode at the link in our bio!

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