Broad Science

Graduate students are the backbone of academic research and innovation in our world. To capture graduate student experiences during COVID19 in Canada, The Toronto Science Policy Network(TSPN) , a student-run science policy group at the University of Toronto, decided to launch a national survey. What they found was really troubling and mirror survey's conducted in other countries. We spoke to Farah Qaiser (@this_is_farah), who helped lead this survey. She recently finished her Master’s degree in Genomics at the University of Toronto, is a co-founder and 2019-20 president of the TSPN, a science communicator and advocate. Report: https://toscipolicynet.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/tspn_impact_of_covid-19_grad_students_in_canada.pdf Toronto Science Policy Network: https://tspn.sa.utoronto.ca/ Broad Science Audio Doc(Breaking the Silence): https://soundcloud.com/broad-science/breaking-the-silence-graduate-student-mental-health

Unfortunately not all of the Black in Neuro organizers could join our roundtable discussion. So we are releasing bonus material to hear more about everyone on the fantastic team. Don't miss all the love and laughter! Check them out here-> https://www.blackinneuro.com/organizers

Following the success of Black Birders Week(ep.7) many in the academic world are harnessing the power of virtual connections during the pandemic. BlackinNeuro created a space to increase visibility of Black neuroscientists and those in neuro related fields and to celebrate these individuals and their often overlooked contributions. We chat to 8 organizers to hear about the success of Black in Neuro Week, the scientists' behind it, their journey's in academia and the future of Black in Neuro. Organizers Interviewed: Paige Greenwood, Ti’Air Riggins, Stephanie Renee, De-Shaine Murray, Angeline Dukes, Lietsel Richardson, Kaela S. Singleton, PhD, & Thiago Arzua https://www.blackinneuro.com/home Transcript available here: https://www.broadscience.org/new-audio-distancing

On this episode we're getting an update on the $6 billion Coastal GasLink pipeline, a project that the hereditary chiefs of all five clans of Wet’suwet’en have opposed. We talk to Marlene Hale, who is a member of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. She is a culinary chef but also a vocal activist, advocate and community mobilizer who is now based here in Montreal. Marlene talks about the toll this Pipeline has had on the Wet’suwet’en Nation and the ongoing struggle facing the community. Since our recording, the pipeline has been given the green light to start pipeline work near Unist’ot’en healing centre https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/08/07/Coastal-GasLink-Green-Light/ Marlene’s weekly webinar: https://www.facebook.com/events/299287734417239/

Doreen Robinson (@dlrpretoria) is the chief for wildlife at the UN Environment programme, based in Nairobi, Kenya. She spoke to us about a landmark report, put together by many organizations including the United Nations Environment Programme (@UNEP), that highlighted zoonotic diseased were on the rise. The report lays out: “Pandemics such as the COVID-19 outbreak are a predictable and predicted outcome of how people source and grow food, trade and consume animals, and alter environments.” Report: https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/report/preventing-future-zoonotic-disease-outbreaks-protecting-environment-animals-and

On this episode we discuss the intersection between COVID-19, the environment and Black communities, with Jared DeWese (@JaredDeWese). DeWese is a Senior Communications Advisor for the climate and energy program at Washington-based think tank Third Way. Their work is tackling the gap of Black inclusion in the climate change movement and sharing Black community voices and perceptions about the environment. We also discuss DeWese's recent op-ed for the Hill titled “Black people are dying from coronavirus, air pollution is one of the main culprits.” https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/499354-black-people-are-dying-from-coronavirus-air-pollution-is-one-of Resources: https://www.thirdway.org/ Black Americans Care About Climate Change. Why Is No One Talking to Them About It?: https://morningconsult.com/opinions/black-americans-care-about-climate-change-why-is-no-one-talking-to-them-about-it/ Why the Larger Climate Movement Is Finally Embracing the Fight Against Environmental Racism: https://time.

Beth Gardiner is a London-based journalist who focuses on climate, health, and sustainability. She is also the author of the book Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution, one of Guardian’s best books of 2019. We chatted with Beth to understand what it has been like to cover the environment during COVID-19 and what this pandemic is teaching us about the future of the climate crisis. https://bethgardiner.com @Gardiner_Beth

To celebrate #BlackBotanistWeek, we are releasing a story told by botanist Itumeleng Moroenyane, told during our November 2019 storytelling event "Bodies" with partners Confabulation. Itumeleng is a plant ecologist pursuing a PhD in biology focusing on how interactions between microbes and their plant host are acted upon by evolutionary processes. https://www.plantholobiont.com/ @Itumeleng_M #BlackBotanistWeek is a movement started that was started on twitter to celebrate and highlight the contributions of Black Botanists.

Academic research is often distant to the public, but now it’s more crucial than ever for the public to trust in and be involved with research. We spoke to Dr. Bella Starling, a public engagement professional and Director of Public Programmes at Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust., in the UK., about her role in fostering community engagement with research, and building relationships between healthcare professionals and the people that their work will ultimately impact. Notes: @bellastarling (Twitter) BAME studies UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/892376/COVID_stakeholder_engagement_synthesis_beyond_the_data.pdf https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/coronavirusrelateddeathsbyethnicgroupenglandandwales/2march2020to10april2020 https://www.ifs.org.uk/inequality/chapter/are-some-ethnic-groups-more-vulnerable-to-covid-19-than-others/ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52219070 Correction: By J

The internationally successful #BlackBirdersWeek on social media celebrated the often hidden presence, contributions, and community of Black birders—challenging the stereotypes of who birds and enjoys nature. The week was started by @BlackAFinSTEM as a response to a racist incident in Central Park where a white women falsely reported to the police that Christian Cooper a Black birder was threatening her. We chat to co-organizer Corina Newsome, a science communicator who is well known to thousands of her social media followers as @hood_naturalist. She is a graduate student in biology and avian conservationist at Georgia Southern University. Notes: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/nyregion/amy-cooper-christian-central-park-video.html Donate @BlackAFinSTEM https://ca.gofundme.com/f/free-binoculars-for-black-birders https://www.gofundme.com/f/east-clark-elementary-bird-nerds?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet Twitter posts mentioned https://twitter.com/fitguyoutdoors/stat

We talked to Courtney Skye, a public policy analyst and activist. She is Mohawk, Turtle Clan, from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, and is a research fellow at the Yellowhead Institute and the co-host of the Red Road podcast. She discusses the report she spearheaded highlighting major gaps of reported COVID-19 cases in Indigenous communities & barriers to getting this information. Report: “Colonialism of the Curve: Indigenous Communities & Bad Covid Data.”https://yellowheadinstitute.org/2020/05/12/colonialism-of-the-curve-indigenous-communities-and-bad-covid-data/ Follow Courtney @MOHAWKEMOTIONS and @RedRoadPodcast

We chat to Dr. OmiSoore Dryden, James R. Johnston Chair of Black Canadian Studies and Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Dr. Dryden discusses how the ongoing disproportionate impact of COVID-19 within Black communities is rooted in a larger Canadian conversation about racism and data that is often dismissed. This interview is the first of a 2-part investigation on the lack of race-based data collection re:COVID19 here in Canada. We delve into why this lack of information is so dangerous and what barriers it presents to communicating vital information about the pandemic to vulnerable communities. The Conversation Canada: https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-discriminates-against-black-lives-through-surveillance-policing-and-the-absence-of-health-data-135906 Recent estimates of COVID19 cases impacting Black individuals in the US and UK (*please read pre-prints with caution*): https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race ht

We chat with Neuroscientist, #Scicommer and Digital Media Producer Dr. Samantha Yammine, known to thousands of her followers as Science Sam @heysciencesam How can we leverage social media to engage often forgotten audiences with vital information, while combatting misinformation that’s intrinsic to those platforms?

We spoke to Liz Neeley, Executive Director of the Story Collider who recently wrote a piece in The Atlantic called How to Talk About the Coronavirus: Four ways to help those around you be better informed about the pandemic. Liz shares shares her tips for how we can communicate more empathically and constructively with ourselves and others during this pandemic. Twitter: @lizneeley https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/how-talk-about-coronavirus/609118/ https://www.storycollider.org/

We chat to science communicator (Producer at Science Friday) Kyle Marian (@kylemarian)who co-created Asians Strike Back: A Coronavirus Comedy & Science Show. How can comedians, scientists and artists come together to tackle misinformation, xenophobia & reclaim narratives with comedy? Additional notes ThisNow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuIHXFfz-o0 The Daily episode "I became a person of suspicion": https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/podcasts/the-daily/racism-chinese-coronavirus-asian-americans.html Code Switch episode "When Xenophobia Spreads Like A Virus": https://www.npr.org/2020/03/02/811363404/when-xenophobia-spreads-like-a-virus Transcripts available: https://www.broadscience.org/new-audio-distancing

The new Broad Science minisode about communicating inclusive science in the time of COVID-19" Guest: Andre Picard acclaimed health columnist at The Globe and Mail discusses what it’s like to be a science journalist right now and how Canada is really doing in terms of communicating about COVID19, and what we need to be doing better. @picardonhealth Transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oxQodUjjf1g3teFPluHp0_80_pbX2gMq/view?usp=sharing Every Monday at 11am on CKUT 90.3fm

Confabulation and Broad Science Presents Bodies. This show explored the theme of Bodies. Storytellers spoke about bodies both as human and celestial shells, as well as exploring the forms that define our lives. Storytellers: Alice Fleerackers (00.35) Fleerackers is a freelance writer, a researcher at the ScholCommLab, the Communications Officer at Art the Science, and a Science in Society Editor at Science Borealis. She’s also a doctoral student at Simon Fraser University, where she is working under the supervision of Dr. Juan Pablo Alperin to explore how controversial science is communicated in the digital sphere. Dr. Natalya Gomez (11:11). Dr. Gomez is a professor in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at McGill University and a Canada Research Chair in the Geodynamics of Ice Sheet - Sea Level Interactions. Her research centers around the interactions between ice sheets, sea level and the solid Earth, and the response of these systems to past, present and future climate changes.

On this episode, it’s all about ethics in AI! We’ll be sharing different stories about how AI is being used, what the pitfalls are, and who in the field is trying to make changes.  We chat to the next generation of AI experts to understand how their institutions are preparing them(or not) to use AI ethically. Surya Mattu, a data scientist who was part of the Pulitzer nominated Propublica investigation “Machine Bias”, talks to us about the report that jumpstarted a global conversation. https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing (Machine Bias) To understand the current landscape of Ethics and AI we spoke to one of the most prominent advocates for inclusion and diversity in the field, Dr. Timnit Gebru. Dr. Gebru is a Research Scientist in the Ethical AI team at Google and founder of Black in AI (@black_in_ai). How has our world has come to associate the assistance of AI with women? Dr. Myriam Sweeney, assistant professor of Library and Information Studies at th

Broad Science and Confabulation return on stage for the theme of It’s a Phase: Stories of stage, changes and transformations. Storytellers: Dr. Kika Tuff, Founder of the Impact Media Lab https://www.impactmedialab.com/ Dr. Cristian Zaelzer, Founder & President of the Convergence Initiative https://www.convergenceinitiative.org/

Journalists Elsie and Giannouli discuss nanoparticles and creating sustainable chemistry with PhD student Alexandra Gellé. Based at McGill, Alex specializes in the field of Green Chemistry, focusing on developing more sustainable and safer alternatives to chemical reactions that already exist. Alex is also the director of Pint of Science Canada and a contributing writer for many outlets, including the Science Network and The Conversation Canada. You can follow Alex on twitter: @AlexGelle