AUDIO DISTANCING
Our new minisode about communicating inclusive science in the time of COVID-19
Every Monday at 11:00am on CKUT 90.3fm
Released On:
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Episode 1: Andre Picard
Andre Picard acclaimed health columnist at The Globe and Mail discusses what it’s like to be a science journalist right now? How Canada is really doing in terms of communicating about COVID19 and what we need to be doing better?
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Episode 2: Kyle Marian
We chat to science communicator (Producer at Science Friday) Kyle Marian 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?
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Episode 3: Liz Neeley
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.
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Episode 4.
Dr. Samantha Yammine
Episode 4: Dr. Samantha Yammine
(AKA Science Sam)
We chat with Neuroscientist, #Scicommer and Digital Media Producer Dr. Samantha Yammine, known to thousands of her followers as Science Sam @heysciencesam.
We discuss how can we leverage social media to engage often forgotten audiences with vital information, while combatting misinformation that’s intrinsic to those platforms?
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Race-based data collection of COVID-19 in Canada :
Episodes 5 and 6 are a two-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.
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. @OmiSooreDryden
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Episode 5.
Dr. OmiSoore Dryden
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 entitled "Colonialism of the Curve: Indigenous Communities & Bad Covid Data", which highlights major gaps of reported COVID-19 cases in Indigenous communities & barriers to getting this information.
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Episode 6.
Courtney Skye
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.
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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.
Episode 7.
#BlackBirdersWeek with
Corina Newsome
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 (@bellastarling), 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.
Episode 8.
Dr. Bella Starling
The Intersection of Envionmental Justice and COVID-19
Episodes 9 and 12 are investigations at the various ways COVID-19 is intersecting with climate change and climate justice.
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. bethgardiner.com
@Gardiner_Beth
Episode 9.
Beth Gardiner
Episode 10.
Jared DeWese
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.”
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Episode 11.
Doreen Robinson
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.”
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Episode 12.
Marlene Hale
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.
Episode 13.
Black in Neuro
BONUS
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On this episode 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.
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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.
Check them out -> https://www.blackinneuro.com/home
We've released bonus material from our roundtable conversation to hear more about the rest of the Black in Neuro organizers. Listen to tea being spilt about the increible team!
Episode 14.
The grad student are not alright! With Farah Qaiser
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.