GradCast: Disseminating Academic Research on Air

Presented by Meghan Voll, Media Studies PhD candidate, Mark Ambrogio, LIS PhD candidate and Amalie Hutchinson (Biology).

All are welcome. Part of the 2023/24 Mediations Lecture Series.

Attend in person: FNB 4110
Attend online: Zoom link

Abstract: As academic work becomes ever-specialized, it can be challenging to share research with the general public – whether in the sciences, the liberal arts, or the social sciences. The public intelligibility of academic research is also important for graduate students. GradCast aims to help, by sharing the research of graduate students at Western University in a podcast and, at Radio Western, as a radio show – conveying academic research and complex concepts from varying disciplines in accessible, entertaining, and educational formats. We share the work of Western graduate students with the local Western and London communities – and beyond. In our presentation, we will discuss how GradCast functions; the context of campus and community radio; and overcoming obstacles and the necessity of social media in communicating educational work to public and academic audiences.