Meet the people who make science happen.
That鈥檚 the concept of Sciographies, a podcast and radio show launched by the Faculty of Science in partnership with campus-community radio station . The program, which began as a limited-edition storytelling and outreach project celebrating Dalhousie鈥檚 bicentennial anniversary last year, has returned for a second season with eight new episodes coming this fall.
The first up features Marine Biology Professor and the Scientific Director Sara Iverson. It will premiere on Thursday, September 12 at 4PM on CKDU 88.1 FM in Halifax, the same day it becomes available on Apple Podcasts and other podcast apps.
Sara Iverson recording her Sciographies episode. (Niecole Killawee photo)
鈥淪ciographies shines a light on the human-side of working in science,鈥� says Ian Hill, acting dean of the Faculty of Science. 鈥� explores the early lives, interests, and career paths of Dal scientists to showcase the story behind what led each of them to the research they鈥檙e conducting today.鈥�
Sharing the stories behind the science
Sciographies host David Barclay, a Dal oceanography assistant professor, has interviewed 14 different types of Dal scientists for the program since last summer. In its first season, he was a co-host with Shauna Bulman, a Science student at the time. Bulman (BSc鈥�19, Neuroscience & Spanish) has since graduated and moved to Vancouver to start her career in science communication.
鈥淚 got involved with Sciographies because I鈥檝e always been interested in how scientists are represented to the greater public,鈥� says Dr. Barclay, an underwater acoustics specialist and .
鈥淥ften our interactions with the public through media have to be limited to a quote or soundbite. With Sciographies, we聽can offer聽some breathing room for our guests to share聽stories about anything and everything. Guests talk about finding their passion, accidental and deliberate discoveries, the meandering academic career path, and the creative process behind scientific research.鈥�
Sciographies guests, like or , can also offer listeners unique scientific insights about what they study because they鈥檙e all working at the forefront of new discoveries, methods, technologies, and knowledge mobilization in Canada.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad the Sciographies program decided to collaborate with us again [for a second season],鈥� says Seth Glasgow, CKDU鈥檚 program director. 鈥淲e鈥檙e always trying to help students and faculty get their voices heard with radio and podcasting, and Sciographies is a great example of that.鈥�
Lineup for 2019
New Sciographies episodes will be released each Thursday between September 12-October 31, 2019. Guests include:
- Sara Iverson, a marine biologist and .
- Jason Brown, a mathematician and well-known analyser of music from The Beatles.
- Alastair Simpson, an evolutionary biologist and principal investigator on a recent milestone study that discovered a new branch on the tree of life.
- Megan Bailey, a fisheries economist with the Marine Affairs Program and Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Integrated Ocean and Coastal Governance.
- John Gosse, a geologist with a passion for landscape evolution and teaching the science of natural disasters.
- Eric Oliver, an oceanographer from Northern Labrador who studies the marine heatwaves that occur due to warming ocean temperatures.
- Lars Osberg, a prominent economist and author of and twelve other books.
- , a child psychologist with a passion for that relay important evidence-based information about pediatric pain to doctors and parents.
Season one, which contains six episodes, is available in full at dal.ca/sciographies and via Apple and Android podcast apps.