Exploring Global Problems Swansea University

In this episode, in discussion with host Dr Sam Blaxland, Dr Luca Trenta uncovers states’ use of covert action, with a spotlight on the US Governments involvement in state-sponsored assassinations. Spanning the time period from the Cold War through to contemporary times, Dr Trenta unearths the intricate dimensions of these clandestine operations.
Dr Luca Trenta is an Associate Professor in International Relations at Swansea University. Luca moved to the UK in 2009 to study a Master’s in International Studies at Durham University, followed by a PhD, that led him to a chance encounter to cook dinner for former US President Jimmy Carter. Dr Luca Trenta’s research centres around two main areas: the degree of state secrecy and state-sponsored assassinations. This research relies heavily on history and international relations scholarship on norms. It evaluates the US government’s degree of involvement in state-sponsored assassinations and the way in which these were debated, decided upon, and justified over the last 70 years.

In this episode Professor Brian Garrod in conversation with Dr Sam Blaxland, sheds light on the hurdles faced by neurodivergent children and their families on holiday and delves into how the tourism industry could adapt to be more accessible and welcoming.
Brian Garrod is a tourism marketing and management expert and professor at Swansea University. His teaching focus is on sustainable tourism. He is the author of eight textbooks and more than 50 research articles.
Professor Garrod’s most recent research has focused on neurodiversity: a topic familiar to him as the father of an autistic son. Generally, research on this topic has focused on schooling or the workplace, and little attention has been focused on leisure activities, such as a family holiday.

Joanne Davies discusses how highly trained educators and sim technologies; high-tech mannequins and the world's largest installation of immersive wall technology simulation are advancing healthcare education.

Dr Gabriela Jiga-Boy explores the concept of trust. With the danger posed by disinformation during societal crises (such as the pandemic or climate change), trust in facts and science seems more important now than ever. Does the public trust politicians and scientific experts? Conversely how much does the public feel trusted by those in power?
 
Dr Gabriela Jiga-Boy gained a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. After studying at Université Grenoble Alpes in France as an Erasmus exchange student, she fell in love with social psychology. Gabriela went on to gain a master’s degree and then a PhD degree in 2008 in experimental social psychology at Université Grenoble Alpes.Gabriela worked as a Research Assistant at Cardiff University before developing as a 3-year Postdoctoral Researcher at Swansea University in 2009, then becoming a Lecturer at Swansea University in 2012, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2016.

As the world population continues to grow, the demand for increased food production similarly rises. Crop pests pose a serious threat to food production and climate change is contributing to insect prevalence and the spread of vector-borne diseases. Chemical pesticides cause direct damage to human and animal health such as cancer and other diseases, but also indirectly through polluted water and impacted plant health. These pesticides have been banned in many countries, so there is an urgency to develop safe pesticides to safeguard food security for the future.
In this episode, in discussion with our host, Dr Sam Blaxland, Dr Farooq Shah explores the need to trial and develop safe alternatives to harmful pesticides using living organisms such as fungi.
ABOUT OUR EXPERT
Dr Farooq Shah is Co-Lead and Manager of the Natural Products Biohub, a Swansea  University collaboration with Swansea Council. He is also founder and CEO of Razbio limited, a biotech company specialising in the development of Biopesticides and smart insect pest monitoring.
Dr Shah has diverse fundamental and applied research experience of biological control of insect pests and the development of novel solutions and products for environmentally friendly insect pest control. 
Dr Shah is also leading a consortium of UK and Pakistan based academia, industry and policy makers to establish a biopesticide hub in Pakistan to support capacity building and biopesticide uptake in Pakistan.

Wales has a long history of welcoming those fleeing persecution. It is estimated that there are 10,000 refugees in Wales, which is about 0.3% of the population.
Barriers to accessing healthcare can arise from immigration status. It is important to understand the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. As defined by Amnesty International, ‘an asylum seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but who hasn't yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim’.
In this podcast episode, Dr Ashra Khanom talks about her work which aims to address the needs of people seeking sanctuary, including how they access healthcare services.