Unfounded Unfounded

In our final farewell episode, the Unfounded team gets together to share their experience with being a part of the podcast. Meet the team in this multi-starrer with Megha, Brianne, Rachna & Richa, as they reminisce about their journey, favourite episodes, and shed light on other BTS stories listeners didn’t get to see. We hope we’ve been able to produce something worthwhile over the past 1.5 years and thank our listeners for supporting us along the way! Join us in learning how the puzzle pieces came together to create the foundations of unfounded.

The overturning of Roe v Wade was a step backwards for women’s reproductive rights - let's talk about it. Join us in discussion with Dr Sanjana Kannan Sud who gives us a doctor's perspective on understanding abortion and its accessibility.

What exactly falls under abortion from a medical perspective? Are all abortions covered under abortion law? What are the implications of this on women and society? What are abortion rights like in Australia, and how can they be improved? 

Tune in to understand how the overturning of Roe v Wade prevents safe abortions, its disproportionate effect on minorities, and the dangerous precedent these laws could have on legalities around fertility and contraception. 

About Dr Sanjana Kannan Sud:

Dr Sanjana studied a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery and did a Masters of Reproductive Medicine. She is currently a trainee in her final year of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of obstetricians and gynaecologists.

Student debt has been a hot topic in the media for a while now, would it be so bad if it was cancelled? In this Episode, we are joined by UOW Associate Professor of Economics Alfredo Paloyo and Megha, as they discuss concerns we often have about paying off HECS-HELP loans.

Why does the government pay for education in the first place? How much public money actually goes into universities? How can we better combat the increasing cost of living?

Tune in to understand the nuances of student debt in Australia and how we can better address concerns regarding equity and education.

About Alfredo Paloyo:

Alfredo has a background in policymaking on human-capital issues, substantially in the fields of labor, education and health economics.

Protections, morality and wheat? In part two of our series on Russia and Ukraine, Megha and Associate Professor Andrea Benvenuti explore how Russia's war on Ukraine has had huge global ripple effects on several countries within and outside of the EU. 

How do other countries in the EU balance their morality and economic interests? What is the relationship between Australia and Ukraine?

About Andrea Benvenuti:

Associate Professor Benvenuti has a strong background on the impact of Western military power and strategic foreign policy. He has written and collaborated on over 40 publications from 2004-2020, including publishing 3 books and 14 book chapters. He is currently working on 3 new book projects too!

In this first part of our series on Russia and Ukraine, we’re in conversation with UNSW Associate Professor Andrea Benvenuti, who specialises in Politics and International relations and is a published author of 3 books.

In this episode, join Megha and Andrea as they explore the big questions on our minds - Why did Russia invade Ukraine? What's the relationship between Russia and Ukraine? What are NATO countries?

About Andrea Benvenuti:

Associate Professor Benvenuti has a strong background on the impact of Western military power and strategic foreign policy. He has written and collaborated on over 40 publications from 2004-2020, including publishing 3 books and 14 book chapters. He is currently working on 3 new book projects.

In the second part of our COVID series, Brianne from our research team and Megha discuss the concept of civil liberties in relation to the pandemic. Tune in to our discussion on the different rules put into place during the pandemic and whether there was a balance between human rights and health concerns. 

How do we trust whether rules being imposed on us are legitimate? What actually motivates us to follow restrictions? And how do we actually scrutinize these decisions more critically?

Resources:


What is the Commission's view on limiting human rights during COVID-19?
Australia: COVID-19 restrictions and the Civil Liberties - Human Rights quagmire
Covid-19: An Excuse For Repressing Human Rights And Civil Liberties - McCain Institute
Management of Civil Liberties During Pandemic - Tanushka Sharma, Arunima, 2021
What happened to the civil liberties movement?