14 episodes
Brain Matter Chatter (BMC) Ruby, Olivia, Julia, Niveen & Hayley - A SONGS (society of neuroscience graduate students) Production
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Welcome to Brain Matter Chatter (BMC), the #AcademicMentalHealth podcast. Our mission is to raise awareness about issues surrounding mental health in Academia. As graduate students, at various stages, studying neuroscience, our hosts bring a unique experiential and scientific perspective to discussions on mental health and illness. To provide a holistic picture of mental health in academia, we aim to bring a diverse set of guests to BMC. Some of our episodes will serve to highlight the experiences of current graduate students. Others will invoke perspectives from our very own faculty advisors, mental health experts, and special guests who will add professional insights to the discussions. Conversations surrounding mental health can be difficult. With this podcast, we hope to make the conversations easier and more accessible. A podcast platform is personal, on-demand, and varies in degree of engagement; listeners can choose when and where they listen, suggest topics that they want to hear discussed, and even appear on episodes as guests. One episode at a time, we hope to begin planting the seeds for change. There isn’t a single, simple solution to the on-going state of mental health in academia. Cultivating a platform for open conversations about #AcademicMentalHealth is the first step.
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Episode 10: The Model Minority Academic with Dr. Kay Tye
TW: sexual harassment, power dynamics, traumaThere is an old joke amongst Eastern Asian immigrants: If we bring home a test score of 99, our dads will ask: where’s the other point? Due to various myths, stereotypes, and barriers, including the model minority myth and the bamboo ceiling, navigating the academic world, especially in STEM, with an Eastern Asian identity can sometimes feel complicated. In this episode, Dr. Kay Tye (@kaymtye), a neuroscientist and professor at UC San Diego, joins ...
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Episode 9: A Global Survey on Mental Health in Academia with Andrea Hayward
In this episode, Ruby (@Ruby__Malik), and Julia (@juliasunstrum) chat with Andrea Hayward, Senior Associate at CACTUS Mental Health. We discuss the results of a recent global survey conducted on the state of mental health in academia. The survey included over 13 000 respondents in 169 countries. Andrea highlights common themes that impact the mental health of researchers and academics, including work-life balance, guilt to be productive, long work hours, and safety in the work environment.Co...
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Episode 8: Academic women & family planning
Academic women & family planning ft. Dr. Kasey Van Hedger & Dr. Alex LevineIn this episode, Niveen (@nivful), Hayley (@hayleyrcshanks) and Kyla (@kylaaalee) chat with Drs. Alex Levine and Kasey Van Hedger, both who completed PhDs in STEM and currently work at the University of Western Ontario in London, ON, Canada. We discuss their experiences in Academia with family planning and get two unique perspectives. Kasey and Alex detail their personal stories of how they got to their positio...
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Episode 7: Mental Health in South Asian Communities with Ishita Aggarwal
In this episode, Ruby (Host) and Olivia (Co-Host) chat with Ishita Aggarwal about her experiences as a South Asian woman. Ishita completed a master's in public health and is currently a medical student at Queen's University in Canada. Ishita is a member of the BIPOC Women's Health Network (WHN), an initiative led by a group of medical students who aim to provide healthcare resources and improve health experiences for racialized womxn in local Canadian communities.
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Episode 6 Part 3: Anxiety & anger with Rob Hicks: becoming a parent in Academia
Anxiety & anger series with Rob Hicks, PART III: becoming a parent in AcademiaIn this three-part series, Niveen (@nivful) and Julia (@juliasunstrum) chat with Rob Hicks, a PhD Candidate in Kinesiology & Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), about his experience in Academia with gender stereotypes and mental health, expressing emotions other than anger, and panic attack/anxiety triggers and what to look out for. Rob details his personal story of becoming a new p...
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Episode 6 Part 2: Anxiety & Anger with Rob Hicks: practicing mindfulness
Anxiety & anger series with Rob Hicks, PART II: practicing mindfulness. In this three-part series, Niveen (@nivful) and Julia (@juliasunstrum) chat with Rob Hicks, a PhD Candidate in Kinesiology & Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), about his experience in Academia with gender stereotypes and mental health, expressing emotions other than anger, and panic attack/anxiety triggers and what to look out for. Rob details his personal story of becoming a new p...