Naturally Speaking

In this episode, Taya Forde speaks with Jos Bongers – a veterinary clinician specializing in neurology. She tells us all about the University of Glasgow’s Small Animal Hospital Seizure Clinic – the first of its kind in Scotland. This podcast was edited by Shennice Deandrea Knight. Feature image AI generated through WordPress. Intro and outro […]

In this episode of Naturally Speaking, PhD students Mar Pineda and Nic Strowbridge interview our 2024 Darwin Day speaker, Professor Rebecca Kilner FRS, an evolutionary biologist as well as the Head of Zoology and Director of the Museum of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. Professor Kilner shares her journey into the field of evolutionary […]

Are we using the right statistics? It is a contentious question in science. Statistics may seem like a hard, objective discipline, but there are in fact many different opinions and methods when it comes to analyzing our data. Today on Naturally Speaking we are discussing the two main schools of statistics; frequentist and Bayesian statistics. […]

The International Day of Women and Girls in STEM is on February 11th and celebrates the fantastic work of women and girls in STEM. Our University is full of many amazing women doing incredible work in the field of STEM, providing countless role models for young women aspiring to be scientists. However, this wasn’t always […]

In this episode, Paddy McCleave is joined by three amazing guests, Raheema Chunara, Maarya Omar, and Abimbola Abodunrin, to discuss racial inequality in academia. PART 1:  PART 2: Racial inequality has been present in science throughout history and continues to be a widespread issue today. The belief that this is a thing of the past […]

Conferences are a major part of life in academia: they allow us to share our work, build collaborations, and find out more about the interesting work in our field. However, conferences aren’t always easy to navigate and can involve public speaking nerves and awkward interactions. A panel of ‘Conference Survivors’, including Professor Shaun Killen and […]

Most of us will be familiar with the concept of ‘rewilding’, but what about ‘seawilding’? In this episode of Naturally Speaking, we are joined by SBOHVM’s very own Dr Anna McGregor to discuss her very exciting, important and interdisciplinary Scottish native oyster (Ostrea edulis) restoration project. She tells us about how Gaelic place names are […]

In this episode, Mar Pineda and Nic Strowbridge are joined by Professor Matthew Cobb from the University of Manchester. Professor Cobb is a researcher, author, and scientific communicator. He was voted as our postgraduate students' number 1 choice for our 2023 Darwin Day speaker. He kindly accepted our invitation and presented a fantastic talk on […]

Science communication is a vitally important component of research. It encourages community engagement and sharing of new discoveries, making exciting science accessible to the wider public. However, it is also a skill that can be difficult to master – how do we make science approachable to everyone? In this episode, we have a conversation with […]

In this episode, Taya Forde and Paddy McCleave are joined by Thierry Boulinier, a director of research at CNRS Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive at the Université Montpellier. Thierry's research focuses on the dispersal and dynamics of seabirds and their parasites, where he works with a range of collaborators, such as the French Polar Institute and, […]

As consumers, we hope that the animals that provide our meat, milk, eggs, etc. are well cared-for and are kept in good welfare conditions. But what does this really mean in practice? This is the second of a pair of episodes that explore different aspects of farm animal welfare. In this episode, Naturally Speaking's Taya […]

Have you ever wondered what animal internet would look like? In this episode, Naturally Speaking’s Mohammad Saiful Islam Sajib and Taya Forde interview Dr. Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas, a Lecturer in the School of Computing Science, and an associate at IBAHCM. Here, they talk about Ilyena's work on Animal Connected Interfaces and how technology can play an […]

Feature image courtesy of Eleanor Duncan, 2022 Don't forget you can subscribe to automatically receive all our latest content, or just our podcasts. We are also available on iTunes and other podcast catchers. Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod[CC BY 3.0]

Ever wondered what it's like inside a dead whale? In this podcast Masters student Sreedevi Gummuluri and Senior Research Fellow, Lucy Gilbert talk to Dr. Andrew Brownlow, a Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Epidemiology at IBAHCM. To celebrate Andrew's 1st Anniversary at IBAHCM, he entertains us with tales from his lead role in the Scottish Marine Animal […]

In this podcast, recent Masters graduate Emma Plant interviews Jeanne Robinson, the Hunterian Museum’s curator of entomology. Tune in to hear about this fascinating collection and its origins, what it involves to take care of thousands of unique specimens, and how Jeanne came to find herself in this interesting role. Jeanne Robinson disguised as a […]

Leading up to the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Glasgow between October 31 and November 12, 2021, the Naturally Speaking team felt it was only fitting to highlight some of the brilliant climate change-related research going on within the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine. In this podcast, […]

In our latest interview, Joey Humble and Taya Forde chat with Paul Baker – a Lecturer in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from Glasgow Caledonian University and self-described ‘twitcher’ (or ‘birdwatcher’ for those who don’t know the lingo!). In fact, Paul now works on several bird monitoring projects connected with the University of Glasgow. Tune in […]

Ever wondered who plants the wildflowers on campus? Or how many species you might spot on a walk around Glasgow? In this episode, Naturally Speaking’s Emma Plant and Alexa Roditi interview not one, but three guests in a roundtable discussion about wildlife on campus. Agnes Berner, the biodiversity coordinator of Glasgow University’s Environmental Sustainability Team (GUEST), and Dr Lydia Bach tell […]

Efforts to return Scotland’s land to a more natural state could be spurred on by an unlikely helper: an independent, hardy and terribly cute breed of horse, the Exmoor pony. In this podcast, Naturally Speaking’s Joey Humble interviews PhD student Debbie Davy, a guardian and advocate for the Exmoor pony, who has recently introduced a […]

Plastic seems to be everywhere. In this podcast, Naturally Speaking’s Dr Keila Meginnis, Dr Lucy Gilbert, and Eleni Christoforou, joined by Institute researcher  Rachel Francoeur, meet to discuss and explore different areas of research around plastics. The unfortunate truth is that plastic is having effects in almost every ecosystem on our planet. Tune in to […]

  Economics is not something usually associated with an “Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine”. Professor Nick Hanley joined the Institute in 2017 as Chair of Environmental and One Health Economics. In this interview, Naturally Speaking’s Keila Meginnis and Lucy Gilbert speak with Nick about his research and find out how economics can […]

Killing them softly The welfare of farm animals is an issue very much in the public eye. While we often think about welfare in terms of animals’ quality of life, a less-considered aspect is the quality of death. In this episode, University of Glasgow researcher Dr Dorothy McKeegan tells us about her research in this […]

  In this episode of Naturally Speaking, Mar Pineda catches up with fellow Masters of Research (MRes) student Bugge Vick to talk about some of his field work. Bugge’s research project focused on the South American grey fox (Lycalopex griseus), recently introduced onto the Falkland Islands – a remote archipelago in the South Atlantic. In […]

Species at being lost at an alarming rate around the world. Luckily, there are large-scale efforts underway to document and utilize population genetic diversity for species conservation. In this episode, we are joined by Dr Klaus-Peter Koepfli, a research scientist from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Species Survival and visiting speaker within the […]

We hope that the UK will never see another major livestock disease outbreak such as foot and mouth disease or avian influenza. But if we do, we will be much better prepared to deal with it thanks to EPIC, the Centre of Expertise on Animal Disease Outbreaks. This interdisciplinary group of researchers from several Scottish […]

Visiting speaker and workshop facilitator Dr Ana Payo Payo speaks about her research on migratory birds and her involvement in promoting equal opportunities for women and men in STEM

For International Women’s Day this year, the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine celebrated with a special social event in the museum, where an extra special speech was given by one of our highly respected senior academics. In this episode, we capture the highlights of Prof Pat Monaghan‘s Women’s Day talk, wherein she […]

The aquaculture industry is growing at a rapid rate, but our understanding of the factors that contribute to fish ‘performance’ – that is, how to ensure optimal health and growth – is not keeping pace. Rather than conduct costly field experiments, researchers at the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine are taking a […]

Imagine being able to predict the reservoir species for a newly-found virus just from its genetic code. Using cutting edge machine learning techniques, that is precisely what researchers from the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine and the Centre for Virus Research have managed to do. Join us in this […]

Episode 2: What lies beneath? Join us again aboard the Royal Research Ship Discovery, cruising towards the mid-Atlantic to an area known as the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. As we heard in the previous episode, this unique cruise brought together researchers from multiple disciplines to apply their specialist skills to collect data in the region. In […]

This podcast celebrates the past, present and future of the Hunterian Zoology Museum located in the Graham Kerr Building at the University of Glasgow. And who better than our Museum’s specialist curator to reveal the life and times of this majestic place? In this Naturally Speaking episode, Maggie Reilly tells Naturally Speaking editor Martina Quaggiotto […]

Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine researcher Prof Rod Page was recently awarded the Ebbe Nielsen prize for his proposal to help document the biodiversity of Australia by linking a variety of open sources of data. Tune in to hear about the challenges and opportunities associated with the exciting field of ‘biodiversity informatics’ […]

Malaria – a disease transmitted between people by mosquitoes – remains a major cause of death globally, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. While recent efforts to control mosquitoes have been very successful in reducing malaria, particularly insecticide-treated bed nets, mosquito populations seem to be persisting. In this episode of Naturally Speaking, editors Ellen Hughes and Taya […]

Episode 1: The Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone On the 6th June 2017, an international team of scientists led by Dr. Ewan Wakefield departed Southampton on the Royal Research Ship Discovery. Their cruise number was DY080 and their aim was to gather multiple data from an area in the mid-Atlantic where the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone (CGFZ) interrupts […]

We are highlighting this archived episode in celebration of Pint of Science, which will be held this coming week, May 20-22, 2019: https://pintofscience.co.uk/events/glasgow

Episode 61: Linked Migrations “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” but nature has the magical ability to charm everyone. Scientists want to know more about its secrets through research, while artists study every minute detail to portray it on canvas. Naturally Speaking brings you some insights into the work and experiences of Derek […]

Every year on the 12th of February, Charles Darwin’s birthday, the scientific community recognises Darwin Day. This is a celebration of evolutionary biology and all that we have learnt since Darwin introduced us to the concept of natural selection. To mark the event, the Institute holds an annual Darwin Lecture. This is a highly prestigious […]

Episode 59: Resilience in Academia It’s unlikely that anyone has ever said that a career in academic research is easy. It is highly competitive, requires an incredibly large skill set, and “rejection” is essentially part of the job description. However, despite all these challenges, most of us couldn’t imagine doing anything else! In this episode, […]

Episode 58: Lumped together – explaining species co-existence The competitive exclusion principle states that in the long term, the number of species should never exceed the number of available resources. Phytoplankton species paradoxically violate this rule. Instead, species with similar traits co-exist in “clumps” in which there is redundancy among species occupying the same niche, […]

Episode 57: Of Mice and microbes Are parasites always harmful? How diverse are the microbial communities living within individual hosts? These are questions that Dr Sarah Knowles – a researcher at the Royal Veterinary College in London – has set out to address. She visited IBAHCM in January as a guest lecturer in the Institute’s […]

Episode 56: Seasonal Cheer at IBAHCM Every year in December, the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine takes a look back on the year and celebrates its successes in the form of a potluck and  Ceilidh (traditional Scottish dance). This year, Naturally Speaking editors Jacqueline Jacot and Laurie Baker interviewed Institute members at […]

Episode 55: “Recent” IBAHCM Highlights Autumn seems to have run away with us… just too many exciting things happening! In this episode, the Naturally Speaking team reflect on some of the Institute’s many achievements of the last few months (July – October, 2017). Steve Larcombe, James Burgon and Taya Forde discuss some of their favourite […]

Listen in as James Burgon, Laurie Baker, Stephen Larcombe, Taya Forde and Karen Hotopp talk about the publications, staff advancements and other exciting news coming out of the Institute from May and June.

Join us in another celebration of the Institute as we look back at the highlights from the month of April (2017). Listen as Laurie Baker, Taya Forde, Karen Hotopp and James Burgon discuss recent publications, awards and achievements by Institute researchers.

In this episode of Naturally Speaking, Dr Caroline Millins and Dr Roman Biek from the Institute, along with Prof. Des Thompson from Scottish Natural Heritage, discuss their recent publication reviewing the effects of conservation management on Lyme disease.

Playing out one of nature's greatest theatres are grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, cougars, elk, and bison in the greater yellowstone ecosystem. A haven for biologists, these species also come with their own set of diseases making the greater yellowstone ecosystem a hotspot for wildlife disease research.

Fish may be more intelligent than you realise—from their ability to form complicated 3D mind maps, to learning to visually discriminate among over 40 human faces! Join Taya Forde as she speaks to 2016 Buckland Professor of Fisheries Felicity Huntingford, biologist Dr Martina Quaggiotto, and life-long fishers Charles Jardine Marshall Bissett to discuss how smart fish really are.

There are many ways to study life strategies of small passerines. Professor Jan-Ake Nilsson of the University of Lund sat down with us to talk about his studies, and the fantastic little birds that he has worked with.

As the year draws to a close, Naturally Speaking’s Laurie Baker, Taya Forde, Karen Hotopp and James Burgon reflect upon the highlights of another great year communicating the work of the Institute.

Prof Ruth Zadoks tells us about her research into the factors that can allow disease-causing bacteria to make the jump between species.

In this episode we speak to wildlife ecologist (and field veterinarian) Dr Martin Gilbert to learn about his PhD research on a deadly virus affecting Amur tigers in the Russian Far East.