The SCAS Talks Podcast
The regular podcast SCAS Talks + SCAS Talks Spotlight
On the regular SCAS Talks Podcast, current and former SCAS Fellows and other scholars affiliated with the Collegium discuss their research with science journalist Natalie von der Lehr. Our aim is to present the wide range of fascinating research projects taking place within the SCAS community. There are also episodes in the SCAS Talks Spotlight series, where specific academic events or topics are highlighted.
Below you find an overview of the themes.
Click on the play buttons further down to listen via Podbean. The podcast is also available on Spotify, ITunes and other podcast platforms.
Africa
Episode 14 –
Andreas Eckert: Where Have the Workers Gone? Labour in Postcolonial Africa
Episode 18 –
Stephanie Wynne-Jones: Connecting Past and Present through Urban Ecologies on Zanzibar
Episode 21 –
Rebekah Lee: Death and Memory in Modern South Africa
Episode 43 –
Jeffrey Paller: The Contentious Politics of African Urbanization
AI
Episode 49 –
Eliel Camargo-Molina: When Technology Meets the Humanities: The Interdisciplinary World of AI
Episode 52 –
Jan Komorowski: Life Sciences in Silico: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning as Tools for New Discoveries
Episode 53 –
Anandi Hattiangadi: A Philosopher’s Reflections on the Emergence of Artificial General Intelligence
The Anthropocene
Episode 48 –
Gísli Pálsson: The Discovery of Extinction
Episode 50 –
Aaron M. Ellison: Decentering Ourselves from the Anthropocene
Episode 56 –
John Stinchcombe: Evolution, Adaptation, and Resilience of Plants in the Anthropocene
Asia (Citizens and State Relations)
Episode 24 –
Michael J. Puett: Rethinking the World by Considering Chinese History
Episode 28 –
Barak Kushner: What Do War Crimes Trials in East Asia Tell Us about the History of Justice?
Episode 30 –
Shalini Randeria: Looking at Citizens and State Relations in India through the Lens of Displacement
Episode 44 –
Mikael Adolphson: Japan’s Medieval Monetization in a Historical Context
The Brain
Episode 12 –
Karin Jensen: The Complexity of Pain and Placebo Effects
Episode 13 –
Dan Larhammar: Fascinated by the Human Brain: Studies of Memory and the Phenomenon of Pseudoscience
Episode 16 –
Terje Falck-Ytter: Understanding Autism: What Can Infants Teach Us?
Cities as Mega-Projects
Episode 54 –
Carol Upadhya: The Rise and Fall of the Amaravati Greenfield City Project
Episode 55 –
Jennifer Mack: Modernist Suburbs and Their Missing Stories
Episode 58 –
Desiree Fields: How Finance and Technology are Changing the Meaning of Housing
Development Issues & Human Rights
Episode 36 –
Michael Goodhart: The Complexity and Contradictions of Human Rights
Episode 39 –
Michael J. Watts: Oil and Its Afterlives: The Past and the Future of Oil in Nigeria
Episode 41 –
Philipp Lepenies: Development Aid - From Practitioner to Scholar
Diplomacy & International Relations
Episode 45 –
Lisa Hellman: Captured by Russians, Enslaved by Dzungars: New Approaches to Global Diplomacy
Episode 46 –
Hazem Kandil: War, Power, and History
Episode 51 –
Jan Hennings: Historic Encounters in Early Modern Diplomacy
Gender
Episode 31 –
Susan Pedersen: Balfours in Love and Trouble
Episode 37 –
Maria Ågren: Gender and Work
Episode 42 –
Racha Kirakosian: Researching Women’s Lives: The Story of Katarina of Württemberg
Genetics & Evolution
Episode 33 –
Helen Anne Curry: Endangered Maize: Industrial Agriculture and the Crisis of Extinction
Episode 34 –
Janette Boughman & Maria Servedio: New Insights into Speciation: Collaboration between a Mathematical Modeler and an Empirical Biologist
Episode 38 –
Sohini Ramachandran: The Human Genome as a Historical Text
Global Governance
Episode 10 –
Bruce G. Carruthers: Trust, Credit and Credit Ratings as the Basis of a Modern Economy
Episode 11 –
David Ciepley: Constitutional Democracy and the Corporation
Episode 15 –
Jenny Andersson: Neoliberalism in the Nordic Countries: Developing an Absent Research Theme
Episode 47 –
Valbona Muzaka: Vaccines in Times of Financialisation
Infrastructures
Episode 23 –
Elise Dermineur Reuterswärd: Banking before Banks: Credit and Debt in Preindustrial France
Episode 26 –
Ash Amin: Infrastructures, Habitats and Slum Lives
Episode 29 –
Susanne A. Wengle: Black Earth, White Bread: A Technopolitical History of Russian Agriculture and Food
Knowledge, Epistemes, Universities
Episode 64 –
Johan Östling: The University as a History of Knowledge
Latin America
Episode 32 –
Karsten Paerregaard: Climate Change, Climate Perception and Water Management in Peru
Episode 35 –
Rebecca Earle: How the Humble Potato has Travelled the World and Shaped History
Episode 40 –
Jeremy Mumford: The Untold Story of Beatriz Coya - A Microhistory of a Marriage in Cuzco in 1565
Life in Outer Space
Episode 17 –
Martin Sahlén: The Big Picture: From Cosmic Origins to Life on Exoplanets
Episode 19 –
Nikolai Piskunov: Using New Technology to Study Conditions for Life in Space
Episode 20 –
Anna Neubeck: Nickel - A Catalyst for Life on Earth and in Space
Life Sciences
Episode 22 –
Ericka Johnson: A Cultural Biography of the Prostate
Episode 25 –
Troy Day: From Educated Guesses to Accurate Predictions: Modelling of the Pandemic
Episode 27 –
Jessica Abbott: Evolution of Sex Chromosomes and (the Importance of) Science Communication
Migration & Displacement
Episode 61 –
Sari Nauman: What Early Modern History Can Offer Refugee Studies
Episode 62 -
Ayse Caglar: City-making through the Lens of Displacement
Episode 63 -
Mònica Ginés Blasi: Exploiting Chinese Migrants in the 19th Century
Women and Medicine
Episode 57 –
Anat Biegon: Why Do Women Go to the Doctor Twice as Often as Men? Bias and Education about Women's Health
Episode 59 –
Stefan Enroth: Self-sampling for Better Screening and Diagnosis of Gynecological Cancers
Episode 60 –
Iryna Mogilevkina: Reproductive Health Always Matters
SCAS Talks Spotlight
Summary
In this episode of SCAS Talks, Johan Östling, a history professor at Lund University, tells us more about the history of knowledge and universities. Johan Östling discusses his research on the historical development of universities, highlighting three models: the Latin University, the German model emphasizing research, and the American model integrating large-scale research and private funding. He also touches on the Europeanization of universities, examining how European integration has influenced higher education. Johan Östling emphasizes the importance of understanding the historical layers shaping universities. Reflecting on his time as a Pro Futura Fellow, he encourages young scholars to broaden their horizons by engaging with diverse academic cultures.
Published: 23 April 2025
Summary
This SCAS Talks episode features Mònica Gínes Blasi, discussing her research on 19th-century Chinese migration, particularly indentured migration. Blasi reveals how Spanish and British colonial policies, alongside human trafficking networks, fueled this system. Her work highlights the interconnectedness of different migration systems, exploring the entanglement of indentured labor with other forms of migration and the complexities of agency among Chinese migrants. The discussion touches on the role of language, translation, and the creation of harmful stereotypes in shaping migration patterns. Blasi's research uses a global perspective, connecting the Chinese experience to broader colonial practices, and offers insights applicable to contemporary discussions on human exploitation and migration policies.
Published: 6 March 2025
Summary
This SCAS Talks episode features Ayse Caglar, discussing cities through the lens of displacement. Caglar challenges the binary of "migrant" vs. "non-migrant," arguing that displacement affects diverse populations, not just migrants. She emphasizes the importance of understanding how place and time shape experiences of migration, highlighting the limitations of solely focusing on mobility. Caglar's research uses the concept of displacement to connect varied groups experiencing dislocation and dispossession within cities. She examines the contributions of migrants to city-making, underscoring their role in generating wealth and power, while also recognizing the simultaneous struggles for resources and justice they face. The discussion extends to her ongoing SCAS project investigating the historical and political geographies of cities, focusing on Linz and Essen.
Published: 15 January 2025
Summary
This SCAS Talks episode features Sari Nauman, Associate Professor of History, discussing her research on refugees and internally displaced persons in early modern Europe. She challenges the rigid definitions of "refugee," advocating for a more nuanced understanding that acknowledges the fluidity of identity and the historical context. Her research analyzes petitions written by Baltic refugees during the Great Northern War, revealing how they self-identified and how authorities perceived them. Sari Nauman emphasizes the need for flexible concepts that adapt to changing circumstances and considers the implications of her work for contemporary discussions on displacement and migration. The episode highlights the benefits of interdisciplinary approaches in understanding complex historical phenomena.
Published: 29 November 2024
Summary
Iryna Mogilevkina is Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Perinatology at Bogolomets National Medical University in Kyiv and came to Sweden to be able to continue her research. In this podcast episode she discusses the profound impact of war and post-socialist legacies on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in Ukraine. Iryna Mogilevkina details the pre-war SRH landscape, revealing persistent challenges despite ostensibly liberal abortion policies and the introduction of family planning initiatives. She also goes into the devastating consequences of the ongoing war in Ukraine, including disrupted access to maternal care, increased rates of violence against women, and the resulting mental health ramifications. This episode offers valuable insights into the intersection of conflict, healthcare systems, and gender equity within a post-Soviet context.
Published: 3 September 2024
Summary
The research of Stefan Enroth, Associate Professor of Computational Genomics at Uppsala University, focuses on finding biomarkers for better screening and diagnosis of gynecological cancers, particularly ovarian cancer. In this podcast episode, Stefan Enroth emphasizes the importance of early detection for improving survival rates and highlights the challenges of finding reliable biomarkers for a disease that's often discovered late. He discusses his work on self-sampling methods, which allow women to collect their own samples at home, and the potential benefits of this approach for cost-effectiveness and accessibility. Enroth also touches upon the ethical considerations and potential limitations of broader self-sampling programs, highlighting the need for further research and careful implementation in the healthcare system.
Published: 29 May 2024
Summary
In this episode within the series of SCAS Talks Spotlight we have gathered some of the voices from the symposium ”Sciences against Misinformation” which brought together experts from different research areas pertaining to the challenges of mis- and disinformation. From biology to philosophy, they unravel the complex web of misleading information, highlighting the crucial role of social media and the chilling impact on democracy. Learn how to spot misleading information, understand the science of trust, and discover innovative solutions to combat this global crisis. The discussion also underscores the significance of interdisciplinary research and collaboration in countering misinformation. Finally, the speakers stress the urgent need for institutional and societal responses to address the spread of misleading information and protect democratic processes.
Published: 15 May 2024
Summary
This episode of SCAS Talks delves into the evolving dynamics of the housing market, featuring Associate Professor Desiree Fields, Associate Professor of Geography and Global Metropolitan Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Desiree Fields, whose research spans geography, urban studies, and economics, examines how financial technologies and investment strategies are reshaping housing's role as both a necessity and a commodity. The discussion analyzes the 2008 financial crisis's impact, the rise of large-scale investors, and the emergence of crowdfunding platforms. Desiree Fields critiques the inherent tensions between housing's social function and its commodification, highlighting the increasing influence of financialization on housing accessibility and affordability. The podcast also explores methodological approaches to researching complex, networked systems, emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to fully grasp the multifaceted nature of the housing crisis. This episode underscores the crucial need for interdisciplinary research to address the complex social, economic, and technological forces shaping contemporary housing markets.
Published: 26 April 2024
Summary
In this SCAS Talks episode, Professor Anat Biegon discusses the critical issue of gender bias in medicine. Highlighting significant sex differences in drug response, disease presentation, and diagnosis, Biegon reveals how women receive suboptimal healthcare due to research predominantly focused on men and ingrained biases. She shares her experiences developing a medical school course to address this disparity, emphasizing the importance of incorporating sex-specific research and fostering critical awareness among future healthcare professionals. Biegon's work underscores the urgent need for gender-based medicine to ensure equitable and effective healthcare for all. The podcast includes a discussion of her current research project, expanding this vital educational intervention to a wider audience, promoting a future of more inclusive and effective medical practices.
Published: 19 April 2024
Summary
This SCAS Talks episode features John Stinchcombe, a distinguished professor of ecological genetics, discussing plant evolution and adaptation within the context of the Anthropocene. Stinchcombe highlights the impact of climate change and intensive agriculture on plant populations, focusing on the evolution of herbicide resistance in weeds. He emphasizes the importance of studying these changes to inform agricultural practices. The conversation also touches upon the role of genetic engineering in enhancing plant resilience and the challenges of communicating scientific findings effectively to the public. Stinchcombe shares insights from his fieldwork in Peru and his experience fostering interdisciplinary collaboration at SCAS.
Published: 5 April 2024
Summary
In this SCAS Talks episode, Associate Professor Jennifer Mack discusses the often-negative narratives surrounding modernist suburbs in Sweden and Denmark. Mack challenges these dominant perspectives by highlighting the positive experiences of residents, emphasizing the need for alternative narratives that reflect the lived realities of these communities. She discusses the impact of large-scale renovations and the unintended consequences of gentrification. Mack's research emphasizes participatory planning methods that integrate resident perspectives and incorporate historical memory. The podcast underscores the importance of nuanced storytelling and inclusive urban planning to create more equitable and vibrant communities, and also touches upon urban studies, architecture, and social justice.
Published: 29 February 2024
Summary
This SCAS Talks episode features Carol Upadhya discussing the rise and fall of Amaravati, a planned greenfield city in Andhra Pradesh, India. Intended to be a modern, economically-boosting urban center, the project ultimately failed due to political shifts, financial constraints, and land acquisition complexities. Upadhya's research highlights the project's flawed land pooling system, which burdened farmers with risk despite voluntary land contributions. The episode also explores the broader issues of mega-city development in the Global South, emphasizing the importance of community engagement and sustainable practices beyond infrastructure-centric approaches. The failure of Amaravati serves as a cautionary tale for future large-scale urban development projects.
Published: 26 January 2024
Efficient Light to Electric Power Conversion for a Renewable Energy Future
A collection of voices from the Nobel Symposium NS191: Efficient Light to Electric Power Conversion for a Renewable Energy Future
Keywords: solar energy, photovoltaics, renewable energy, Nobel prize, sustainability
Summary
No abstract available.
Published: 2 June 2023
