As we approach the 8th March, I wanted to highlight some recent podcasts we’ve produced at SETU that chime in with the spirit of International Women’s Day. The subject matter varies across the podcast, but they all feature inspiring women or discussions on gender and equality issues.
9plus – Roses From The Heart w/ Christina Henri & Kieran Cronin
This is a discussion about an art project – Roses From The Heart – that commemorates women and young girls who were forcibly transported to Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries. Dr. Christina Henri is the founder and lead artist of the project, having been inspired by her research at the Cascades Female Factory Site in Tasmania. It is estimated that that over 25000 women were sent to Australia, often for the most spurious of reasons. Many of them from Ireland, many of the from Waterford. The project tells individual stories, changing those women from historical statistics into real people. I am not a very emotional person, but as Christina described how girls as young as 11 were often “sent” from Ireland to the likes of Tasmania to act as servants and wives for the settlers, I found myself having a reaction as I pictured my own 11-year daughter Wendy in that situation. Roses From The Heart is a powerful project and worth learning about. I hope this podcast helps us see the bigger picture. Podfollow Link
The Machine – Nuria Oliver – Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Addressing Imbalances
Dr. Nuria Oliver is a Spanish computer scientist specialising in computational models of human behavior, human computer-interaction, intelligent user interfaces, mobile computing and big data for social good. The podcast touches on her work to date, such as using big data systems to help unbanked people access credit in developing nations or combating bias in AI systems. There’s a very good section that addresses the gender imbalances in technology and engineering disciplines. Nuria is the first female computer scientist in Spain to be named an ACM Distinguished Scientist and an ACM Fellow. This podcast was produced in collaboration with the ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) in New York and I’m delighted to say is a featured item on their website. Podfollow Link
The Nerve – How to talk about race with Dr Ebun Joseph
Dr. Ebun Joseph is a lecturer on social policy, equality, migration and race at UCD and she joined us at SETU for two seminars (one with students and another with staff) on understanding racial diversity and talking about race in the classroom. In this episode of The Nerve podcast, Dr. Jenny O’Connor chatted to Ebun about her educational journey, setting up the Institute of Antiracism and Black Studies, and how Irish universities can improve their efforts at inclusion. Also in studio was the organiser of the event, Dr Christa de Brún, who discussed the importance of Ebun’s visit, and second year Arts student, Chika Dike, who spoke about what she learned from attending the event. Podfollow Link
If that’s not enough, I’d also direct you to the new Irish Sports and Exercise Science podcast, hosted by SETU’s Bruce Wardrop. While this isn’t strictly a University production, it does feature a lot of female SETU faculty members discussing issues around sports and exercise science. I’d highlight one particular episode about how an older lady took part in the ExWell (Exercise for Wellness) project to maximise her mobility after suffering a stroke. The lady is my mother! Direct Link
