A resident MRes student’s historical view of the Scottish Centre for Ecology and the Natural Environment (SCENE) Scotland’s Loch Lomond, a vast and brooding expanse of water stretching 36.4 kilomet…| Naturally Speaking
Join us as John Smout recounts his journey to Straniger Alm in the Austrian Alps, where alpine pastures and boggy slopes provide a backdrop for an extraordinary encounter with lizards at the edge o…| Naturally Speaking
“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” – Mother Teresa Have you ever met siblings with contrasting personalities—one loud…| Naturally Speaking
Join us as we explore the book “On Rheostasis: The Hierarchical Organization of Physiological Stability” with author Tyler Stevenson. In this interview, we will discover the inspiration…| Naturally Speaking
“You can do it!” Those were the words a group of graduate students I had gone hiking with somewhere near Loch Lomond had said to me. Why, you wonder? Well, I had joined them on a 90-minute hike aro…| 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 …| Naturally Speaking
The MSc in Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Resistance (EIDAR) is the newest programme addition to the School of Biodiversity, One Health, and Veterinary Medicine (SBOHVM), introduced in 2019. I was enrolled in this program from 2023 to 2024. The programme is led by Dr. Tiziana Lembo and Dr. Jo Halliday, and other instructors […]| Naturally Speaking
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…| Naturally Speaking
Montpellier is a beautiful city located in the south of France, situated only 10km away from the Mediterranean Sea. The city offers a rich blend of over a thousand years of history and culture, as …| Naturally Speaking
Scientific outreach and research go hand in hand, with clear value in being able to communicate your science effectively and efficiently to the public. That’s particularly true if the public is inv…| Naturally Speaking
What is the project you are doing? My PhD work focuses on how data collected from stranded cetaceans (dolphins, whales, porpoises) can be used as a tool for monitoring their populations, understand…| Naturally Speaking
Will McLellan takes us on a tour of his work on tick density in human-impacted environments. What are you studying? The word ‘tick’, to most people, would bring to mind a symbol on an exam answer s…| Naturally Speaking
Did you know that today there are just four remaining great ape species in the world? These magnificent animals possess certain human-like physical features, thanks to their genetic architecture th…| Naturally Speaking
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. […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
Presenting at a conference, either orally or via poster, can be a daunting prospect. This is often doubly so for students with fewer conferences under their belts, although I assure you that the fe…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
Growing up, I have consistently been the child who asks “why”. Why shouldn’t I run with scissors? Why do chickens have 2 legs and cows have 4? Why do I have to learn maths if I wa…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
Bats. It’s at this time of year – especially with Halloween just around the corner, and when bat-shaped decorations (fairy lights, biscuit cutters, and costumes) start to appear in the shops – that…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
Paddy McCleave gives us the inside scoop into a project that looks at the internal composition of lichens What is the project you are doing? – My masters project on the lichen microbiome. My projec…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
A small exploration of the western Highlands of Scotland and its deer is provided by Max Hadoke What is the project you are doing? – My masters project, which is comparing deer monitoring method ef…| Naturally Speaking
Kathrin Loosli provides insights into a project that aims to inform antimicrobial resistance planning in eastern Africa What is your project? – My PhD, titled “Antibiotic quality, acces…| Naturally Speaking
Anna Formstone takes you on a whirlwind tour of fieldwork in south-east Asia following a rabies outbreak What is your project? – It is my PhD project. I’m using a participatory systems mapping appr…| Naturally Speaking
Teaching assistants are seen in most labs and tutorials throughout the university. How do they find the experience of teaching? My name is Max and I am a graduate teaching assistant (GTA) in the Co…| Naturally Speaking
We travel to Brazil, canoe through the Amazon, and go on a quest to find the cardinal tetra. As part of my PhD research, I was fortunate enough to go to the Amazon and find out more about the aquar…| Naturally Speaking
Connections between art and science are becoming ever more important and popular. In this episode of Naturally Speaking we have a conversation between the artist Olivier Leger and the University of…| Naturally Speaking
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, […]| Naturally Speaking
Last week Naturally Speaking turned 10 years old! While our first blog post wasn’t written until January 2015, we thought we’d take the time to celebrate the nearly 50 blogs that have been published since, celebrating the diversity of research and events going on with in the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine. […]| Naturally Speaking
This week Naturally Speaking turns 10 years old! Our first podcast was published on May 15th, 2012. Since then, we have published a total of 86 podcasts, celebrating the diversity of research and events going on within the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine. In this post, we take this opportunity to look […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
While a line is often drawn between the disciplines of Science and the Arts, much can be gained by walking the line between the two. It may be that scientists feel they can express their research subjects in unique ways through art, or perhaps art helps them gain novel perspectives. Whatever the reason, we have […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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, […]| Naturally Speaking
Naturally Speaking has long attracted budding science communicators within the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine. So partly because we are a little bit n…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
If you were asked to name an extinct species of bird, what comes to mind? Many folk would instantly exclaim “Dodo!”, the famous giant flightless pigeon from the island of Mauritius in the Indian Oc…| Naturally Speaking
As Kit sat down for the last class of the semester, launching the all-too-familiar Zoom application, with their hair a mess and a bowl of cereal in their hand, they could not help but reflect on ho…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
You may have been lucky enough to spot a hedgehog on campus during some late-night wanderings, but unfortunately such sightings are becoming increasingly rare. A team of staff and students&nbs…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
COVID Q & A Naturally Speaking’s blog series on COVID-19: scientifically-informed, data-driven answers to your burning questions about the coronavirus pandemic Severity of Infection with …| Naturally Speaking
It’s clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is having diverse and profound impacts on peoples’ lives around the world. Perhaps one of the most important impacts, although less often discussed, is the str…| Naturally Speaking
By Richard Mott, PhD candidate The World Health Organization has referred to the current situation with COVID-19 as an infodemic, in recognition of the large amount of information being circulated on this subject. Clearly not all information being circulated is false; in fact, the majority of information in circulation is factually correct. Conspiracy theories (such as […]| Naturally Speaking
COVID Q & A Scientifically-informed, data-driven answers to your burning questions about the coronavirus pandemic Post #4: The Exit Strategy Welcome to Naturally Speaking’s blog series on COVID-19. This fourth episode is about the ‘exit strategy’: the lifting of lockdown measures related to the COVID-19 virus. This is a particularly challenging topic, as there are […]| Naturally Speaking
Welcome to Naturally Speaking’s blog series on COVID-19. This fourth episode is about the ‘exit strategy’: the lifting of lockdown measures related to the COVID-19 virus. This is a particular…| Naturally Speaking
COVID Q & A Naturally Speaking’s blog series on COVID-19: scientifically-informed, data-driven answers to your burning questions about the coronavirus pandemic The virus causing the pandemic: SARS-CoV-2 This post about the virus comes in two flavours: Short and sweet – bite size summary Hungry for more? Look no further! This version includes a bit more […]| Naturally Speaking
Welcome to Naturally Speaking’s blog series on COVID-19. This post is about the virus and the severity of infection. If we don’t answer all your most pressing questions, please feel free to a…| Naturally Speaking
COVID Q & A Scientifically-informed, data-driven answers to your burning questions about the coronavirus pandemic Post #2: Testing and Treatment Welcome to Naturally Speaking’s wee…| Naturally Speaking
Welcome to Naturally Speaking’s blog series on COVID-19. This second post is about Testing and Treatment. If we don’t answer all your most pressing questions, please feel free to ask them in …| Naturally Speaking
This first post in Naturally Speaking’s new COVID Q&A blog series is about Transmission and Prevention. If we don’t answer all your most pressing questions, please feel free to ask them i…| Naturally Speaking
Scientifically-informed, data-driven answers to your burning questions about the coronavirus pandemic| Naturally Speaking
The Erasmus exchange program: a French Masters student in Scotland Written by: Adeline Vogel, MSc graduate from University of Aix-Marseille, France There’s a rather famous movie in France called “L’auberge espagnole” about a French student who’s enrolling in the Erasmus exchange program. I’ve watched it many times, even before graduating from high school, and I’ve […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
A PhD is not just about the science: why I organised everything Written by: Tiffany Armstrong, PhD candidate at the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of …| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
In hot water in the land of ice – Using geothermal sticklebacks to investigate the future effects of climate change Written by: Bethany Smith, PhD student at the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal H…| Naturally Speaking
What they don’t tell you about doing a PhD: Finishing stuff is hard Written by: Emmanuelle Chrétien, M.Sc., PhD Candidate, Department of biological sciences, Université de Montréal There are many g…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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 p…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
Maasai pastoralist livestock keepers in northern Tanzania have become increasingly concerned about a disease that is causing strange behaviour in their sheep and goats – a disease these animals are…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
Birmingham: second most populous city in the UK, home to the infamous Peaky Blinders and host to the British Ecological Society annual meeting in December 2018. The BES is the biggest conference de…| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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’ […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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 cruis…| Naturally Speaking
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| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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, […]| Naturally Speaking
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, […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
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 […]| Naturally Speaking
Each year, a small group of Masters students is based at the University's field station, SCENE. While they must travel into Glasgow for classes, they get truly unique experiences, some of which are chronicled in our Behind the SCENE blog series. Now, after arriving in September as a new resident Masters student, Danielle Orrell sheds some light on the year's activity at the University’s Loch Lomond field station.| Naturally Speaking
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 a…| Naturally Speaking
We all know that diet can have a big impact on our health, and the same is true for the wildlife around us. Some animals adapt to new food resources, often bringing them into our everyday, where we see them scavenging for morsels. Recent Institute graduate Dr Nina O'Hanlon talks about her research into gull diet and how it is affecting their colonies.| Naturally Speaking
Most of us have heard about antioxidants in the news or at the supermarket. But what are they? And how are they related to damage causing particles called free radicals? In this post Dr Shona Smith…| Naturally Speaking
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 pu…| Naturally Speaking
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.| Naturally Speaking
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.| Naturally Speaking
The Naturally Speaking editors gather to discuss new research from the Institute and highlight some of their favourite things from the month of March.| Naturally Speaking
PhD student Adam Field discusses biogerontology (‘ageing biology’) and what we can learn from animals that are seemingly better at ageing than us about living longer, healthier lives.| Naturally Speaking
Striking the ideal work-life balance is a challenge faced by many in academia. Here, Institute Director Professor Dan Haydon shares his thoughts on this thorny topic.| Naturally Speaking
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.| Naturally Speaking
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.| Naturally Speaking
In villages across the Malaysian state of Sabah, locals are being asked to do something unusual: expose themselves to—potentially malaria carrying—mosquitoes. The person behind this request is thir…| Naturally Speaking
