In honour of International Nurses' Day (on Tuesday, May 12), hosts Chrisma Perera and Mark Ambrogio interview Mehtab Jaffer, a PhD candidate in Nursing here at Western University. While many topics of study are divided between practitioners and researchers, Mehtab is uniquely positioned as both, as she is a registered nurse here in Ontario studying the place of Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) in Ontario hospitals.

In their conversation, Mehtab speaks to her use of in-depth interviews with both IENs and key informants in Ontario hospitals. They discuss Mehtab's research into the lived experiences of IENs, as they navigate their journey into the Canadian healthcare system, touching upon topics such as the influence of organizational culture and identity orientation, capturing the professional, cultural, social, emotional, and psychological aspects that define and shape IENs' journeys.

Mehtab's Social Media

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mehtab.jaffer/

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/mehtab-jaffer

Instagram @mehtab.jaffer

Other links from the episode

Western University Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing PhD

Society Of Internationally Educated Nurses (SIENNA)

Registered Nurses of Ontario (RNAO)

International Nursing Interest Group (INIG)

Trent University (Alumni IENs)

Aga Khan University School of Nursing, (AKU-SONAM)- Karachi, Pakistan

Recorded on Tuesday, May 5, 2026 Produced by Ella Siciliano Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

BookCast is an ongoing series where we delve into novels set in an academic context. For the 10th edition of BookCast, Garth Casbourn, Milan Mamman, and Mark Ambrogio discuss the 2006 novel Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a darkly hilarious coming-of-age tale and a richly plotted suspense story, told with dazzling intelligence and wit. This novel won the inaugural John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize in 2006. In their discussion, Garth, Milan and Mark share their analysis of the novel, combined with some first-hand experience of academic life. Recorded on Friday, February 27, 2026 Produced by Mark Ambrogio Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)

In this week's episode, PhD student Hannah Corenblum joins hosts Rafaela Platkin and Spencer Schmitz to talk about her research on abstract mental state concepts. Hannah is interested in understanding the individual differences in mentalizing abilities and how these relate to people's capacities to process cognitive concepts. Mentalizing is the ability to understand one's own and others' mental states. Hannah hopes her clinical research will help improve how mentalization is measured, with the goal of identifying impairments and developing ways to better target and treat them across a wide range of clinical populations.

Recorded on Tuesday, April 26, 2026 Produced by Evelyn MacKay-Barr Theme song provided by FreeBeats.io (Produced by WhiteHot)