How are identity, cultural trauma, and well-being connected? In this episode of the CMR Podcast, Samata Shinde, a PhD researcher in the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, introduces her doctoral research exploring these themes within a particular community. Samata discusses the context of her research and the methodology underpinning her … Read more
When healthcare research, biomedical datasets, and diagnostic tools are built predominantly around white, Western populations, what happens to everyone else? In Episode 4, Hani Nasar, Master’s student in Health Data Science at the University of St Andrews, explores the persistent underrepresentation of minority ethnic groups in healthcare research—and the real-world consequences of being left out. From … Read more
In Episode 3 of Season 5, Luci Portugal Vidal (Mlitt International Security Studies) in speaks with Aleksejs Ivashuk, founder of Apatride Network and a leading advocate on statelessness in Europe, about the realities of life without legal nationality. Moving beyond statelessness as a legal category, the conversation explores how non-recognition shapes access to rights, education, healthcare, work, mobility, identity, and … Read more
In this episode, Evgeniya Pakhomova, a social anthropologist specialising in Russian antiwar activism, interviews Lana Pylaeva, an indigenous activist from the republic of Komi and director of regional media Komi.Daily. Evgeniya presents the context for the new wave of Indigenous activism that emerged in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while … Read more
In this episode of the CMR Podcast, Esther Zitterl (PhD researcher in Black British literature and the Windrush legacy, School of English, University of St Andrews) speaks with novelist Dr Ashley Hickson-Lovence about his 2026 novella About to Fall Apart (Faber). Told in verse across three days, the book follows Aidy — a man of mixed Irish-Caribbean … Read more
The CMR Team is happy and proud of all involved in another successful season of the CMR Podcast. Season 4 ends with the topic of accessibility in heritage spaces—a critical and timely conversation for everyone in the field. There has been a longstanding belief from both academics and the public that the goal of historical … Read more
How does a group’s identity change if it is subject to two vastly different conditions? How has Sahrawi identity developed in exile and under occupation? In this episode, Maarten Weinrich, a postgraduate student in Strategic Studies with a background in conflict transformation and peacekeeping research, explores how decades of conflict, exile, and occupation have led … Read more
In this episode, Natalia Hernandez Somarriba, a second-year PhD student in Modern Languages, compares two texts by Peruvian authors that address the broad context of unequal social relations within post-colonial Peru, as well as between Peru and Europe as a former colonial power. The first is the neo-indigenista novel Los ríos profundos (1958) by José … Read more
How can museums, traditionally visual spaces, become more accessible to visually impaired audiences? In this episode, Renato Trotta, a PhD candidate in Museum and Gallery Studies, explores the tensions between ocularcentric institutions and the need for non-visual engagement. He shares insights from his interdisciplinary research, drawing from museology, social sciences, critical disability theory, and psychology. … Read more
In this episode of the CMR Podcast, Allan Mjomba Majalia, a third-year PhD student in Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews, School of Geography and Sustainable Development, delves into the Indigenous and local knowledge of fisher folk in Kenya and Ghana. He examines how marine social science—a Western epistemological framework—intersects with African ontologies … Read more