Desi Academia Podcast

In this episode, we are joined by Amit Kaushik, A PhD candidate in the Integrative Conservation and Anthropology, University of Georgia. We talk about his pre-doctoral experiences with wetland conservation in Delhi, GIS work in Ladakh, and human-tiger interactions in Madhya Pradesh. Amit tells us how he found himself in an interdisciplinary program, living his dream to work with wolves with a funding partnership with National Geographic. We discuss his school and college transition from commence to anthropology and conservation, and how art, theatre, people, and administrators contribute to his research work .Recommendations:AmitRadhika Govindarajan, Animal Intimacies"Jatikaran: Caste, Rats, and the control of space at the Karni Mata Mandir" https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/25148486221094132Raghu Chandawat, The rise and fall of the emeraldsforest"Protecting India’s tigers and wolves through art, collaboration and conservation | Franklin College of Arts and Sciences" https://www.franklin.uga.edu/news/stories/2024/protecting-indias-tigers-and-wolves-through-art-collaboration-and-conservation

In this special episode, the hosts of Small India Radio (SIR) Podcast Group: Raj, Nishant, Megh, Vatsal, Richa, and MV; talk about their professional experiences in education and workplaces. We talk about how we got here: our degree choices and motivations, experiences growing up in different parts of India, exposure, and moving away from home. We discuss the impact of Liberalisation and 2014, creating reliable knowledge sources and reading, visiting India, the thoughts of moving back, and the impact of education systems and degrees on our lives. Check out our sister podcasts!Bharatiya Junta Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3cEQfIblu88FzyHGdVCG0ePCCI podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6oGfaWZ5cbsc18sfeP8g3o

In this episode of DAP, Hassaan joins Megh and Vatsal. Hassaan is a Ph.D. student at the University at Albany, studying Theoretical Physics. Specifically, he is working on problems in String Theory and Quantum Field Theory. Hassaan also has an amazing YouTube channel called "Phymaths," where he makes videos about all things related to theoretical physics and mathematics. In this episode, Hassaan takes us through his academic journey, what it takes to study theoretical physics, and the fascinating fundamentals of physics that make up his thesis work. Hassaan's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3nAENP4F5GKrGk9BLNFLvwRecommendations: HassaanHalliday Resnick, CraneUniversity PhysicsBrief History of TimeDerak belt trickKKLTDine Seiberg problemStephen WinebergWhat we owe to the futureWhat is Real, Adam BeckerTheory and RealityTwilight of DemocracyA Scout MindsetPuzzles to Unravel the UniverseA very Short introduction series: game theory, religionPunjab ka BatwaraProofsMegh4 LionsRace, Science, and the Continuing Education of Razib Khan https://undark.org/2017/02/28/race-science-razib-khan-racism/Yo Yo Honey Singh, FamousVatsalVlog brothers news letters: We are HereThe Man Who Took LSD and Changed The World

In this special episode, friends of the podcast Ajay and Harsha join Megh to discuss the MIT Tech review, 2024. We discuss major innovations in GenAI, biotech, astronomy, and sustainable technology.We also consider the impact of the defunding of scientific bodies in the US and the deregulation of BigTech, and whether the innovations of 2024 will have a chance to scale.Recommendations and References:Google CEO Sundar Pichai on AI-powered search and the future of the web: https://www.theverge.com/24158374/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-ai-search-gemini-future-of-the-internet-web-openai-decoder-interviewMIT Technology Review- 10 Breakthrough Technologies: https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/03/1109178/10-breakthrough-technologies-2025/Hugging Face  Pleias 1.0 models:  https://huggingface.co/blog/Pclanglais/common-modelsAI is ‘beating’ humans at empathy and creativity. But these games are rigged: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/28/ai-empathy-humansCan LLMs Generate Novel Research Ideas? A Large-Scale Human Study with 100+ NLP Researchers: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.04109 All That Glitters is Not Novel: Plagiarism in AI Generated Research: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.16487 Patal Lok S2

In this episode of DAP, Megh, Vatsal, and a friend of the pod, Dr. Harish Prakash, are joined by Dr. Vivek Nityananda. Dr. Nityananda is an outstanding behavioral ecologist and a senior lecturer at Newcastle University. His multidisciplinary research aims to understand animal behavior by combining psychology, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and ecology. Join us as Dr. Nityananda discusses his academic journey, motivations, and research on bees, praying mantis, crickets, and other insects. Moreover, he takes us through his fascinating current research that dissects the evolutionary persistence of “overconfidence,” which is also the subject of his new book titled “Beyond Doubt.”Recommendations: Vivek The Empire Podcast, William Darlymple and Anita Anand The Last of Us Harish Daryl Dickson Vatsal Aeons: Surviving Deep Time Vettaiyan Megh Sabrina Scent of a Woman

In this episode of DAP, we are joined by Professor Mamta Saxena , associate professor at the State University of New York (Oswego). We learn about the field of Human Development and Sibling Studies, and it's relationship with other fields in social sciences. Professor Saxena tells us about her PhD journey, and ongoing research projects. Recommendations Megh All that we imagine as light Vettayan Vatsal Severance

In this episode, we are joined by recent PhD graduate Dr. Ishaan Bhat (@Doctor_Woah) who shares his experience dissertating in European academia. Ishaan walks us through his specialisation in image recognition and ML/DL algorithms, his interdisciplinary collaboration with medical doctors, and his doctoral research on uncertainty estimation and improving reliability in predictions made by image recognition algorithms. We also chat about his dissertation defence experience. We cover the unique challenges and joys of applied research, the complications of working with protected data, and the importance of open science, reproducibility, and code+paper style publications. Recommendations Ishaan The Good Research Code Handbook: https://goodresearch.dev The Wager , by David Grann Megh Honey Singh's interview by Lallantop Movie: Sarfarosh The Vulgarity of Caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India, by Shailaja Paik Vatsal A scientific fraud. An investigation. A lab in recovery: https://www.thetransmitter.org/science-and-society/a-scientific-fraud-an-investigation-a-lab-in-recovery/ Podcast: Gastropod

Aman tells us about how he combined his passion for sport with his lived experience in India, and professional experience as a sports journalist. We discuss how he moved from the fast-paced life of journalistic publication, to slow and measured academic knowledge creation. We also talk about the nuances of researching and teaching about sports journalism and disability, and how to cover a para sportsperson on their term. Aman also shares with us the amazing experience of his field work: covering and publishing on the Paris para-olympics. Aman Dan Goodly Shampa Sengupta Crib camp: A Disability Revolution Pitching Around Fidel: A Journey Into the Heart of Cuban Sports On National Sports Day today, Aman Misra recommends a few sports books that can inspire children Vatsal The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King  Megh Linguini: A benchmark for language-agnostic linguistic reasoning The promise of Ambedkar University Delhi is in tatters. Professors are quitting & Suing Movie: The Reluctant Fundamentalist TV Series Rings of Power Movie: The Sound of Metal

In this episode of DAP, Megh and Vatsal are joined by Dr. Harish Prakash. Dr. Prakash is an assistant professor at GITAM University, and his research interests include ecology and animal behavior. Join us in this fun conversation, where we take a deep dive into his academic journey and his motivations. We tackle questions like why the study of ecology is essential, his research involving studying bats in the wild ecosystems of India, and much more. Recommendations Harish Resident Alien Letter to an ecologist Hugh Wilson An environmental history of India, Micheal H fisher https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/an-environmental-history-of-india/20102711CAD02F7D3CC090D2E283E006 Malayalam movies- Avesham, Brahmoyugam, Manjumel Boys, Premalu Megh Dr. Fatima: the Sokal Affair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESEFUaEA7kk Importance of stupidity in science: https://journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/121/11/1771/30038/The-importance-of-stupidity-in-scientific-research Book: Magnifera Indica:a biography of the mango Vatsal Tartrazine makes skin see through: https://www.sciencealert.com/incredible-experiment-reveals-a-way-to-make-skin-transparent

In this episode, we discuss the resurgence of He Jiankui on the Twitter trends, the research that made CRISPR a Nobel-worthy discovery, and the various reasons why scientists don't go around gene-editing human embryos to create super species. Readings: Scientist who gene-edited babies is back in lab and ‘proud’ of past work despite jailing China to begin first in-human CRISPR trial next month CRISPR genome editing gets 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry He Jiankui’s tweet CCR5 is a suppressor for cortical plasticity and hippocampal learning and memory