The Grand Challengers Podcast

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The Grand Challengers Podcast

Peter Marcus Bach

61 episodes

1 day ago

Makoto Kern, Founder and Principal Design Consultant at iiimpact in Austin Texas USA dives deep into the world of UX (User Experience) Design and shows us how a user-centric approach to software is essential, especially in the disruptive AI landscape. We hear about how he and iiimpact have supported the environmental, resources and healthcare industries, future concerns about cybersecurity and how to navigate the highly disruptive AI landscape, live with AI technology and value the human conn...

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Makoto Kern, Founder and Principal Design Consultant at iiimpact in Austin Texas USA dives deep into the world of UX (User Experience) Design and shows us how a user-centric approach to software is essential, especially in the disruptive AI landscape. We hear about how he and iiimpact have supported the environmental, resources and healthcare industries, future concerns about cybersecurity and how to navigate the highly disruptive AI landscape, live with AI technology and value the human conn...

Show more...

Episodes (20/61)

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#52 - Makoto Kern: Feature-centric to user-centric - UX Design to navigate global challenges and the “AI Competence Mirage”

Makoto Kern, Founder and Principal Design Consultant at iiimpact in Austin Texas USA dives deep into the world of UX (User Experience) Design and shows us how a user-centric approach to software is essential, especially in the disruptive AI landscape. We hear about how he and iiimpact have supported the environmental, resources and healthcare industries, future concerns about cybersecurity and how to navigate the highly disruptive AI landscape, live with AI technology and value the human conn...

1 week ago

1 hour 17 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#51 - Rob Wreglesworth: A culture reboot for nature, biodiversity and conservation through incentives, conversations and T-shirts

Rob Wreglesworth, Associate Ecologist and Innovation Lead at The Environment Bank, Co-Founder of No Longer Known and Host of the Innovate Eco Podcast, based in the UK, goes deep on biodiversity and conservation from both the economic and social lenses. We discuss topics like biodiversity net gain and nature credits, eDNA, current issues with conservation and how Rob is now targeting scarcity mindset with his new startup No Longer Known, a culture reboot, in a sense. T-shirts factor into this ...

3 weeks ago

1 hour 38 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#50 - Tables Turned: Part 2 - Personal reflections on Switzerland vs. favourite places, academia, nature, music, my career and much more…

To celebrate 50 episodes of The Grand Challengers Podcast (main series), we return with another "Tables Turned" episode, this time featuring 26 questions from guests as early as Episode 2. Guests from across the show got to ask me a question of their choosing and I have compiled them into a special episode titled "Tables Turned". In this episode, I reflect on Switzerland, the importance of music in my life, academia and where I am heading in my recent decision to start my own company. Join me...

1 month ago

1 hour 19 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#49 - Nadja Kunz: Towards water stewardship in mining, understanding critical minerals, safer and sustainable resource management

Nadja Kunz, Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada shares her insights on the role of water in mining and the importance of critical minerals for the sustainable energy transition. Most notably, we gain insights into the complexity of the mining industry and its diverse and often forgotten stakeholders. What is required for us to make mining more sustainable, equitable, safe and future-proof? Podcast Intro/Outro Song...

1 month ago

1 hour 16 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#48 - Christoph Ort: Sewers, Drugs and Rock n' Roll - from wastewater surveillance to saving lives in the pandemic

Christoph Ort, Group Leader and Head of the Urban Water Maangement Department at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology dives into the world of wastewater surveillance or wastewater-based epidemiology, techniques, intricacies, use-cases and the broader societal implications. We trace his journey in leading a "band" of disciplines in supporting society during a crisis moment, namely the COVID pandemic, with valuable information on the spread of infections - all by just holding a "magnifying...

2 months ago

1 hour 10 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #8: "Broken Telephone" - lost in translation between leapfrogging and Dunkelflaute (feat. Mashael Yazdanie)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

2 months ago

1 hour 16 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#47 - Wei-Shan Chen: Valuing food waste and greening - the experience in delivering technology and tools to close the carbon and water cycles

Wei Shan Chen, also known as "Momo", Assistant Professor at Wageningen University shares his journey from Materials Engineering into the environment, from Taiwan to The Netherlands and from the Carbon Cycle to the Water Cycle. We discuss the issue of food waste and its broader implications among other approaches he has taken to recover carbon and close the loop. We also hear about Momo's foray into Blue-Green Infrastructure planning and how stakeholder engagement has changed his perspective o...

3 months ago

1 hour 17 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #7: The “Tablecloth Problem”, headwaters in focus and the pollution party (feat. Belinda Hatt)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

3 months ago

1 hour 8 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#46 - Mark Swinnerton: Gravity vs. "giant hockey pucks" - what disused mines and renewable energy storage have in common

Mark Swinnerton, CEO of Green Gravity, shares his journey from metallurgy to mining operations and currently gravitational storage technology to support the energy transition. We get an in-depth look into how he is transforming the renewable energy storage industry and giving old mine shafts a new lease on life, an insight into the technology and logistics and how businesses are evolving in this new digital age. Tune in for some amazing advice from someone with decades of global experience in...

4 months ago

1 hour 20 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #6: These are neither the pollutants nor researcher you are looking for (feat. Lena Mutzner)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

4 months ago

56 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#45 - Lena Mutzner: “A list that keeps getting longer” - understanding pollutants of emerging concern for healthier aquatic environments

Lena Mutzner, Group Leader in the Urban Water Management Department at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology discusses the intricacies of stormwater quality monitoring. We learn a bit about how water quality is sampled, different pollutant types that she has focussed on and the ongoing challenge around contaminants of emerging concern. We also discuss the apparent paradox of repeating research cycles despite having done similar work 40 years ago, the importance of a ...

4 months ago

1 hour 23 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #5: Plot Twist! Figure 3 says more than a thousand words and a third of the hot dogs (feat. Yannick Back)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

5 months ago

1 hour 2 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#44 - Jarrod Luxton: What does a best-practice sustainability strategy look like? Discussing nature, valuation, Nordic and Aussie contrasts

Jarrod Luxton, Senior Lead at the Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra), Board Member of Finland's Sustainable Investment Forum (finsif) and Founder of First Arrow discusses what a best-practice sustainability strategy looks like in 2025! The key player? Nature! We delve into the topic of valuing nature-based solutions and compare and contrast between Australian and Nordic contexts, especially Finland's priorities and motivations for the practice. Jarrod and I also reflect upon our times in Austral...

5 months ago

1 hour 20 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #4: Jalapeños as part of the urban form and a lesson in Dutch (feat. Martijn Kuller)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

5 months ago

1 hour

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#43 - Tom Young: Answers to sustainability are in the links between green roofs, beer, mushrooms, golf, water, cowboys and community

Thomas Young, Associate and Blue-Green Infrastructure Specialist at The Environment Partnership (TEP) in the UK shows us his journey from the technical side of green roofs to the more holistic broader planning of sustainability and blue-green infrastructure. His incredible journey is supported by many seemingly unrelated topics, travels and passions that have all contributed to the impact he is creating in the UK. Find out how beer, mushrooms, cowboys and community among many others are linke...

6 months ago

1 hour 22 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#42 - Mashael Yazdanie: "Doing the right things the right way" - how to holistically plan for sufficiency and renewable energy

Mashael Yazdanie, Group Leader, Scientist and Lecturer at the Urban Energy Systems Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Materials Science & Technology (Empa) traces her journey across the renewable energies towards more holistic thinking around energy, sustainability, society and sufficiency. We cover her projects in both the global north and south, key concepts such as planetary boundaries, sufficiency, efficiency and doughnut economics as well as the need to learn, unlearn and relearn ...

6 months ago

1 hour 34 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #3: Multi-tasking superheroes and going meta on AI (feat. Veljko Prodanovic)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

6 months ago

58 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #2: Playing "Urban Tetris" and "Heat Detectives" with Blue Green Systems (feat. João P. Leitão)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

7 months ago

55 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

#41 - Don Weatherbee: "Catalyzing" change beyond the mine - scaling up metals regeneration to enable the future circular economy

Don Weatherbee, CEO of Regenx Tech Corp in Alberta, Canada shows us how you can scale up metals recycling (or regeneration as he calls it) sustainably. We discuss his journey from studying accounting to joining the mining and resources industry and how he is now leveraging opportunities to close the loop and create the circular economy around critical metals worldwide, in particular, the opportunity of aligning chemistry, process and supply chains around catalytic converts and Platinum Group ...

7 months ago

1 hour 4 minutes

The Grand Challengers Podcast

The NotebookLM Mini Series #1: Cooling establishment time, it's like baking a cake (feat. Lucas Gobatti)

Welcome to this Mini-Series on The Grand Challengers Podcast! The topic of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been in all our minds over the past few years and is gaining even more momentum with rapid advancements in text, audio and video. Google recently released NotebookLM, a powerful research-support AI that can generate not only summaries of sources that we feed it, but also entire podcast episodes. This Mini-Series will explore the power of NotebookLM, our live reactions to its ...

7 months ago

1 hour 2 minutes