This episode of Candid Conversations features interviews with Justine Delangle and Katerina Ntretkas, co-editors-in-chief of Catalyst Journal, as they explore the crucial role of journalism in contemporary international development. This episode is produced by Henley Evans, with interviews conducted by Alexandru Albu and Arshe Hussain.
Music credits: Funk and Flash by <a href="https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/333159">Blue Dot Sessions</a>
Although energy poverty is not widely discussed in international development, it significantly impacts individuals' potential and poses serious health risks. In this episode, Yasmin explores the definition and measurement of energy poverty, as well as examining Professor Mylene Riva's study of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, where nearly 40% of residents experience energy poverty, and how that affects their health and well-being.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com
Welcome to Global Debrief, The Capsule Newsletter’s podcast. In this second episode, Henley discusses stories featured in the Capsule issue of March 24, 2025.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com
The Maison by Blue Dot Sessions (https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/301913)
Welcome to Global Debrief, The Capsule Newsletter’s podcast. In the first episode of this series, Henley examines some of the featured news stories from the Capsule issue of February 20, 2025.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com
The Maison by Blue Dot Sessions (https://app.sessions.blue/browse/track/301913)
Welcome to Candid Conversations, Catalyst McGill’s International Development Podcast. Today, Yasmin examines The Quipu Project, which presents the testimonies of the Indigenous women (and men) affected by Alberto Fujimori's forced sterilization programme launched in 1990 in Peru. These forced sterilizations caused its victims numerous health complications and, in some cases, even death.
The Quipu Project website allows us to listen to these testimonies online and understand the pain and suffering these women had to sustain. Through these recordings, many could share their experience and listen to others' experiences.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com
Welcome back to Candid Conversations! On this episode, Henley and Maddy discuss the environmental impacts and sustainability of beef production given our growing population.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com
On this episode of Candid Conversations, Henley and Alex discuss the effectiveness REDD+, a climate change initiative which aims to decrease emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com
By going in depth into the July 2024 Bangladesh student protest, Bhavya and Susan explore the rippling effects of student activism on social norms and public policy.
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Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com
In today's episode, we had the privilege of interviewing Sarah Beydoun, the dynamic president of McGill University's Heart for Heart Chapter. This remarkable organization is dedicated to shedding light on congenital heart diseases and mobilizing funds for life-saving surgeries for children in developing regions across the globe.
On today's episode of Candid Conversations, we had the opportunity to interview one of Catalyst's article writers, Waleed Iqbal, to discuss current US politics.
Waleed is a fourth-year Political Science and History student. Being a Pakistani who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, his third-culture upbringing lends itself to where his areas of interest lie: international relations and politics in the Middle East and South Asia, with a specific interest in imperialism in the Global South.
Bienvenue dans Candid Conversations où nous explorons la dynamique complexe des changements démographiques. Dans notre dernier épisode "Populations en transition : Défis et opportunités", nous avons discuté des efforts de la France pour faire face à la baisse des taux de natalité, du dépassement de la Chine par l'Inde en termes de population, ainsi que des défis et des opportunités liés à une population jeune dans les pays en développement.
Welcome back to Candid Conversations where we explore the complex dynamics of demographic shifts. In our latest episode "Populations in Transition: Challenges and Opportunities,", we discussed France's efforts to address declining birth rates, India's surpassing of China in population, and the challenges and opportunities of youthful demographics in developing countries.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/
Welcome to Candid Conversations, Catalyst McGill’s International Development podcast. In this episode, we will talk to Professor Bart Édes about his new article “What a world of difference a little foresight could make” and his research on strategic foresight in international development cooperation agencies. Professor Édes is a Professor of Practice at McGill University. He is also the author of Learning From Tomorrow: Using Strategic Foresight to Prepare for the Next Big Disruption.
You can find Professor Édes’ article and contact information here: https://bigtrendsguy.medium.com/what-a-world-of-difference-a-little-foresight-could-make-58dd722ff20c
Catalyst Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/
Welcome to Candid Conversations, Catalyst McGill’s International Development podcast. On this podcast, we will explore current issues in international development around the world. This episode, we will be taking a deeper dive into the recent news of the United Nations’ approval of foreign intervention and peacekeeping missions in Haiti.
Sources and Additional Links:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/02/haiti-un-security-force-kenya-gangs
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/12/haiti-crisis-jovenel-moise-gangs-water-way-out
Catalyst Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/
We spoke with Economics Professor Sonia Laszlo about her recent study on gender norms in Paraguay. We discuss the process of running a lab experiment and the findings of the working paper. We also discuss the significance and challenges of women's economic empowerment.
Professor Sonia Laszlo is an Associate Professor of Economics at McGill University who specializes on applied microeconomic analysis in economic development. Her work focuses on the microeconomics of social policies and their effects on women and women's economic empowerment. She also studies decision-making under uncertainty, namely concerning technology adoption among subsistence farmers. She is a cofounder and executive member of the Canadian Development Economics Study Group and directed this Institute for the Study of International Development between 2016 and 2019. Her most recent work, which we discuss in our conversation, is a behavioral study on norm shifting interventions and beliefs about gender in Paraguay.
You can find professor Laszlo's work and more at https://sites.google.com/site/sonialaszlo.
Candid Conversations is a series where we speak with professors and academics about their research and current topics in development related to their field of study.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/
Welcome back to the Candid Conversations podcast, supported by Catalyst McGill and the IDSSA. This week we're continuing with our series looking at the basics of development. On this episode we discuss how international development is measured and what steps the international community has taken to strive for sustainable development.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/
Email: catalyst.mcgill@gmail.com
Welcome to the Candid conversations podcast, supported by Catalyst McGill and the IDSSA. This semester we’re starting a series where we look at the basics of development. What is the past, present and future of international development? And how does it interact with our society? On this episode, we’re looking broad and asking that big question, so what is international development?
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/
Email: catalyst.mcgill@gmail.com
We spoke with Professor Sarah Turner about her ethnographic fieldwork in Southeast Asia. We discuss the significance of and challenges facing the informal labor economy, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this market, and approaches and strategies to qualitative fieldwork and development practice.
Sarah Turner is a professor in the Department of Geography at McGill University. Her research focuses on everyday livelihoods in Asia, specifically upland ethnic minorities in peninsula Southeast Asia and southwest China, Hanoi small-scale traders and street vendors, and Eastern Indonesia entrepreneurs. She has completed fieldwork in multiple countries in the region and anchors her research and practice in local knowledge and day-to-day realities. Her most recent book, Frontier Livelihoods: Hmong in the Sino-Vietnamese Borderlands, which was released in 2015 is an ethnography of cross-border dynamics between ethnic minority Hmong communities in Vietnam and China's Yunnan Province. She co-edited a forthcoming book Fragrant Frontier: Global Spice Entanglements from the Sino-Vietnamese Uplands that explores the modern Spice Trade in the Sino-Vietnamese Borderlands and will be released this year.
Candid Conversations is a series where we speak with professors and academics about their research and current topics in development related to their field of study.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/
Music:
Track: Good Evening — Amine Maxwell [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: https://youtu.be/2BEJUXf_U38Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/good-evening
Creative Commons Hip Hop Instrumentals - Bassment FM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pYjYDlu_M
We spoke with Professor Manuel Balán about his research and work on democratic threats and corruption in Latin America. We discuss the variety of threats facing the region, centering Latin America within his research and the challenge of avoiding a deterministic process, the dynamics and persistence of corruption, anti-corruption mechanisms, and the relationship between corruption and development.
Manuel Balán is currently the associate dean of student affairs in the faculty of arts. He previously served as the acting director of the Institute for the Study of International Development and as an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Development. His research addresses comparative politics with a regional focus on Latin America, particularly on issues of corruption and development, corruption scandals, political competition, media and politics, transparency and anti-corruption policies, and democracy and the rule of law. Prior to his academic career, he worked in Argentina on Transparency Policies at the National Anti-Corruption Office.
Candid Conversations is a series where we speak with professors and academics about their research and current topics in development related to their field of study.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/
Music:
Track: Good Evening — Amine Maxwell [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: https://youtu.be/2BEJUXf_U38Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/good-evening
Creative Commons Hip Hop Instrumentals - Bassment FM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pYjYDlu_M
We spoke with Professor Jon Unruh about his research and work on post-conflict land and property rights. We discuss the dynamics of post-conflict land redistribution, government involvement in restitution, the role of UN peacekeeping troops, fieldwork experience, and the weaponization of land rights by the Syrian government during the Civil War.
Jon Unruh is a professor in the Department of Geography at McGill. His research focuses on war-affected land and property rights in addition to the peace process and recovery from armed conflict and the intersection between land rights and environmental change. He has conducted research, policy, and practice work in many countries including Syria, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia, and with the UN, World Bank, USAID, and other bilateral donors and NGOs.
https://www.genevacall.org/
Candid Conversations is a series where we speak with professors and academics about their research and current topics in development related to their field of study.
Instagram: @idssapublications
Facebook: @CatalystMcGill
Website: https://catalystmcgill.com/
Music:
Track: Good Evening — Amine Maxwell [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: https://youtu.be/2BEJUXf_U38Free Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/good-evening
Creative Commons Hip Hop Instrumentals - Bassment FM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6pYjYDlu_M
