Culture Weekly

It’s podcast time

August 26 - September 1, 2020
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Gulf Weekly It’s podcast time

Gulf Weekly Naman Arora
By Naman Arora

With podcast listenership on the rise across the region, Bahrain-based podcast STEMCast is hoping to use the relatively young medium to cultivate curiosity about science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEM/STEAM).

Around 15 to 16 per cent of the adult population in the UAE and Saudi Arabia tune in to a podcast at least once a week, with 93pc of people preferring them to other media.

Latifa Al Khalifa, assisted by Mary-Rose Candare, wants to bring inspirational STEM stories to these listeners and encourage them to explore a future in the field.

Latifa explained, in an interview: “The idea is to spark a conversation about STEM by bringing together students, educators and professionals who are making a mark in STEM fields. This way, we put a face on college courses and career titles. We feel it is an effective way to humanise STEM and STEAM – make it about people, their stories and their dreams.”

Latifa, who started last month, has released five episodes, each 38-56 minutes long. It has attracted active listenership across Bahrain (45pc), UAE (22pc), US (14pc), Saudi Arabia (9pc), UK (6pc), India, Germany, New Zealand and Australia.

She added: “We’ve had an interesting line-up of guests including Ahlam Al-Qasim – a space science student; Jorge Valenzuela, educator and lifelong learning advocate with insights on the future of learning and classrooms; Shaima Almeer, who created the first artificial intelligence-powered bank assistant in Bahrain; Ameen Altajer, tech innovator and recently Huda Ali who is completing her PhD in plastic electronics in the UK.

“Our upcoming episode will have Chris Woods who hosts a weekly podcast called STEM Everyday, in addition to his weekly newspaper and YouTube channel which showcase math and science in action. We have interesting guests lined up including Mishaal Ashemimry, the first Saudi female aerospace engineer, an Emirati guy who is into astronomy, and a young girl from the Philippines who founded an NGO to teach girls to code.

“The value of connecting with others who share similar apprehensions and aspirations with us is an essential ingredient of the podcast. The talks are intentionally light and friendly because STEM should not be intimidating or exclusive.

“Our goal is for every listener to feel they have a place in the conversation and leave the podcast feeling encouraged to start acting on their dreams.”

STEMCast is now available on Spotify, Anchor and Apple Podcasts. Follow @stem.cast on Instagram to learn more.







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