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

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 discussion and may be a solution to engaging the general public on conservation issues. We also look into how Rob has combined the variety and diversity of skill sets he has gained over his career to create real-world impact.Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)Chapters:0:00 Intro1:59 Guest Intro and a conversation between two audiophiles5:50 Rob's Motivation for Ecology & Environmental Sciences13:03 The issue with species conservation (Newts and bats)18:29 Unpacking nature credits, biodiversity and environment banks23:38 Diving deeper into biodiversity net gain and biodiversity metrics28:30 Soil biodiversity in comparison to animal biodiversity29:55 eDNA for understanding the underground33:45 Gaining compliance in biodiversity net gain40:42 Rob's diversity of projects at The Environment Bank43:20 Arming yourself with interdisciplinary knowledge45:16 The Innovate Eco Podcast52:08 The cultural reboot for conservation with No Longer Known1:15:20 Q&A Start1:15:50 What does innovation mean to you?1:17:47 Key event, book, person1:21:57 Time Management1:25:03 Favourite childhood memory1:27:00 Biggest challenge to date1:29:29 Advice to young professionals1:32:44 What would you most like to be remembered for?1:34:22 Where can people find you?1:36:00 Final Message1:36:58 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

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 in this beautiful moment of looking back on my own journey once again and to learn more about me!Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Astral Dance by Jimit (Check out more of Jimit's tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0hc1IxPxpmUgEIZGGUGrvm?si=z_uif82xQoqAqUy8KpB7JQ)Chapters:0:00 Preamble & Intro1:33 Introducing the special episode3:36 The Old New Year’s Resolution (Jon Hathaway)5:53 The house plant saga (Daniele la Cecilia)7:42 Favourite places around the world (Bill Hunt)9:45 The Matrix of different worlds (Patri Cuervo)12:34 Hiking in Switzerland (Jon Hathaway)15:32 The Swiss Train System? (Alexa Delbosc)17:10 Zurich vs. Melbourne (Jarrod Luxton)19:51 Switzerland vs. Singapore (João P. Leitão)22:43 The next big physical challenge (Denise Mitrano)24:44 Collaboration vs. competition in academia (Katrin Pakizer)28:20 Different academic challenges (Luis Sañudo)32:59 Unlimited Research Resources (Megan Farrelly)35:14 The 5 to 10-year plan (Liah Coggins & Nadja Kunz)41:30 Bridging differences in collaboration (Scott Lloyd)43:13 What nature is to me (Lucas Gobatti)45:13 Favourite BGI (Danielle Dagenais)47:02 WSUD vs. Sponge Cities (Tobias Baur)48:44 Synergies between mining and BGI (Mohan Yellishetty)50:56 How is the industry progressing with circularity? (Don Weatherbee)53:16 Changing the world with technology (Yannick Back)55:32 Modelling and software bugs (Peter Vanrolleghem)57:27 A tribute to Anas Ghadouani1:02:21 The importance of music in my life (Françoise Bichai)1:07:52 Sounds of intimacy (Sofia Boarino)1:12:45 Keeping a positive mindset (Wei-Shan Chen)1:17:45 Wrap up1:18:20 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

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: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)Chapters:0:00 Intro1:59 Guest Intro, traditional owners, mountains and beaches6:00 Nadja, the network queen7:51 Water in the mining sector - Nadja's PhD10:04 From double degree to industry and PhD16:54 Working in Switzerland and Monglia21:51 Moving to UBC Vancouver, Canada24:08 Comparing the Australian and Canadian mining landscapes25:53 The significance of water management in mining31:41 Trying to solve water management holistically in mining35:52 From water management to water stewardship38:03 Pressing issues in Canada's mining? Critical Minerals48:24 Quantified evidence - the example of tailings dams59:09 Nadja's Future Plans1:01:59 Q&A Start1:02:24 What does innovation mean to you?1:04:03 Key person book event1:05:27 Time Management1:07:29 Favourite childhood memory1:08:09 Biggest challenge to date1:11:08 Advice for young professionals1:12:33 What would you most like to be remembered for?1:14:13 Final Message1:15:15 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

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 glass" into our sewer systems.Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)Chapters:0:00 Intro1:59 Guest Intro and a discussion around two props8:37 Getting into Christoph's story - culture engineering12:07 The PhD - Dynamics of sewers and micropollutants19:48 Introducing wastewater based epidemiology or surveillance21:21 Terminology around WWBE and sewer sociology23:44 Detecting illicit drugs in sewer systems26:57 Briefly - how to detect using analytical chemistry methods32:17 Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic39:30 The MS2Field - A mobile lab in a trailer41:30 His vision, the institutional context and where is Christoph heading45:25 The future of wastewater-based surveillance46:48 Syndromic surveillance - the indirect but powerful alternative51:26 Rock n' Roll?56:08 Q&A Start56:25 What does innovation mean to you?58:56 Key event, person, book1:00:42 Time Management1:03:20 Favourite Childhood Memory1:04:33 Biggest challenge in career to date1:05:55 Advice for young researchers1:07:39 What would you most like to be remembered for?1:08:30 Where can people find you?1:09:19 Final Message1:09:38 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

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 outputs... and a deep dive into some of the topics that we have covered on the show. We feature previous guests, who are here to join in on the fun!Episode #8 tests whether NotebookLM can play "Broken Telephone". We generate an audio overview of a paper and use it as the basis to generate a new audio overview - rinse and repeat 20 times! What about across languages? Mashael Yazdanie (ep42) and I react to the final result. Will NotebookLM go off the rails or will it manage to keep the core message of the key research paper we used as a basis? Listen in to find out so that you do not have to test it yourself!Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Funky Fortune by Danny Shields (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7vRFEGMyTTfeCtc8qiUB82?si=dygdqu9IQLSFYNvVzPNu5w)Chapters:0:00 Intro1:26 Guest Intro & Welcome Back4:25 Mashael's Prior experience with AI5:51 The children's game of "Broken Telephone”8:19 The human summary13:29 How this experiment works and expectations18:12 Live Reaction Original Summary30:27 Impressions of Original Summary36:14 Live Reaction - Version 2050:18 Impressions of Version 2052:08 Explaining the next Broken Telephone experiment53:49 Live Reaction - Multilingual Version 201:02:42 Post-discussion1:10:40 What is the future for AI?1:14:43 Wrap up1:15:22 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

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 on doing impactful research and implementing the knowledge in the form of usable tools.Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)Chapters:0:00 Intro1:59 Guest Intro and the mystery behind the name Momo5:21 Tracing Momo's steps from materials in Taiwan to Wageningen11:29 Closing the carbon cycle with microbial fuel cells15:28 Momo's work in reducing fossil fuel use - it gets technical17:21 Retrieving carbon from waste21:20 Valuing and closing the loop on food waste32:04 How to deal with the composition of food waste?35:21 The Bin2Bean Project in Amsterdam38:38 Going into the Water cycle for Carbon and Food42:28 Momo's venture into BGI Tools49:04 Modelling the planning for biodiversity56:09 Carbon and Water, what next?58:23 Q&A Start58:37 What does innovation mean to you?1:01:16 Key event, book, person1:03:11 Time Management1:05:27 Favourite childhood memory1:08:58 Biggest challenge to date1:10:57 Advice for young researchers1:12:38 What would you most like to be remembered for?1:14:11 Where can people find you?1:15:06 Final Message1:15:46 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

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 outputs... and a deep dive into some of the topics that we have covered on the show. We feature previous guests, who are here to join in on the fun!Episode #7 attempts to create a connected story on the topic of headwater streams - Belinda Hatt (ep20) reacts to how NotebookLM produces a deep dive discussion some of her ongoing work on headwater streams, using a whopping 22 sources, from Water Acts to Strategy Documents, journal papers, design documents and documentation of data sets. Will NotebookLM be able to focus on the key topic or will it go off on endless tangents? What about its infamous analogies?Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Funky Fortune by Danny Shields (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7vRFEGMyTTfeCtc8qiUB82?si=dygdqu9IQLSFYNvVzPNu5w)Chapters:0:00 Intro1:27 Guest Intro - Reflections on the first podcast3:00 Introducing the broad topic area4:46 Guest's prior experience with AI8:37 How this experiment works14:09 The prompt and human's summary and expectation18:20 Live Reaction55:58 Post-discussion1:02:59 Thoughts and wishes for the future of AI1:06:11 Wrap up1:07:40 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

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 a major industry and influences so many aspects of our daily lives!Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)Chapters:00:00 Intro1:59 Guest Intro and Wollongong, Australia3:52 Mark's infamous selfie-stick - communicating authenticity9:10 Mark's journey from metallurgy to mining15:17 Reflecting on Mark's 9 years in Singapore18:16 Handling large responsibilities20:19 The challenge of mining legacy issues23:01 Mark's own perception of mining legacy issues24:26 What is Green Gravity? - the concept of gravitational storage32:30 VIsualizing the scale of mines35:30 Increasing importance of energy storage38:31 Building up Partnerships in preparation for technology readiness42:00 Multiple benefits of Green Gravity’s technology46:02 What is Mark most excited about?47:42 Relationship between mines and urban areas - the Ballarat example52:29 The changing world of business - from corporation to startup1:00:48 Q&A Start1:01:09 What does innovation mean to you?1:03:42 Key moment, book, person1:09:26 Time Management1:11:39 Favourite childhood memory1:14:15 Biggest challenge in career to date1:16:39 What would you most like to be remembered for?1:17:57 Where can people find you?1:18:38 Final Message1:19:04 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

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 outputs... and a deep dive into some of the topics that we have covered on the show. We feature previous guests, who are here to join in on the fun!Episode #6 attempts to create a biographical piece - Lena Mutzner (ep45) reacts to how NotebookLM produces a deep dive discussion about her, using all her available publications, her PhD Thesis and up-to-date CV as sources. Will NotebookLM be able to capture the essence of her work and career to date?Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Funky Fortune by Danny Shields (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7vRFEGMyTTfeCtc8qiUB82?si=dygdqu9IQLSFYNvVzPNu5w)Chapters:0:00 Intro1:26 Guest Intro and AI Impressions3:12 Guest prior experience with AI8:49 AI for Graphic Design in Research & Communication9:59 How this experiment works12:16 The human summary - or setting expectations13:47 Live Reaction41:39 Post-discussion47:23 Evaluating the analogies49:29 Discussing the accuracy and inner workings52:53 Wrap Up54:46 Outro Detailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/

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 holistic approach to stormwater management and how she is developing her research career into the uncertain future.Podcast Intro/Outro Song: Starsky by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)Chapters:0:00 Intro1:59 Guest Intro & Meditative Activities4:16 Nordic Countries vs. Switzerland7:36 Lena's Mission in Water Quality10:53 How it all started - engineering or psychiatry?13:18 Contaminants of emerging concern16:48 Studying Water Quality 10126:28 Which contaminants does Lena focus on?29:28 Tyre wear leachate and 6PPD-Quinone33:01 Data issues towards building water quality understanding36:45 Different types of common micropollutants40:55 Interplay of Modelling and Water Quality Data Collection46:18 Effect-based measurements48:19 The holistic view - integration as a the way forward51:05 Mitigation of pollution through Blue-Green Infrastructures54:00 Lena's Future Research Trajectory56:49 Q&A Start57:24 What does innovation mean to you?1:00:30 Key Moment, Person, Event1:03:52 Women in STEM - Lena's drive to be a role model1:06:40 Time Management1:10:24 Favourite childhood memory1:12:55 Biggest challenge to date1:18:17 Advice for young researchers1:20:00 What would you most like to be remembered for?1:21:15 Where can people find you?1:21:57 Final Message1:22:15 OutroDetailed shownotes over at: petermbach.com/podcast for more in-depth information about each episode.Join the community over at: linkedin.com/company/tgcpodcast and let's connect across the world!Subscribe and listen to the podcast (and do please leave a review/rating) on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts from. Your subscription/follow will greatly help the show grow and reach a wider audience.Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach (www.petermbach.com), follow me on: X (fomerly Twitter): @petermbach Instagram: @petermbach87 Subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/