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Social Technology for Aging Societies

PODCAST | ep14 | with Arthur Kleinman, Hong-Tu Chen, Ann Forsyth, and Fawwaz Habbal
 

People aged sixty-five and older make up the fastest growing population around the world, posing unique challenges to societies. A Harvard initiative called Social Technology for Global Aging Research is founded on the belief that there’s a great potential for technologies and interventions to benefit the elderly, but only if they are developed with a deep understanding of day-to-day life. In the scope of this collaboration, technology for the elderly covers a wide range of needs—from engineering hardware for mobility to designing living environments and even tackling the logistics of meeting friends for tea. It’s an expansive collaboration between Harvard scholars and their Chinese counterparts. We speak with four collaborators who share fascinating examples of their work.

Episode graphic with headshots of four speakers.

Listen to episode #14 (44:28) by clicking the play button below:


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Who Can Stop a Dictator? Resistance to the War in Ukraine

PODCAST | ep13 | with Sasha de Vogel, Serhii Plokhy, and Alexandra Vacroux

When the Wagner mercenary group staged a near coup in Moscow in June, it was seen as the greatest challenge to Vladimir Putin’s regime in decades. Though it didn’t come to fruition, it nevertheless exposed some of the fissures in Putin’s ironclad control over the military and the course of the war on Ukraine. Could it be a harbinger of future revolts? How do Russian citizens feel about the continuation of the war? We speak with three scholars of history and political science to find out what this event might mean for Russia’s war machine and for Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

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Listen to episode #13 (53:04) by clicking the play button below:

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Can Erdogan be Unseated?

PODCAST | ep12 | with Ahmet Akbiyik, Andrew O’Donohue, and SZ

The presidential election in Turkey this spring is shaping up to be the most consequential in decades. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led the country for twenty years, is facing the staunchest opposition in his career in the form of an unprecedented coalition of six parties, called the “Table of Six.” Their presidential candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, has been widely described as low-key, bland, and uncharismatic. But could he be the perfect person to unseat Erdogan? To get us up to speed on this exciting election, we speak with three Graduate Student Associates whose research takes us into the governance, politics, and culture of Turkey—past and present.

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Listen to episode #12 (31:15) by clicking the play button below:

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