Podcasts

Mark Campbell on Collaboration and Creativity

Episode 06

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2026

This episode features Dr. Mark V. Campbell and host Mary Elizabeth Luka, both from University of Toronto. In it, we talk about archives-based research, building collaborations and community, and how research-creation, exhibition, and other modes of creative responses to academic understandings can be used.

Mél Hogan on Feminist, Queer, and Decolonial Approaches

Episode 05

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2026

This episode features Drs. Mél Hogan from Queen’s University, and Mary Elizabeth Luka in conversation about the ethical and values-based challenges of grant proposal writing, and a variety of research projects from feminist, queer, and decolonial approaches. We also focus on creative methods and research-creation in this episode.

Consuelo Vasquez, Mélanie Millette, and Resistant Methods

Episode 04

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2026

Bonjour and soyez attentifs. This French-edition episode features Drs. Consuelo Vásquez and Mélanie Millette from Université du Québec a Montréal. They talk about the particularities of academic settings and how resistance is articulated within institutions – scholarly or otherwise. Mélanie and Consuelo also discuss pedagogical approaches they have explored in relation to method, and research rooted in values-inflected epistemologies.

Annette Markham on Being a Methodologist

Episode 03

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2026

This episode features internationally renowned ethics and methods scholar Dr. Annette Markham from Utrecht University as well as host Mary Elizabeth Luka. We talk about what it means to be a methodologist, the phasic pursuit of research, wide scope methods and reflexive criticality.

Nataleah Hunter-Young and Research Creation

Episode 02

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2026

This episode features Dr. Nataleah Hunter-Young, originally at Western University and now at University of Toronto, and host Mary Elizabeth Luka. We talk about formative processes, fuzzy relationships between research creation and practice, as well as ethical research methods and accountability in complex environments.

The Fourchettes

Episode 01

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2026

This episode features Drs. Alison Harvey from York University, Tamara Sheppard from University of Calgary, Mélanie Millette from Université du Québec a Montréal, and Mary Elizabeth Luka, some of the members of the research group The Fourchettes. In this episode, we talk about how The Dirty Methods project came to be almost a decade ago, the far-from-linear approach and collaborative processes we have used over the years, and what a dream research institute could look like.

How Virtual Influencers Make Money (with Christopher Travers)

Episode 08

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February 1 2026

On this episode, I speak with VirtualHumans.org founder Christopher Travers on all aspects of the virtual influencer industry – how these non-human celebrities are made, how much the process costs, and what comes next now that AI is disrupting the scene.

Tech Bros are Lonely and Can’t Hack Dating (feat. Haebichan Jung)

Episode 07

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January 18 2026

Haebichan Jung, an AI sales engineer and data scientist, joins me to spill the gossip on what REALLY matters to tech bros – dating, the gender ratio, marrying for lower taxes, and pumping out kids to feel some meaning in life.

Air Canada Broke My Laptop! Reflecting on a Year of Love+Machines

Bonus Episode

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December 31 2025

In this episode, I take advantage of an in-flight travesty to take a break (not a pun), think back on a (half) year of podcasting, and why we’re all here. What a weird year, eh? Let’s jump straight to 2026.

Why We Secretly Want AI Therapists (with Ray Hsu)

Episode 06

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December 7 2025

Ray Hsu—poet, former academic, and mental health entrepeneur—discusses the invisible work of creativity and care in an age of AI. Our conversation weaves through mental health platforms, the notion of value, the allure of technology, and why both activist performativity and academic detachment miss the point.

Digital Doppelgangers & AI Twins! (with Natalie Monbiot)

Episode 05

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November 23 2025

In this episode, I chat with Natalie Monbiot, a founder and tech entrepreneur who speaks from her expertise from building one of the first AI avatar companies in the world, coining the term ‘virtual human economy.’

Natalie presents a fairly different outlook on AI technologies compared to many of the other guests I’ve had on this podcast. As someone who spends most of her time with criticisms of corporate tech and negative projections of AI’s impact on creative work and human ownership, I find this conversation especially important in learning about other perspectives on the areas of opportunity, work, compensation, and the future.

In this episode, Natalie explains the technology behind digital cloning, what these clones – or digital twins – are often used for, and shares some visions of a world in everyone gets fair pay for their own virtual human doppelgangers. I hope you listen and enjoy. Love, Julia!

Paris Marx on the TechLash and Billionaires’ Anti-Hero Moment

Episode 04

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November 09 2025

Paris Marx of Tech Won’t Save Us joins me to discuss the environmental impact of AI, the unquenchable demand for more scale, and a brief history of the backlash against Big Tech. What does it mean for us when the billionaires who expected to be celebrated as heroes embrace their villain era? How can we maintain our focus when attention is such a dwindling resource?

Translating Language & Feelings with ChatGPT (with Stine An)

Episode 03

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November 02 2025

Join me in a conversation with Korean-American poet and translator, Stine An, for a conversation about what technology means for cross-cultural connection, the pursuit of love, and understanding the self. We don’t hold back on some of the complicated feelings we’ve had about unironically chatting with ChatGPT, and some interesting thoughts on how the uncanny valley theory reflects on the overwhelming uptake of AI amongst North American and Korean audiences respectively.

Algorithms, Co-Star & the Occult (with Jeffrey Moro)

Episode 02

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October 26 2025

Professor Jeffrey Moro at the Maryland Institute for Technology and the Humanities (MITH) comes on the pod to discuss an intersection I’ve been obsessed with lately: superstition and technology. We discuss how Internet platforms, algorithms, and AI services are affecting our interactions with the ancient practices of horoscopes and conspiracy theories – just in time for spooky season!

Porn and AI (with Maggie MacDonald)

Episode 01

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October 20 2025

Join me in our first episode as I sit down with PhD candidate and Pornhub board member, Maggie MacDonald, on how AI is affecting all corners of the porn industry – from age verification to deepfakes.