The STEMcast: Recent Episodes
Latifa Al-Khalifa
Let's talk #STEM! 🧪⚙️🔬
The STEMcast is a short, monthly chat on anything and everything STEM....offering on-the-go insights into current events and compelling STEM stories that empower and inspire! 💡
Hosted by Latifa Al-Khalifa, EDUpreneur, Co-Founder and CEO of Clever Play.
Dive deep into the growing and thriving industry of Esports and the expanding community of viewers, players and passionate followers. Staunch advocate Rami Jamal breaks down the barrier of entry to engage in Esports in the region elevating it from a recreational to an aspirational and competitive endeavor.
Explore intelligent connectivity, extended reality (XR), AR and VR with Dr. Sana Farid who speaks about immersive technologies in friendly terms. As a physician and educator, she curiously constructs meaningful and impactful ways in which we engage with technology to better the human condition.
Ready to make changes in 2023? Then, start with this solo episode where Latifa identifies how to choose a word for the year 2023 and shares ideas to help you pick the word that feels right for you! Use your Word of the Year to help guide your decisions and continue towards the best version of yourself. Here's to your BEST year yet!
In this solo episode, Latifa looks inward and identifies the biggest lessons learned in 2022 and some breakthrough moments. She encourages listeners to take some time and space to look back and be introspective before moving forward with the rest of the year. Press play, and let's look back to leap forward!
Listen in to our interview with Bader Al Moulah, Kuwaiti astronaut-aspirant whose out-of-this-world pursuits inspire the youth to soar their sights, share their stories and dare to dream beyond the skies.
In this solo episode of the podcast, Latifa invites listeners to reframe their mind and refocus on chasing failure instead of chasing success. She shares practical takeaways so that they can start implementing it in their lives right away.
Listen in as our host Latifa sits down with Sahda Haroon, an 18-year-old aspiring astronaut from a small town in the island nation of Sri Lanka. Her sights go far, looking to be among the first to set foot on Mars.
Do you recall a time when you showed creativity? What exactly is creativity anyway? In this solo episode, Latifa demystifies the concept of "creativity" and asks a thought-provoking question: What if you are already creative?
Our guest in this episode Murtaza Sinnarwala is an advocate for learning that connects to real world problem-solving. His work in education as Apple Education Specialist and Lead Robotics Trainer has taught him the value of learning with the future in mind. Listen in for human insights and tech inspiration.
From mindset to practice – Latifa explores behavioral cues that stem from a STEAM-oriented attitude. Do not miss quotable quotes this episode brings you. See how STEM-style makes for an engaging and colorful way of life.
Meet the mechanical engineer, career coach and the voice behind the podcast Her STEM Story as she shares setting the STEMinist mindset on the best possibilities. Prasha Dutra shares the beauty of believing and being in your own brilliance.
Where there is a story, there is a lesson. In this solo, Latifa look backs on lessons from around 50 awesome STEM movers and makers that graced STEMcast this year. Listen in and lean on the learnings.
Get your apron and your chef's hat ready, we are headed into the kitchen for this one! Believe it or not, the kitchen is a place that inspires many lessons centered around science, technology, engineering, art and math that you can learn. Listen in to Hessa Humood Al-Khalifa on this episode as she shares tips and tricks and hidden lessons in cooking. Bon appetit!
The new year is just around the corner ready to ring in a fresh start, a hopeful outlook. Do you ride along the roll of time just going with the flow or are you intentionally driving on your own path, making things happen? In this episode of STEMcast solo, Latifa Al-Khalifa takes goal-setting to hack-friendly terms.
Today, Latifa Al-Khalifa explores the intersection of STEM and business and the innovative ways technology comes to the aid of education in these challenging times. Hear from Mr. Mayank Dhingra- a senior business leader looking to create solution frameworks to carve meaningful impacts of technology on education.
We live at a time when a college degree is no longer a guarantee of employment. The evolving digital revolution is demanding more than academic achievement, or even hard skills. The real currency of the future are human skills such as creativity. This begs the question; can schools educate kids on creativity? Latifa Al-Khalifa explores this tricky question in this solo episode.
Listen in to the woman who broke the aircraft engineering mould by being the first of her kind in Bahrain. Hend is not your typical multi-tasker. Her range of interests take her inside women’s lifestyle, treading unfamiliar career track and riding the waves of social media.
Analyze until you are paralyzed, or dive into the process with your senses and gut instincts on high alert? In this Episode of STEMcast solo, Latifa Al-Khalifa balances between the conventional wisdom of diligent preparation and the practical wisdom of gaining understanding and competency from actual doing, from concrete efforts, mistakes, and real failures.
استمتع إلى حديثنا مع الاستاذ عبدالعزيز السليم - المدير العالم لشركة نوليوم في المملكة العربية السعودية. يحدثنا ضيفنا عن رؤيته حول الاتجاهات التعليمية وأهمية المشاركة مع القطاعات العامة والخاصة في خلق واستدامة الوعي حول العلوم والتكنلوجيا والهندسة والرياضيات
What do the most prolific scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians have in common? Find out what qualities they share and how anyone can be a STEM success if they set their mindset and behavior around it. Latifa takes you behind-the-scenes of success.
Meet a school coordinator sharing insights into the academic year that was – the quick transitions for teachers and students, coping strategies and the way forward towards a transformational learning experience for all.
STEM does not need to be found in an instructional setting to make an impact. In fact, STEM is most alive in the context of leisurely activities and fascinating real-world practices. In this solo episode, Latifa explores the vital role of parents in molding a STEM mindset.
Whatever traditional schooling lacks in terms of interest and inspiration, LXL Ideas provide by using film, stories and events that make learning larger than life. Meet Chief Learner and the creative mind behind Horlicks Wizkids, School Cinema and other out-of-the-box educational experiences. We explore film pedagogy a unique learning methodology of using film as an instructional pathway towards teaching life skills. Enjoy!
We live in an era of continuing personal and professional development. The steady increase in the number of learning organizations and the bottomless resources that serve independent learners point to a promising time to become lifelong learner. Get a Masters or PhD? Latifa asks, how about developing your own personal curriculum?
Whether you read to lead or just out of need, there is no doubt the great value reading brings to your table. Meet a mom of boys, educator and reading advocate who is on a mission to excite kids and grown-ups to the transformative power of a book.
Strength, speed, agility. Do you believe that we all have superpowers hidden within us? Because if there is any time in history in dire need of superheroes, it is certainly the present. How do you step up to the plate? In this solo episode, Latifa unmasks superheroes to reveal the very human qualities that make up a superpower.
Meet the man behind Super Learning - the podcast and the app. Dom Zilstra takes us down curious roads and creative pathways for rewiring our brain to achieve the best outcomes.
Play has the power to make us imagine, connect and communicate with others, problem-solve, experiment, work with others, try and fail, think outside the book, and create our way into overcoming every day challenges. In today’s solo, Latifa explores the educational value of play in STEM learning and life in general.
For many students, there is a gap between the science classroom and real-life career in the sciences and it gets in the way of their interest. In this episode, Latifa talks to Fatima Al Kaabi – acclaimed youngest Emirati inventor who is creating innovations that bridge that gap. She aims to inspire students to pursue STEM careers by showcasing the incredible possibilities they create.
In this solo episode, Latifa explores the inventor’s mental code! She looks at habits and beliefs that great inventors and innovators have in common. Join her as she breaks down mental habits that breed breakthrough ideas.
Today I am speaking with a business tandem of two brothers. Yes, they're businessmen! But before you busy your mind visualizing a couple of suit-and-tie gentlemen, think again. They're just 12 and 15. How's that for starting early?! Can't wait to hear their story so let's begin.
The technological battlefield cries out for radical disruption - reinventing work, forging new paths and opening possibilities. In this episode, Latifa turns the table of disruption to the self. She explores simple ways in which we can disrupt ourselves by some game-changing growth habits.
In this episode, my guest Sarah and I talk about the spark and significance of space science even from down here on Earth. If you want to take your sights to greater heights and re-imagine what is possible for humanity, listen to this episode. Sarah Cruddas is a space journalist, international TV host and best-selling author and she is taking her passion beyond academics into media and out-of-this-world engagements!
In this solo episode, Latifa Al-Khalifa invites us to depart from the common view of STEM, that is, in terms of subject lines. She proposes that we look beyond college and career readiness towards valuable life lessons that the practice and process of STEM imparts.
On our most recent episode of the podcast, we speak to a relentless 16 year old innovator and national Golf player. We talk about her love of tinkering and coding, her plans for the future, how to build an unbeatable mindset, and so much more! Habiba is such an inspiration. We hope she inspires you just as much as she did us! Enjoy!
In this Solo episode, Latifa Al-Khalifa looks to explore why curiosity is an overlooked super skill and invites you to open up your minds to create continuous curiosity to fuel lifelong learning.
Listen in to our latest episode with Daryl Bustos - a seasoned ICT/Telecom Project Manager who has been around the IT industry for over 13 years.
His love of gaming, music and travel scaffolded his path towards developing important skills that have now become his valuable asset. Check it out!
Are you one of those people who wish to be THAT person people go to? What if your passion is on STEM, would you make a credible source for anything related to STEM? Getting attention is one thing but gaining trust is quite another. Join STEMcast host, Latifa Al-Khalifa, as she spells out what it takes to build an authentic, personal brand in a world where the choices are countless!
Meet VR enthusiast and MIT mechanical engineering student looking to change how we see STEM and girls, Marwa Al Alawi. A true STEMinist – a strong female voice eager to share her pursuit of engineering with hopes to inspire the youth and in particular, women.
Ever been called in class only to go blank in front of everyone? Your breath getting heavier with each ticking second. Is learning really a race to the quickest response or is it an exercise in thinking things through? In this epsiode of STEMcast solo, Latifa Al-Khalifa talks about Wait-Time in the Classroom (and really, elsewhere in life!) and the wisdom of stopping to THINK before you TALK.
Listen in to our conversation with leadership coach and online education consultant Aditi Parekh whose journey to meaningful learning has led her to crafting innovative online education programs and coaching on leadership. Attending Harvard and having worked at MIT Playful Journey Lab, she shares her enlightened take on learning.
Meet Mohammed Hilal, an 18 year old proud Bahraini that is passionate about eSports and the gaming industry. On this episode, he shares why he is keen on promoting eSports as a true sport beyond barriers in Bahrain and the entire region. Listen in on the impact that technology has in the way we live and how the future of eSports will look like!
Despite the long list of women achievers in science and math, only 24% of people working in science are female. Women in engineering make up an even smaller fraction. In this episode, Latifa Al-Khalifa delves into why female representation in STEM matters and why we must address gender-limiting challenges with meaningful change.
We live in a competitive world. Over the years, somehow we have come to place more emphasis on power, prestige, and status and have overlooked the tough journey of achievement. Society started to send a message that OUTCOME is more important than the EFFORT it gets to get there. In this solo episode, Latifa Al-Khalifa shares why this is a recipe for disaster! She argues that while it is important to understand and appreciate the energy, focus, discipline, and hard work it takes to achieve, but when we only reward the accomplishment, we miss the opportunity to learn critical lessons.
Ever wondered how educational platforms are personalized to cater to your specific needs? Listen in to our conversation with a data engineer from Mindvalley who is innovating the learning experience online.
In this solo episode, Latifa Al-Khalifa shares why failure should be viewed as a hurdle rather than a roadblock and encourages listeners to see failure as a great teacher, to grow from their mistakes, and to get back on the horse. We might not be able to change the past, but we can affect the future!
On this episode of the STEMcast, we sit down with Anita Amini where she shares her experience of how she learned how to learn and the importance of continuous-improvement. Anita is a software engineer in London who studied Pharmaceutical Science at University, but later on transitioned into tech. She now works for an online pharmacy, coming full circle to working in health again but this time, as a software engineer. In her free time, she's often taking an online course or writing on her blog which explores self-awareness, personal growth and what it means to live a good life. She's the creator of a course called The Power of Knowing What You Want, which offers a set of frameworks and exercises to help people discover how to cultivate a more fulfilling life.
Tackling climate change and the countless environmental challenges we face calls for innovation and courage. In her solo episode, Latifa Al-Khalifa shares how young leaders and changemakers are leading the way, and how they are using STEM skills to do it.
In this episode of the STEMcast, we sit down with Carl Leducq, a Game Developer & Content Creator currently working on Survival game Icarus for Rocketwerkz in Auckland, New Zealand. Carl has over 6 years experience in the industry, working on mobile, PC & AR games. He's incredibly passionate about the role games play in our lives and excitedly shares how the industry is transforming. Enjoy!
In the next 10 years, every knowledge worker on earth will become one of two things: invaluable or obsolete. No matter the industry, the pace of progress and new information is faster than ever before in human history- and it's accelerating exponentially.
In her first solo episode, Latifa Al-Khalifa shares her thoughts on why learning to learn is the ONLY skill that matters! Latifa makes the case that if we can learn effectively, we can learn-or become- anything we want to be!
The world of work was undergoing profound changes even before the onset of the pandemic, with technology playing an increasing role in everything that we do. This trend has now accelerated with the pandemic requiring us to become more proficient in a wide variety of digital platforms. But it has also highlight the key role that a STEM education has to play in equipping us with the skills needed to steer us through this brave new world we find ourselves in. However, it is alarming that women are underrepresented in STEM, currently making up less than 20% of global STEM occupations given the talent gap currently and looming within the sector.
Today, we talk to UK-based Bahraini, Fatima Al Halwachi, a customer success specialist in software defined WAN at Cisco, UK. We talk about why fewer girls and women are pursuing STEM subjects at school and university and what we can do to attract younger female talent to the STEM industries. She is deeply passionate about inspiring the next generation of girls to get into STEM. Her message to girls and women is that no occupation or industry is closed off to them. They just have to be passionate and have a willingness to learn, and a love for creativity and problem solving.
Enjoy!
Tune in to our episode today where we speak to Ken Figueras, a Microsoft Account Executive and IT enthusiast. He shares his journey of taking the non-conventional route to education and climbing that corporate ladder. He believes that experience and failure are the best teachers. Listen in as he gives us tips on how to succeed in your career, armed with just soft skills and the eagerness to learn!
On this episode of the STEMcast, we speak to Hayat Abu AlHassan, a software engineer and entrepreneur about her experience working in tech. She shares key skills and lessons learned, and speaks to us about her tech startup, Sweech, and so much more.
On today’s episode of the podcast, I sat down with Reddy2Go, an interesting individual I met online and a huge advocate for play! If you’ve been following alongside our STEMcast journey, you know just how much we emphasize the importance of making learning playful.
We talked about the importance of injecting play in learning, how we can introduce more playtime in our lives, what he does for play, and how by just having a playful perspective you open up more opportunities to invite joy into your life.
Let’s play!
Join us on this episode of STEMcast with Shireen Jaffer, Co-Founder and CEO of Edvo where we speak about how unlearning is the new learning. We dig in to why Shireen believes there's just as much value in "relearning" and "unlearning" and why thinking for yourself is one of the most important skills you can ever develop!
In celebration of Computer Science Week, we speak to Mohammed Buallay, a Machine Learning Engineer from Bahrain. Mohammed is a long time tinkerer and spends his time empowering companies with artificial intelligence and sharing his knowledge as part of a few volunteering initiatives, including Google Developers Group Manama. In this episode, we talk about why computer science matters today, the key skills required in today's economy, tips for STEM students and more. Enjoy!
Listen in as we chat with Finnish researcher and founder, Dr. Jenni Vartiainen. We talked about the importance of introducing science in early childhood, the importance of storytelling, failing and playtime for children (and adults!). This episode is packed with tons of value for all the parents and educators out there.
This podcast is sponsored by Zain Bahrain, the innovative telecommunications company which aims to contribute to and spread awareness on current important matters and link it to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The topics range from Climate Change within the MENA region, Inclusivity, the Youth, Sustainable Businesses, and more. By sponsoring this podcast, Zain aims to contribute to a meaningful conversation which shifts mindsets in order to develop and empower communities within Bahrain and the region.
Listen in to this week's episode with award-winning film maker, Eisa Alhabib. We talk about how he got into film making when he was young, how he lost his way when he traveled to Canada and how his passion for filmmaking fuels him every single day to provide value and make a positive impact on the lives of others.
Listen in as we chat with a Saudi woman making her mark in Cyberspace by engineering safety into the digital plane.
Put on your headsets and cozy up to our newest podcast episode featuring 10-year old wiz Adam El Rafey breezing through STEAM achievements way ahead of his years!
Listen in to our conversation with a one-woman multi-expertise team: Dr. Shawna Pandya. She is not your typical scientist, doctor, businesswoman or teacher. She is a lifelong learner and an inspiration to women and men, near and far. We can’t wait for you to join us and be inspired!
How does a full-time marine engineer by day find the time to create a mobile app? Listen in to our conversation with a local STEM talent making waves both in the maritime and social media industry.
Listen in to our conversation with a home-grown Bahraini Virtual reality artist who is crafting an immersive artistic experience like nothing you’ve ever tried. Hear her pioneering journey through art.
Listen is as we chat with our youngest guests yet- children who build a winning Martian Colony using space wit and bare hands!
Listen in as we chat with an Emirati scientist lending her voice and vision on Mars Exploration.
Listen in to a remarkable talk with someone who has seen fascinating wonders out in space right from the lenses of his observatory.
Listen in to a remarkable aerospace engineer talk about her beginnings and brightest hopes for the Arab’s Race to Space.
Tune in as Zain Telecom’s Communications and Investor Relations Direction talks to STEMcast about bridging gender gaps in STEM Education and connecting the youth to future skills.
Listen in to a chat with one of the youngest founders of a non-profit organization. At 15, Audrey Pe established Wi-Tech (Women in Technology) to provide access and encourage tech pursuits among women and girls.
Meet one committed STEM communicator Chris Woods who is connecting with students and teachers to deliver your everyday science and math.
Listen in to a PhD student looking at future jobs from the lens of the youth. Get curious about science and the magic of STEM!
Listen in to a friendly talk on all things tech as our guest demystifies game changing technologies, like artificial intelligence, machine learning and the recently introduced technology, GPT-3. What does this mean for the future of education? Find out here.
Listen in to a young Bahraini innovator share her thoughts and tips on getting excited about tech that transforms our everyday experiences.
Listen in to Educator and Lifelong Learning Advocate Jorge Valenzuela share practical tips on how to face future learning and online classrooms with calm, confidence and compassion. Teachers and parents, this one is for you!
In the pilot episode of STEMcast, listen in to a chat with a young but strong voice in STEM, Ms. Ahlam Al Qasim. She brings science wonders down to earth to tell the youth anyone can go as high as their curiosity and perseverance takes them.