BIG Podcast

On the European Doctoral Day with Krutika Patri

On May 13, 2026, also European Doctoral Day, we talk to Krutika Patri to find out what inspired her to pursue a PhD and how she would like to showcase her doctoral research. In the conversation, we learn how Krutika’s inspirations for a PhD tie into how we perceive geniuses in science who have multiple identities and are often retrospectively “made into geniuses.” But most importantly, whose shoulders do they stand on in order to “move through butter” in research, as well as on the flip side, who remains invisible in academia?

Krutika Patri is a doctoral researcher at the University of Bremen, Fachbereich 10: Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft, under the supervision of Prof. Kerstin Knopf. Her dissertation examines the stereotypical representation of scientists as geniuses on screen. Her other research interests include postcolonial studies and contemporary Indian novels. Recently, she joined the editorial team of COPAS (Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies), an open-access journal that showcases the work of early-career scholars in the field of American studies.

Apart from spending hours in the library working on her dissertation, she's also a birder and bikepacker, two hobbies she often combines. During summer vacation, she usually bikes across the United States and makes progress on the Transamerica Route. So far, she has cycled 3,344 km, starting in Washington, D.C., and ending in Pueblo, Colorado . Next year, she plans to finish the Transamerica route and reach Seattle, Washington, while seeing lots of birds on the way (https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/krutiben23). When not biking or staring up at the sky to spot birds, she's found experimenting in the kitchen, recreating her family's recipe from back home in India, that either ends up disastrous or delicious, nothing in between.

On the Meaning of Connections with Cori Wieser-Cox

In this episode, we talk to Cori Wieser-Cox on the meaning and value of connections in our (academic) lives at various stages, positions or roles.

Corina/Cori Wieser-Cox was born and raised on the Mexico-US border in Brownsville, Texas and is a Mestize* Mexican American. Their MA thesis titled “Brujeria in the Borderlands: Portrayals of Mexican American Witchcraft in Hollywood Horror Films” won the GAPS Graduate Award in May 2021 and the Bremer Studienpreis in March 2022. It will be published as a monograph with Peter Lang Verlag in 2026. Cori is currently a PhD candidate and research assistant at U Bremen and their dissertation is titled “We’re Trans, We’re Queer and We’re Here: Decolonizing Mexican and Chicanx Queer Cinema.”
 
Cori is currently co-editor of COPAS (Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies), co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Cinema with Kerstin Knopf, WG Pearson and Ernie Blackmore in 2024, co-guest edited a special issue of AmLit titled “Envisioning Queer Racialized Self-Representations in the Americas” and also co-edited a special Issue of Gender Forum titled “Queering Postcolonial Worlds.”
 
When not teaching, writing, and editing, Cori loves to read books of horror, write romance novels, and hang out with their wife after the kids have (finally) gone to bed. Cori has two daughters that they are immensely proud of, “who are quite possibly the smartest and coolest children to walk the earth (sorry to all other children out there)."

Cori recommends Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang, Decolonization is not a metaphor (2012)

On Mental Health, Community, and Glückseligkeit with Leonie

In this episode, we talk to Leonie about mental health, community, and how she became a global health researcher. We explore why "you can't pour from an empty cup" isn't just a saying but a reminder of how essential community is, both as a source of support and as something we actively build for one another in academia. Leonie also reflects on how growing up multiculturally in Germany has shaped her sense of belonging, her interests and the way she moves through research and everyday academic life.
Leonie is a research assistant in the Department of Global Health at the Institute of Public Health and Nursing Research (IPP), Fachbereich 11- Human- und Gesundheitswissenschaften, University of Bremen. She is currently writing her proposal for her dissertation project that will focus on resilience and resistance strategies of BIPOC mental health professionals against epistemic injustice in German mental health institutions.