UNSW Centre for Ideas

Award-winning, internationally acclaimed writer Anna Funder shares how to be a best-selling author.   In 1997, Anna Funder left Australia for Berlin. She told everyone that she was leaving to write a book, and now the pressure was on to deliver. Six years later Anna published Stasiland , stories gathered about life in East Germany from the people she interviewed during her time in Berlin...

When Chanel Contos first hit post on an Instagram poll in 2021, she had no idea of the cultural reckoning she was about to unleash. She asked a simple question, “Have you or has anyone close to you ever been sexually assaulted by someone who went to an all-boys school in Sydney?”. But the responses were overwhelming. So much so, that she had to create a website to collect over 6,700 te...

Raji Ambikairajah has had a very successful career. She was awarded NSW Woman of the Year for her work with Room to Read, she has a PhD in electrical engineering from UNSW, she’s been the CEO of several start-ups, and she’s been on company boards since she was in her 20s. But if you asked her right after graduating what she wanted to do, she wouldn’t have been able to tell you. I...

From a family story rooted in Yarrabah, to the lawns of the White House in Washington DC, hear the incredible story of Daniel Joinbee, a proud Gunggandji man, Royal Australian Air Force veteran, and founder of Australia’s first and only 100% Aboriginal-owned aerospace consultancy and Indigenous youth program. Daniel and host Jonathan Webb will also dis...

What happens when a master of the stage turns to the page?   Acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, artistic director and now novelist Andrew Upton has never been one to stay in his lane. Across theatre, film, television and fiction, his many creative pursuits are united by one calling: storytelling.  In this compelling conversation with Michaela Kalowski, recorded live at Belvoir St Theatr...

During his first night in prison at 16 years old, Michael Kwan knew it was time to take accountability for the choices he’d made. Now, Michael wants to share the opportunities he made for himself - an education, a part-time job, a place to call home - with other at-risk youth and those already inside the youth justice system. He’s now the CEO and co-founder of Praxis Youth, a non-profi...

After 17 years at the United Nations, Janet Salem was growing frustrated with the gap between the sustainability data she was gathering, and the information businesses were using to make investment decisions. She saw an opportunity to give business’s crucial insight into their resource consumption and environmental impact to make more informed decisions, the same way food packaging provides...

As a veteran, Shannon thought his business idea, a machine that filters water from the air, would be a no-brainer for the military. But when the first round of funding fell through, he had to pivot. His next move led Shannon all the way to Buckingham Palace and is transforming countless lives across Australia in the process. There are over two million Australians without access to fresh drinking w...

The development of AI has brought humanity to the cusp of a seismic change the likes of which has never been seen before. Workforces of the future will be dramatically different, as some jobs become obsolete and people scramble to learn new skills and ways of working. But just as this intelligence revolution has called into question the role of humans, could it be the catalyst for more purposeful...

The development of AI has brought humanity to the cusp of a seismic change the likes of which has never been seen before. Workforces of the future will be dramatically different, as some jobs become obsolete and people scramble to learn new skills and ways of working. But just as this intelligence revolution has called into question the role of humans, could it be the catalyst for more purposeful...

Statistics can sometimes paint a rosy picture. Women now make up half of federal parliamentarians in Australia, more women graduate from university than men, and over 60% of Australia’s Winter Olympic team in 2026 were women.  But the reality of gender equality and progress is disappointingly stagnant if not downright regressive and concerning.  From the alarmingly high prevalence...

Most whistleblowers are unknown and ordinary people shedding light on corruption and misconduct. They rarely make the front page; many pay a devastating personal price. Australia’s whistleblowing protections are failing them.  Hear two of the foremost experts in Australia on protecting and defending the rights of whistleblowers, Kieran Pender and Gabriel Shipton alongside leading commen...

Following the historic appointment of Sue-Anne Hunter as the inaugural National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, Australia finds itself on a new journey but an old and critical road to mend.   From the over-representation of Indigenous kids in child protection and youth detention systems to the inordinately high rates of incarceration, family s...

The ongoing conflict between Iran, the US and Israel has not only led to the deaths of many thousands of people, it has destabilised the global world order. As a middle power, Australia is being drawn into the conflict amid global pressures and strategic resource dependencies. Closer to home, the conflict is having a destabilising impact on Australia’s economy and enhancing other ongoing iss...

When Nila Ibrahimi posted a video of herself online, singing proudly in protest of the ban on girls over 12 singing in public, she hoped the music would inspire young girls to continue their education. It was 2021 and the Taliban’s return to Afghanistan had come down swiftly on women's freedom. The video went viral and the ban was reversed, sending a powerful message across social media &nda...

Dr Karaitiana Taiuru is a leading global voice at the forefront of Māori data sovereignty and AI ethics. His practice draws on tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori to facilitate conversations about the ways emerging technologies must uplift, protect and empower Indigenous knowledge, culture and communities. Hear him in conversation with Dr Sue Keay, where he explores why protecting Māori knowledge a...

Angie Abdilla creates video installations interrogating Indigenous deeptime knowledges, automation and AI, focusing on technology as cultural practice. Her research, artworks and films have been exhibited at premier cultural institutions, including the current Data Dreams: Art and AI exhibition at the MCA, and previously, the United Nations; Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria; the International Docume...

Every day, generative AI is pumping millions of new pictures into existence. Researcher and UNSW lecturer Dr Charu Maithani is redefining how we think about the images flooding our world, exposing how they capture only the narrowest sliver of human experience. Her work reveals how reimagining the way AI is trained – what it sees, learns, and absorbs from culture – defines our visual vo...

Richard Holden | Alan Kohler Australia, a land of sweeping plains, has one of the lowest population densities on the planet. So, how did we end up with a housing shortage?  In conversation with economist and author Richard Holden, veteran finance journalist Alan Kohler’s new  Quarterly Essay ,  The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Crisis and How to Fix It , investigates...

Since its 2025 publication, Laurie Woolever’s Care and Feeding was an immediate New York Times bestseller, tracing her path from small-town childhood to working with two of the most powerful men in the food business, chefs Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain. The book’s success is no surprise. Laurie doesn't sugarcoat the consequences of a life where desire has been met with opportunity...

As one of the world’s leading researchers in artificial intelligence, Toby Walsh has been awarded the Humbolt Research Award and elected as a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of AI. In  The Shortest History of AI , Toby outlines the six key ideas for understanding artificial intelligence today.  Hear Toby trace the origins of artificial intelligence in science and cult...

Programs like ChatGPT have become ubiquitous with AI, promising to kick start the next industrial evolution. But the scale of resources needed to support AI are staggering, with the cost largely being levied on the marginalised. From energy demands eclipsing whole cities, to labour exploitation in the global south, this behaviour bodes poorly for an equitable future. In  Empire of AI , award-...

Many people would recognise Australian actress Yael Stone from her breakout role as the red-lipped Lorna Morello in TV series  Orange is the New Black.  But, in 2020 she gave up her green card, and her acting career in the United States, unable to reconcile the carbon emissions of the jet-setting lifestyle wi...

Within today's social media landscape, a finely tuned content algorithm is serving up often unhealthy and sometimes extreme views on masculinity. For boys, in particular, the injection of vitriol into playgrounds, classrooms, backyards and wider society has turned the question of what it means to be a man on its head. This is also having far-reaching consequences for young girls and women.  S...

Hear acclaimed political biographer Troy Bramston in conversation with UNSW’s Verity Firth and delve into his latest book Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New . From Whitlam’s rise through the Labor party to Prime Minister, to his family, upbringing and life after politics, Troy lifts the lid on new revelations behind the man and his polices. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...