Sydney Ideas

Economic Modelling now plays a significant role in the development of public policy development and the conduct of public debate in Australia. Modelling has been central to the case for and against the carbon tax, the mining tax and industrial relations reform. But the widespread use of economic modelling is not matched with widespread understanding of its strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities...

Since the global food crisis of 2007, agricultural land has become an attractive asset for large private corporations and state-owned entities wanting to secure food supplies. These investments have had varying effects. At times, they have been associated with forced removals of pre-existing landholders with weak tenure rights. On other occasions they have driven up local property prices and alter...

To celebrate National Archaeology Week 2016 we present two talks on the topic of archaeology and heritage in the Pacific. Wasteland and Wonderland: Bikini Atoll - from atomic bomb testing ground to World Heritage Dr Steve Brown, Lecturer in Archaeology, Master of Museum and Heritage Studies program Sydney’s Missionary Connections to the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) in the 19th Century James Flexner, Lec...

It is now well established that digital media has given rise to new forms of political speech. Just as importantly though, the new media environment has also created space for new types of listening. Media scholar Dave Karpf discusses the role that digital listening, measurement, and experimentation play in shaping the contours of ‘analytic activism’. More info: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/l...

A look into how bottles are impacting on tap water provision and the implications of accumulating plastic waste on environments and bodies. SPEAKERS: Professor Gay Hawkins, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University; Assoc Professor Kane Race, Gender and Cultural Studies, the University of Sydney; and Kylie Yeend, Education, Engagement and Partnerships Manager at Sydney Water.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, dominated by President Erdogan, has governed Turkey for more than a decade. Its initial democratisation agenda, however, has taken an authoritarian turn - with minimal tolerance for dissent. The lecture by Professor Umut Azak (Okan University, Istanbul) investigates the shifts in state-Islam relations within the context of a shrinking pluralist d...

Did you know that at the height of 2015 forest fires, Indonesia was emitting more carbon than the entire US economy? Kiki Taufik, the Global Head of Greenpeace’s Indonesian Forests Campaign outlines why protecting Indonesia's forests is critical to global efforts to stabilise the climate and preserve biodiversity. He analyses recent developments concerning Indonesia's forests, the creation of a ne...

Leading theatrical designers Michael Scott-Mitchell and Nick Schlieper join Associate Professor Branka Spehar, who specialises in the psychology of visual perception, to present a panel discussion about light and colour effects and their implications for performance, architecture and visual perception.

This forum brings together two esteemed investigative journalists from overseas, Anna Nemtsova from Russia and Madhu Trehan from India, with Australian journalist Tom Dusevic and former NSW Premier Bob Carr. It will be moderated by David Marr, widely regarded as one of the country’s most influential commentators. Co-presented with the Australian Press Council as keynote event in the Press Council’...

"Not too hot, not too cold" reads the prescription for a world that's just right for life as we know it. Finding evidence of life beyond Earth is one of the primary goals of science agencies around the world. The goal looms closer as a result of discoveries made by NASA's Kepler Mission. Find out more from Dr Natalie Batalha, NASA Ames Research Center and the Mission Scientist for NASA's Kepler Mi...

There is now almost universal recognition around the world that 'teaching matters' and that the quality of teaching is crucial in social and economic development. However, there has been remarkably little change in the ways in which teachers' work is constructed and the ways in which teachers are educated for a lifetime of preparing young people for their future worlds. In this talk Ian Menter ref...

Ugandan human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo and Human Rights Watch Senior Africa Researcher Maria Burnett examine Uganda’s failure to make progress on human rights issues, and discuss what can be done to ensure its citizens can freely exercise fundamental human rights. Hosted by Dr Susan Banki, lecturer in human rights at the University of Sydney.

As the United States teeters under the weight of Trumpism while inequalities of race, class, gender, and nativity inspire protests and political organising, it has become increasingly common to harken back to the political divisions of the 1960s. This roundtable panel will explore the usefulness of the ‘1960s’ as a point of comparison for contemporary politics and culture not just in the U.S. but...

Discover how Harvard University Professor Joanna Aizenberg’s research is inspired by biology to design slippery surfaces that mimic those found in nature. Her novel nanostructured materials will have huge impacts in areas as diverse as medicine, construction, shipping industries, aircraft industries, fluid handling and transportation, and optical sensing. Inspired by the slippery surfaces of a pit...

Insight into how local councils are educating communities about climate change, even when they are pressured to avoid using the term. SPEAKERS: Lisette Collins, PhD Candidate, University of Sydney Maria Taylor, journalist and author

Professor Nick Couldry, London School of Economics and Political Science In earlier modernity the infrastructures of communication required for an expanding economy and society remained tied to national boundaries and broadly compatible with the values on which democracy was based. In late modernity, globalisation challenged nation-state boundaries, but not yet the values underlying democratic gov...

Professor Kathy High, Video and New Media in the Department of the Arts, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY Recent research into the human body biomes and fecal microbial transplants (FMT) has led to better understanding of both the important function of bacteria in our bodies and the ecological systems that sustain us. These include microbiota – ecologies within the body. Kathy High...

Professor Yu Keping from Peking University, Beijing elaborates on the meaning of political philosophy and political thought in the Chinese context, traditionally and currently. He highlights the distinction between legitimate authority and legal power, and the ways by which power is transformed into authority. Professor Yu looks specifically at the sources and nature of power and authority, and gi...

China is a rising power in the world. Its grand strategy, regional role and foreign policy have significant impacts on global and regional affairs, and have important implications for countries such as the United States and Australia. Australia faces the challenges of balancing its relationships with both the United States and China in a sometimes volatile regional security environment, exemplifie...

Without stories there is silence. Without stories told, we are voiceless. Without our stories heard, we are invisible. The topic of violence against women with disability is only now entering the conversation on gender-based violence. Recognition that violence does happen to women with disabilities and that violence causes disability is the first step in creating environments of social and economi...

Aristotle (384-322 BC), together with his teacher Plato, is one of the most widely recognised and studied philosophers of all times. His work established the fundamental traditions of rationalism and scientific logic. It is also a bridge that links ancient paganism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and many modern philosophical, political and religious movements. In this lecture, Professor Vrasidas Ka...

The growth in foundations and philanthropic giving in Australia draws on a rich tradition in American culture. Two of America's leading voices on philanthropic giving discuss the effective philanthropy. Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund addresses the question of philanthropy’s responsibility to communities and to society. Philanthropy, he says, cannot rely simply on the pr...

Assoc Professor Abbas El-Zein, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney and Tayanah O’Donnell, University of Canberra discuss the complexities associated with rising sea levels and the decision-making being made at a municipal level.

The idea of “East” and “West” as immutable and irreconcilable cultures, geographies and civilisations has been around for a long while. It has been used in various guises to imagine a “Middle East” that is the antithesis of – and inferior to – the “West” in values, practices and ideas. Arab migration to the “West” profoundly undermines this persistent argument, and the peregrinations of millions o...

Guided by experimental tests of theory and practice, science and engineering have advanced rapidly in the past 500 years. Guided primarily by tradition and dogma, science education meanwhile has remained largely medieval. Research on how people learn is now revealing much more effective ways to teach, learn, and evaluate learning than what is in use in the traditional science class. SPEAKER: Profe...