Sydney Ideas

In the 2018 Professor Walter Stibbs Lecture, Nobel Laureate Professor Brian Schmidt looks at the Universe's vital statistics and what we do (and don't) know about the past, present and future. A Sydney Ideas event held at the University of Sydney on Tuesday 5 June 2018. https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas/2018/the-state-of-the-universe.html

Are we eating ourselves sick? Join our panel of speakers to ask: could food really help us ward off diseases like diabetes, dementia, cancer and dental or cardiovascular disease? Hear from our panel of experts from across the University of Sydney’s health faculties. This event was held at the University of Sydney on Wednesday 23 May 2018. https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas/2018/food-a...

This event, co-presented with the Department of Archaeology, brings together two archaeologists to discuss the status of Aboriginal archaeology, as well as where we should go from here into the future. A Sydney Ideas event held at the University of Sydney on Tuesday 22 May 2018. https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas/2018/an-ancient-and-dynamic-history-aboriginal-archaeology.html

Professor Jean Lau Chin from Adelphi University in New York examines what successful 21st century leadership should look like in our increasingly diverse and global society. A Sydney Ideas event held at the University of Sydney on Thursday 17 May 2018. https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas/2018/global-and-diverse-leadership.html

Australia poet Mark Tredinnick discusses the landscape in and of contemporary poetry, the role of the lyric in a time of spiritual and ecological crisis, and the importance of writing across the disciplines and embedding creativity in education at all points of life and learning. A Sydney Ideas event held at the University of Sydney on Tuesday 15 May 2018. https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney...

This event brings together a panel of experts to discuss how the Australian healthcare system is a major contributor to the nation's carbon footprint. Held as part of Sydney Ideas on 1 May 2018: https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas/2018/is-the-health-sector-key-to-a-low-carbon-world.html

Professor Mary Kaldor will introduce the concept of global security cultures in order to explain why we get stuck in certain ways of doing security. She argues that, in contrast to the Cold War period when there was one dominant security culture based on military forces and states, nowadays there are several competing cultures including Geopolitics, New Wars, the Liberal Peace and the War on Terro...

Nadia Urbinati, one of Italy's most distinguished scholars, analyses the main forces that are nowadays tearing apart more than a few democracies around the world, Italy included. In an unusual twist, she concentrates less on the overt enemies of democracy than on those who pose as its friends: for instance, technocrats wedded to expert procedures; demagogues who make glib appeals to 'the people',...

A panel of distinguished international visitors and Australia-based experts discuss and debate the ‘hot button’ issues being raised by Asian digital transformations. Held as part of Sydney Ideas on 12 April 2018: https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas/2018/digital-rights-and-governance-in-asia-the-state-of-the-arts.html

Australia is widely celebrated as a multicultural triumph, but any such success remains incomplete. The findings of a new report, produced by the Australian Human Rights Commission in partnership with the University of Sydney Business School, the Committee for Sydney and Asia Society Australia, suggest we have a long way to go before realising the full potential of our multicultural population. In...

Can we make objects invisible? Professor Gunther Uhlmann explores inverse problems, and the progress scientists are making to achieve invisibility.

Authoritarian populists have disrupted politics in many societies, as seen in the U.S. and the UK. This event brings two leading scholars to discuss their new books and the power of populist authoritarianism. Prof Pippa Norris discusses her new book Cultural Backlash: The Rise of Populist Authoritarianism. Prof John Keane discusses his new book When Trees Fall, Monkeys Scatter: rethinking democrac...

From the atom bomb to the microprocessor, physics produced many of the great transformations of the 20th century. In the 21st, a convergence of artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and quantum computing will yield even more profound changes. Professor Michael Biercuk, Professor Allison Macfarlane, Professor Hugh Gusterson, Professor Toby Walsh and Professor James Der Derian investigate the...

Ngarigu woman Professor Jakelin Troy discusses intimate details of the lives, language and knowledge of the Aboriginal women she has discovered among the anthropological archives. Co-presented with Sydney University Museums, this talk coincides with the UNESCO memory of the world exhibition in Fisher Library which features the Anthropology archive through the work of Phyllis Kaberry, the first pro...

Outrage. Is it an affect? An agency? A meme? This talk by Professor Robyn Wiegman attempts to decide whether outrage offers political instruction or if it's an instrument of democratic destruction. Held as part of Sydney Ideas on 13 March 2018: https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas/2018/outrage-the-psychic-life-of-trumps-america.html

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have historically been subject to much more misdiagnosis, mistreatment, incarceration and coercion than other Australians in the hands of psychiatric institutions, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. The ramifications of psychiatry’s sometimes unwitting, indifferent or knowing complicity in past harmful practices and beliefs have been...

We’ve just legalised same-sex marriage, but where does the rest of the world stand? Bronwyn Winter and Maxime Forest explore the ways in which same-sex marriage becomes institutionalised (or resisted) through legal and societal norms and practices. Held as part of Sydney Ideas on 5 March 2018: https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/sydney-ideas/2018/same-sex-marriage-and-the-state-global-perspectives....

Professor Sylvie Poirier reflects on her trajectory of engagement and collaborative research with the Atikamekw First Nation (north-central Quebec, Canada). In 1990, when the Council of the Atikamekw Nation first approached Professor Poirier to conduct research work on land rights issues, they agreed that her anthropological expertise would serve their life projects. Since then, Professor Poirier’...

Professor Roger Saljo, University of Gothenburg, argues that learning as we know it is currently changing in nature from its traditional focus on reproduction to a focus on learning as design. The purpose of education is to contribute to reproducing the knowledge and skills that are relevant for a society. In traditional societies with a low division of labour this implies focussing on reproducing...

What if getting old didn’t mean getting ill? Although we're living longer in most parts of the world, advancing age has been revealed as the major risk factor for serious diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and dementia. Professor Dame Linda Partridge FRS is Director of the Institute of Healthy Ageing at University College London, and a founding director of the Max Planck Institute...

What is the position of the translator as cultural mediator? A panel of distinguished scholars explore the significance of translation, its impact on encounters between people, and its contribution to social cohesion, especially in multicultural and multi-faith societies like Australia.

A forum with Tim Wright, Asia-Pacific director of ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), winner of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its part in spearheading the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; the first Treaty to outlaw the development, stockpiling, possession, transfer, hosting, testing, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. He is joined by Tim Ayres, the Nation...

Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist, writing opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz often focusing on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. In 2004, Levy published a compilation of articles entitled Twilight Zone – Life and Death under the Israeli Occupation(2004). His weekly talk show, A Personal meeting with Gideon Levy, was broadcast on Israeli cable TV....

The way Pompeii was covered by the eruption material ejected by Mt Vesuvius in 79 CE has made it possible to reveal the forms of organic remains preserved in the hardened ash. Pouring plaster of Paris into the voids created by decomposed soft tissue has created casts that were believed to be faithful renditions of those who died. In theory, the skeletons were embedded within the plaster casts of h...

The makers of Venezuela's leading satirical news site El Chigüire Bipolar discuss the politics of satire with the makers of Australia’s in no way leading satirical news site The Chaser. Held as part of Sydney Ideas on 28 November 2017: http://sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas/lectures/2017/chaser_el_chiguir_bipolar.shtml