Sydney Ideas

Hope vs fear: climate change as a security issue

12 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean to call a climate emergency? Military and security experts have warned that as temperatures continue to rise, so too will security r...

From Bathurst to Bhutan and beyond: Andrew Denton and Kinley Dorji

10 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew Denton and Dasho Kinley Dorji studied journalism together at Bathurst in NSW in the 1980s and have since made enormous contributions to the med...

Parag Khanna: The future is asian

06 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The world has gotten used to hearing 'America First', but is it ready for 'Asia First'? Leading global strategy adviser and international bestselling ...

How the waterfront dispute changed industrial relations in Australia

29 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Labour expert Professor Shae McCrystal, and Walkley Award-winning journalists Pamela Williams and Quentin Dempster, reflect on the shifting and precar...

Arts, health and healing

22 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why are the arts critical to public health? How can we embed creative practice into healthcare to improve outcomes for all? Hear internationally ren...

Drawing the lines: music copyright, cultures and creativity

17 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What musical traditions do copyright laws protect and threaten? Do all musical cultures hold equal status in the eyes of the law? Over the last decad...

Understanding neurodiversity and living with autism

13 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Hear experts, including the Brain and Mind Centre's Professor Adam Guastella, explore how we might create cultures and environments that support neuro...

A new light on quantum computing

11 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Chris Monroe is one of the world's foremost quantum technologists and he explains the rise of what promises to be a revolutionary technology...

Precision medicine: can it live up to the hype?

09 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The promise of precision medicine is that it could offer better health outcomes by targeting patients’ genetic and biochemical make-up to pinpoint, ...

Public interest and toxic chemicals

20 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How do the harmful effects of chemicals go undetected, and what can we do to better protect against this? Public health expert Professor Tim Driscoll ...

Alison Gopnik: When (and why) children are smarter than adults, and AI too

18 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How might understanding childhood development lead to genuinely intelligent machines? Young children are actually better at learning unusual or unli...

Frank Stilwell: The political economy of inequality

17 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How can we close the widening gap between rich and poor? Political economist Frank Stilwell draws from his new book on inequality to bring this prob...

Room for improvement: cities, housing and health

17 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Improving our cities and housing conditions can increase our quality of life, prevent disease, and help mitigate climate change. What does this look l...

Kevin Rudd: Bold new ideas for Australia's future

16 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The unprecedented challenges on our collective horizon require a shift in thinking from the factional to the civic. Are we as a nation prepared to em...

Animal welfare, human wellbeing and planetary health

15 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What are the consequences of the choices we make when we feed our animal companions? How does this affect other animals, the environment and even our ...

Living longer: why, and how?

05 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Ageing is the main cause of chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Given this inexorable link, can we extend our lif...

Breaking news: on the decline of press freedom and democracy

02 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What does national security, data security and the changing face of legislation mean for free speech and our right to know? Reporter Vicky Xiuzhong Xu...

Who controls the internet?

23 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As the online world increasingly spills into the real world, urgent questions are being asked about the need to regulate the world’s digital platfor...

Seeing the unseen: from brains to black holes

21 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What is the limit of our brain capacity and how can we translate potential brainpower into powerful discoveries? Fernando Calamante from Sydney Imag...

How We Spend Time

19 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How does our identity determine how we use our time? Economist Daniel Hamermesh will discuss the role of income inequality and how it affects the thin...

Polar extremes

13 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Polar regions are increasingly at the centre of environmental, geo-political and cultural shifts. Our panel discuss how our relationship with the po...

When will the military have its #MeToo moment?

31 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As global movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp rapidly gain momentum in exposing systemic sexual assault and abuse, the military appears to have been...

Jocelyn Bell Burnell: Pulsars and the universe

23 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Hear from one of the greatest astrophysicists and role models of our time. Best known for her discovery of pulsars, Jocelyn Bell Burnell has paved a p...

Can we make food security failsafe?

10 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The world has traditionally relied heavily on the 'business as usual model' of industrial food production and supermarket-oriented consumption. Howeve...

Biodiversity and extinction: can we achieve justice for all?

19 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Climate change, resource extraction and increasing levels of extinction present unprecedented challenges. How can the humanities and social sciences h...

Economic and social justice in a climate changed world

13 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Humans' contribution to climate change is an important prompt for us to consider other global injustices that we may not immediately connect to this h...

Cultural power in the online world: are we being skewed?

12 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How does language determine what we know or how we experience the world? As the online realm increasingly converges with our offline experiences, it ...

Does language control us?

06 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Language is sometimes viewed as a window on the mind, but it is equally a tool, a weapon, or perhaps most accurately: a remote control device. Are we ...

How archaeology can help future proof against natural disasters

22 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Insights from the past to transform our environmental future Archaeology can help us understand how climate and environmental change in our recent an...

Made to Measure: Art, science and the obesity epidemic

21 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As part of Seymour's Centre's premiere season of 'Made to Measure' by Alana Valentine, this special Sydney Ideas event explores the role the arts has ...

Monkol Lek: How an Australian researcher is changing the genetics game

20 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

When a rare medical condition (limb girdle muscular dystrophy) struck Monkol Lek in his early twenties, he took matters into his own hands and retrain...

A century of student activism in China

07 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Student activism in China dates back 100 years, but since their emergence as a political force in 1919, students have influenced and inspired landmark...

Why there's more to learn from Mahatma Gandhi's activism

01 May 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This year marks the 150th birthday anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, whose vision and leadership led to the independence of India against British colonia...

The road to Indigenous repatriation

30 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How we can better understand the conflict between scientific and Indigenous knowledge? For more than 60 years the Smithsonian Institution in Washingt...

Understanding carbon in the air: can we avert a climate catastrophe?

17 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

University of Cambridge Professor Herbert Huppert leads this insightful conversation on how global temperatures in the earth's atmosphere has increase...

Can we prevent diabetes?

09 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Diabetes is arguably one of Australia's greatest health challenges and fastest-growing chronic conditions. But landmark research shows that type 2 dia...

Nano 3D printing: materials beyond imagination

09 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What is nano 3D printing, and how will it transform our lives? In this talk, world-renowned nanotechnology expert Professor Martin Wegener from Karl...

The 2030 agenda: Is Australia on track?

04 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

From ending poverty to climate action, reducing inequality and ensuring quality education — the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are a collection...

Moving to a gender-equal world

01 Apr 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What are the pathways to cultural change? How do we initiate, nurture, but most importantly, entrench cultural change? The University's Vice-Chancell...

On hate and race politics

21 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How is hate shaping society? And what must we do about it? Political philosopher Tim Soutphommasane, reflects on race relations and multiculturalism ...

Meet an exceptionally inspirational woman — Tina Tchen

10 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Hear from women’s rights champion, Tina Tchen, who delivered a keynote address as part of the University of Sydney’s celebrations for Internationa...

Why surveillance capitalism has crept up on us

07 Mar 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What is the cost of cashing in on global surveillance? Surveillance has become an unavoidable presence in our everyday lives - it's embedded in our c...

While you were asleep: how sleep boosts your brain health

28 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Are brain and mind conditions such as dementia a case of luck of the draw, or are our body clocks and sleep cycle integral for keeping our brains heal...

The Xinjiang crackdown

20 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As many as one million Uyghur people and other Muslim minorities in China have reportedly been detained indefinitely in "re-education camps" since 201...

Truth, bullsh*t and weasel words

15 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How post-truth politics is wrecking public discourse Hear from Don Watson, award-winning author and former speechwriter for Paul Keating, as he decode...

Tracking Digital Espionage

12 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How much do governments and private corporations really know about our online history? Hear from Ron Deibert, digital detective and founder of Citiz...

Westmead women and girls in science

11 Feb 2019

Contributed by Lukas

To mark International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2019, the University’s Westmead Initiative hosted a discussion about the achievements of wom...

Soil security: running down a dream

12 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We commemorate United Nations World Soil Day with a discussion about how we can ensure that our soils provide food, biodiversity and healthy ecosystem...

From good international citizen to pariah?

11 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

On the eve of 70-year anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Gillian Triggs reflects on Australia's human rights record in a public...

Human rights: what lies ahead the next 70 years?

10 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

On the 70-year anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we bring together a panel of human rights heroes to reflect on the positivity...

White Fragilty

04 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Why does race seem to be the hardest word for white people? Dr Robin DiAngelo – a renowned anti-racism educator – argues that the underlying cause...

Eddie Woo's Wonderful World of Maths

03 Dec 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In a fun and interactive manner, Australian Local Hero of the Year and one of the world's most inspirational mathematics teachers demonstrates why eve...

Do universities need to reinvent themselves?

22 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sir Eric Thomas, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol and former Chair of the Worldwide Universities Network joins an esteemed panel of...

Expanding the circle of regard for truth

21 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Do we need cultural change in our relation to truth? Celebrate the launch of the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSH...

Why are soldiers taking their own lives?

20 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 2015 more Australian military personnel and veterans took their lives than were killed in Afghanistan during 13 years of war. Our expert panel brin...

Death justice: activism and advocacy following contested death

19 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Deaths in controversial and contested circumstances include deaths in custody, immigration detention, health care, at borders and following disasters....

Screening the World: an inside look at international film festivals in Australia

06 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Join our discussion with Australian film icon David Stratton as we explore the role of international film events in 21st century Australia. TIME STAM...

Satire is a new global saviour for news, seriously

05 Nov 2018

Contributed by Lukas

For this year's annual Chaser Lecture, the star speaker is Nigerian satirist and journalist Adeola Fayehun. In conversation with The Chaser's Julian M...

Meet a Living Legend: Bruce Beresford

31 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Hear from award-winning director and University of Sydney alumnus Bruce Beresford as he discusses his 50-year, Oscar-nominated journey in cinema with ...

Why climate change law is such a hot debate

30 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Hear from Professor Liz Fisher (University of Oxford), as she makes the case for why 'hot' situations such as climate change needs 'hot' law, if Austr...

Is there anything wrong with medicinal cannabis?

29 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

An expert panel addresses the challenges faced by patients, researchers, doctors and regulators in Australia and around the world. This Sydney Ideas ...

The birth of the state in Greater Mesopotamia

23 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Join Professor Marcella Frangipane to uncover important new insights into the birth of early state societies in the greater Mesopotamian world. Timest...

Hope on the horizon for Indigenous youth mental health

23 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Research on Australia's rates of youth mental health and suicide paint a grim picture. Australian Bureau of Statistics data show that Indigenous youth...

Reading and writing slowly in a digital age

15 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

If literature, as romantic poet John Keats said, is for soul making, how will our souls be made and remade in a digital age when most reading, if it h...

Fighting Truth Decay: How to navigate health in a post-truth world

10 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Join us to unravel the role of corporate interests in influencing public perception of science, particularly health research. This event was held at ...

Planet versus profit: striking a balance

04 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What is the role of Australia in sustaining our region's seas, skies and soil? A multidisciplinary panel of experts examines the role and responsibil...

How Australia can save democracy for the world

04 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In this Sydney Policy Lab's inaugural lecture, leading academic, political strategist and its new Director, Marc Stears argues that it is possible for...

Why the Large Hadron Collider is a game changer

25 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the largest and most complex experiment ever built. It is located at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. ...

Stem cell therapy: the good, the bad and the ugly

20 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Stem cell research is a hot field of medical science but one that’s also prone to scandal and scientific fraud. How should health consumers respond ...

Cultural Conversations - Differing views: valuing disagreement

18 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean to “disagree well” within academia? Respect and integrity are accepted and practiced as vital to the life of the University. Th...

Brexit, ethnic populism and the end of the British Empire as we know it

10 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

For the 2018 J.M. Ward Memorial Lecture, Professor Bill Schwarz (Queen Mary University of London) discusses the fallout from Brexit and the evolution ...

Voices from the ashes

06 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

An esteemed panel will discuss how the testimony of Holocaust survivors is used today and the problems, questions and opportunities it presents to peo...

Journalism's new bottom line: Impact

06 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In a world disrupted by technology and global shifts, truth and quality journalism have never been more important. While legacy media brands work to a...

Inclusion by design

05 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

How can we develop a view of people and place that is inclusive, universally designed and that gives people with disability access, and importantly, h...

The Crisis of Neoliberalism and the Rising Tide of Authoritarianism

30 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

11th Annual E.L. Wheelwright Memorial Lecture, presented by the Department of Political Economy at University of Sydney Global neoliberalism is in cr...

Taking the long view on out-of-home care

29 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This expert panel, featuring Emeritus Professor Harriet Ward, will explore the contribution of longitudinal research in understanding the impact on vu...

Sydney research goes full scale for Shakespeare: the Popup Globe

28 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

An expert panel summarises the research into the Popup Globe enterprise so far, and offers first-hand insights into acting in this unique space. A Sy...

Being Collected: insights into repatriation

27 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Behind the scenes of the good news stories of repatriation are a network of community elders and project workers who facilitate the logistics of retur...

The Future of Building

16 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Leading national and international experts discuss and propose the necessary shift in the way we think about building to meet the challenges of the 21...

The end of time: the future history of the universe

16 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Geraint Lewis takes us on a cosmic journey through space and time, through galactic collisions and hyperactive black holes, and onto the dea...

The promise (and threat) of algorithms

15 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Frank Pasquale, an expert on the law of artificial intelligence, algorithms and machine learning, proposes solution to questions over some a...

The future of cancer: can we find a cure?

13 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Hear from a panel of experts responding to the question: How will cellular therapy, immunotherapy, personalised medicine, and the use of big data impa...

The 'shameful' history of Armenian genocide

09 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Taner Akcam reflects on the history of Armenian genocide and the refusal of other nations to accept responsibility for the atrocity, more th...

Bla(c)kness in Australia

07 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Hear readings from the special issue of the magazine Transition on "Bla(c)kness in Australia". The collection brings together the voices and artwork o...

War and the modern world

06 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

World-renowned Canadian historian Professor Margaret MacMillan examines some of the paradoxes of war, drawing on examples from history since the end o...

The find of the century for archaeology?

03 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Are archaeologists missing out on a valuable discovery channel? In the 2018 Tom Austen Brown lecture, Dr Mark Collard, an evolutionary anthropologist,...

Art and neuroplasticity: are they linked?

01 Aug 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A Sydney Ideas event for Innovation Week 2018, bringing together medical researchers focusing around both ends of the demographic spectrum - youth men...

Is storytelling bad for science?

31 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A Sydney Ideas event for Innovation Week 2018, exploring the possibility that storytelling is exactly what science needs, with a view to answering the...

How can investigative journalism projects change the world?

30 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This event brought together journalists, reporters and editors to discuss the power of investigative journalism, and how good journalism can change th...

The past and future of international thinking

23 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This podcast features a discussion on international thinking, through the lens of politics, law and history, and an examination of how the rise in nat...

Cultural Conversations: A cultural backlash?

19 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Could the worldwide rise in authoritarian-populism reflect a backlash to progressive cultural change? What does this mean for multicultural societies ...

What can philosophy do?

17 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Amie Thomasson leads a discussion of the state of philosophy today, and asks the question: what can philosophy still do that is useful and r...

What does it take to achieve choice and control for people with disabilities?

11 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Two distinguished speakers, Professor Tom Shakespeare and Sue Salthouse, address issues surrounding the National Disability Insurance Scheme and what ...

Dogs helping people: In families, hospitals, colleges, and at work

02 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Some studies show dog owners are happier. Could having a dog indeed help combat depression? Could bringing dogs to work help employees and businesses?...

Radicalisation

26 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Case studies with a university student, a computer hacker, and a former drug dealer demonstrate different radicalisation experiences and suggest that ...

Peace on the Peninsula? The origins and implications of North Korea’s diplomatic offensive

19 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This roundtable discussion brings together experts from the University of Sydney and the Lowy Institute to explore the origins and implications of Kim...

Genome editing: rewriting the code for life

14 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The capacity to make precise genome edits is slowly changing our approach to medicine, agriculture and our planet. This panel discussion is the first ...

The Syrian Conflict: How it affects economics, health and education

12 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

What does conflict in Syria mean for GDP, capital stock, fiscal and monitory dynamics, employment, poverty, education, health, human development index...

The State of the Universe: Professor Brian Schmidt

05 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Food as medicine

23 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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 denta...