Sydney Ideas
Episodes
Storyology 2016: investigative journalism, cross-border crime, corruption, and accountability
10 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
A Storyology 2016 event co-presented with the Walkley Foundation Investigative and public-service journalism shine a light on the world’s dark corn...
Is Sydney Losing Its Edge?
08 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Part of the 2016 Festival of Urbanism. A conversation on the divergence of Sydney and Melbourne’s cultural policy between the University of Melbou...
Professor Peter Shergold: Re-imagining Public Service
04 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The vocation of public service remains a cornerstone of Australian democracy. Yet its traditional virtues are under pressure. Too often exciting innov...
Insights 2016: Professor Adam Morton on For a Political Economy of Space and Place
04 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Under capitalism, how does the state organise space in our everyday lives through the streets we walk, the monuments we visit, and the places where we...
Dean's Lecture Series. Dr Marjorie Aunos on Parenting with Disabilities
03 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
At 35 years of age Dr Marjorie Aunos had made a name for herself nationally and internationally as a leading practitioner-researcher and advocate for ...
Australian Book Review Fellowship: David Malouf in conversation with poet Michael Aiken
03 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The 2016 Australian Book Review Laureate’s Fellow Michael Aiken in conversation with David Malouf, the ABR Laureate. The forum includes Michael Aik...
Food@Sydney. Food Insecurity: putting good food back on the table
01 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
According to recent reports, 1.2 million Australians regularly struggle to put good, healthy food on the table. From low incomes to high living costs,...
Tax Havens: What Can be Done? Evidence from a century of history
27 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Tax evasion is as old as taxes. But with the introduction of mass income taxes at the beginning of the twentieth century, the problem took on new dime...
The Great War and Today’s World
19 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Second World War still has a defining place in how we imagine war today, despite its increasing distance from us. The west has not experienced ‘...
2016 Harley Wood Lecture: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
06 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) 2016 Harley Wood Lecture for the ASA 50th anniversary Annual Scientific Meeting Over the last 40 years, s...
Defending the Aussie Mozzie: health, ecology and emerging disease threats
17 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The human war against the mosquito is once again garnering global public attention. An explosion in the number of cases of Zika virus in the Americas,...
Insights 2016: Professor Yixu Lu on The Chinese Enigma: China through European eyes 1700-1900
16 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
For the 2016 Insight lecture Series Professor Yixu Lu, Head of School, School of Languages and Cultures talks about the images of China tantalised the...
The Middle Ages Now
15 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Middle Ages have never been more current. Particularly since 9/11, the term 'medieval' has been used to describe, for example, climate-change deni...
Griffith Review 52: Imagining The Future
14 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Our greatest task is to try to imagine the future before it arrives and then to try to shape it. Will the buzzwords ‘innovation’ and ‘agility’...
Healing Rituals in Medieval Chinese Buddhism
09 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The unrivalled corpus of medieval manuscripts unearthed in the northwestern Chinese desert town of Dunhuang in the early twentieth century divulged a ...
The Manifesto: from Surrealism to the present
09 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This talk explores how the manifesto became a defining genre of the artistic avant-garde and other political movements across the 20th century, from F...
Zika Virus and other Infectious Outbreaks: is Australia prepared?
08 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Why was Zika virus declared an international public health emergency by the World Health Organization? What are the implications for people living in ...
Data: Transforming Science and Society (presented with Vivid Ideas)
07 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Data is the currency of the digital age and has transformed all areas of physical life and social sciences. In all disciplines there has been an unpar...
Professor Shawn Michelle Smith on the social power of photography
02 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This talk was a key note address for the 2016 Photography.Ontology symposium that took place at the University of Sydney in June 2016. Professor Smit...
A Garden for Empire and Nation: History and Memory at the Qing Imperial Mountain Estate
01 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Constructed, neglected, rebuilt and expanded over the course of nearly a century, the Qing imperial park of Bishu shanzhuang played a central, but con...
Neuroplasticity: the science behind rewiring the brain
01 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists have long thought that the adult brain is unchangeable, but new evidence is emerging to challenge this belief by revealing that the brain i...
Is Too Much Testing and Treatment Making us Sick?
30 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Panel discussion with audience Q&A on the topic of Wiser Healthcare We all want to be able to get good healthcare when we need it. But what would it ...
Forum on Music And Contemporary Indigenous Identities
27 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Music’s power to form, sustain and present social identities is especially relevant in today’s changing and increasingly networked world. A panel ...
A Model of Confusion: why economic modelling is ruining public policy and public debate
24 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Economic Modelling now plays a significant role in the development of public policy development and the conduct of public debate in Australia. Modelli...
Archaeology and Heritage in the Tropical Pacific
23 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate National Archaeology Week 2016 we present two talks on the topic of archaeology and heritage in the Pacific. Wasteland and Wonderland: B...
Food@Sydney. Agricultural land grabs: what are their impacts in Australia and globally?
23 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Since the global food crisis of 2007, agricultural land has become an attractive asset for large private corporations and state-owned entities wanting...
Analytic Activism
19 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
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 h...
Plastic Water: The social and material life of bottled water
18 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
A look into how bottles are impacting on tap water provision and the implications of accumulating plastic waste on environments and bodies. SPEAKERS:...
Turkey Under the AKP: continuity and change in Islam, secularism and democracy
12 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, dominated by President Erdogan, has governed Turkey for more than a decade. Its initial democratis...
Saving Indonesia’s Rainforests: using maps, brands and politics to end deforestation
06 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Light and the Illusion of Space
05 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Leading theatrical designers Michael Scott-Mitchell and Nick Schlieper join Associate Professor Branka Spehar, who specialises in the psychology of vi...
What’s the Announceable?: governing in a 24-hour news cycle
04 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This forum brings together two esteemed investigative journalists from overseas, Anna Nemtsova from Russia and Madhu Trehan from India, with Australia...
Professor Walter Stibbs Lecture 2016: Dr Natalie Batalha, NASA Ames Research Center
28 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"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 ...
Human Rights in Uganda Today
26 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ugandan human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo and Human Rights Watch Senior Africa Researcher Maria Burnett examine Uganda’s failure to make progress o...
Dean's Lecture Series. Professor Ian Menter on What is a Teacher in the 21st Century?
26 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
There is now almost universal recognition around the world that 'teaching matters' and that the quality of teaching is crucial in social and economic ...
The Center Cannot Hold: rethinking the 1960s in America and beyond
21 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
As the United States teeters under the weight of Trumpism while inequalities of race, class, gender, and nativity inspire protests and political organ...
Slippery Surfaces: How nanoscience is changing our material world
19 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Discover how Harvard University Professor Joanna Aizenberg’s research is inspired by biology to design slippery surfaces that mimic those found in n...
How To Talk About Climate Change Without Talking About Climate Change
13 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Insight into how local councils are educating communities about climate change, even when they are pressured to avoid using the term. SPEAKERS: Liset...
Waste Matters: you are my future
12 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Kathy High, Video and New Media in the Department of the Arts, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY Recent research into the hum...
The Price of Connection
12 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Nick Couldry, London School of Economics and Political Science In earlier modernity the infrastructures of communication required for an ex...
Chinese Conceptions of Power and Authority: new perspectives
11 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Yu Keping from Peking University, Beijing elaborates on the meaning of political philosophy and political thought in the Chinese context, tr...
China’s Grand Strategy
07 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
China is a rising power in the world. Its grand strategy, regional role and foreign policy have significant impacts on global and regional affairs, an...
The Silent Tears Project
06 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Without stories there is silence. Without stories told, we are voiceless. Without our stories heard, we are invisible. The topic of violence against ...
Aristotle 2400 Years On: the legacy and the relevance of a Greek philosopher
05 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Aristotle (384-322 BC), together with his teacher Plato, is one of the most widely recognised and studied philosophers of all times. His work establis...
The Responsibility of Philanthropy
04 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The growth in foundations and philanthropic giving in Australia draws on a rich tradition in American culture. Two of America's leading voices on phil...
Coastal Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise
23 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Assoc Professor Abbas El-Zein, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney and Tayanah O’Donnell, University of Canberra discuss the complexit...
Beyond the “Clash of Civilisations”: Arab diasporas and transnational identities
21 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The idea of “East” and “West” as immutable and irreconcilable cultures, geographies and civilisations has been around for a long while. It has...
A Scientific Approach to Teaching Science and Engineering
11 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Guided by experimental tests of theory and practice, science and engineering have advanced rapidly in the past 500 years. Guided primarily by traditio...
The 2015 Charles Perkins Centre Annual Oration: The Deep Evolutionary Roots of Cancer
04 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Cancer is the most studied phenomenon in biology, with over a million published papers, yet it remains poorly understood. In the USA alone, more than ...
The Dismissal: 40 years later
11 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
On 11 November 1975 the Prime Minister of Australia, Gough Whitlam was dismissed from office by the Queens Representative in Australia, Governor-Gener...
Melanoma up Close
10 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Melanoma is known throughout Australia, however, it is only when our family or ourselves are directly impacted that we realise the seriousness of this...
The Chaser at USyd 2015 : Bassem Youssef on The Perils of Power and Political Satire
04 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Bassem Youssef - credited as a key figure in the Arab Spring - is a global icon of freedom of expression and political satire. Despite its immense pop...
Liu Cixin - The Future of China Through Chinese Science Fiction
03 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Sydney Ideas partnered with the Confucius Institute to present Liu Cixin, leading contemporary Chinese science fiction writer, and recent winner of th...
Sydney Story Factory: Igniting creativity in children one story at a time
28 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The importance of creativity is frequently highlighted in education and the marketplace. In the heart of Redfern, Sydney Story Factory is changing the...
Noel Pearson and Jonathan Lear on What is Recognition?
08 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Noel Pearson is one of Australia’s foremost indigenous leaders and political activists. He titled his first Quarterly Essay, Radical Hope, explicitl...
Women in Leadership: why aren’t we there yet?
29 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabeth Broderick, former Sex Discrimination Commissioner, shares her thinking on the big ideas to shift mindsets and mobilise change to create a tr...
Talking About Mental Health in the Media
08 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What role does the media play forming public perceptions on mental health? A panel of journalists, media theorists, and mental health experts reflect ...
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz on Indigenous Peoples and Globalisation
30 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
At the United Nations Indigenous peoples have been at the forefront of discussions regarding the human rights abuses committed by corporations since t...
Cancer Screening: Are we harming the healthy?
29 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Health experts are divided over the benefits of cancer screening – are we saving lives or harming lives? Some experts argue that widespread screeni...
Forum on Competing Voices: the status of Indigenous language in the French Pacific and Australia
25 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The Pacific region boasts a third of the world’s total living languages. A panel of experts examines ideas around national policies that recognize a...
Civil Society And Resilience against Authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa
13 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The panel brings together scholars who have direct experience of the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and Bahrain. They discussed the historical roots, re...
Curating Chinese Contemporary Art in an Australian Context
24 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years, interest in contemporary Chinese art has exploded in Australia and across the world. Tonight some of Australia's most prominent curat...
Leadership for Cultural Competence: innovations at the cutting edge to achieve change
09 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Training in cultural competence to allow people to work better in cross-cultural environments is becoming increasingly important in our globalised com...
The Arts and Learning: creating Australia's future
11 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
If research demonstrates that students who engage in an active, demanding, high-quality arts education are more likely to excel in their academic and ...
Kim Williams on Music and the Rules of Engagement
30 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
One of Australia’s highest profile media executives Kim Williams talks about the enduring impact of arts education on his life and advances a strong...
The Kids Aren’t Alright: Supporting children when a parent has cancer
24 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Cancer does not occur in a vacuum - it has a major impact on family, friends and colleagues. When a parent has cancer, the whole family experiences ca...
Google me Happy - Managing Young People's Mental Health Support
10 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Young people aged 12–25 are the highest at-risk group for experiencing mental health problems. They are also the group most likely to look for help ...
War, Death and Memory: Beyond 1914- The University of Sydney and the Great War
09 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
An expert panel on 'War, Death and Memory' with leading Australian historians explores consequences of the Great War on individual lives and the natio...
Last Lecture: Professor Raewyn Connell
05 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Raewyn Connell from the University of Sydney Faculty of Education and Social Work) gives her ‘last lecture’ celebrating 43 years of grou...
Professor Nikolas Rose on Mental Life in the Metropolis
26 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
How do different forms of urban life get ‘under our skin’ shaping our bodies, souls and mental states? Prominent British sociologist Nikolas Rose ...
Egypt 2011 - 2014: opportunities and challenges after three years of uprising
23 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In January 2011 Egyptian people took to the streets demanding the fall of a corrupt and authoritarian regime. A revolutionary movement including women...
Tara Moss: The Fictional Woman
17 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Author Tara Moss on molded gender narratives, toxic silences, and damaging stereotypes. In conversation with Professor Elspeth Probyn and a fellow PhD...
The Art and Science of Good Conversation post Brain Injury
14 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Good conversation is a rewarding and important part of social interaction. Professor Leanne Togher from the University of Sydney Faculty of Health Sci...
The Right to World Heritage?
07 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The year 2012 marked the 40th anniversary of UNESCO’s 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It remai...
Nationalism, Internationalism and the Legacies of the First World War
28 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
What lessons should we draw from the First World War? Professor Glenda Sluga will discuss the war's legacies from the perspective of its end, and th...
Adventures of a New Woman: Donald to Deirdre
28 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Deirdre McCloskey, a well-known economist and historian, was until 1995 known as Donald. She tells her story since then, of happy and unhappy endings–...
Anis Nacrour on France and the Arab-World Upheavals: from friend to foe
05 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Since the fall of President Ben Ali in Tunisia, followed by those of President Moubarak in Egypt and Colonel Kaddafi in Libya, France has been one of ...
Women, Gender, and Creative Activism in the Egyptian Revolutions (1919-2013)
15 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Historian and commentator on women, gender and feminism in Egypt, Margot Badran joins Sydney Ideas for a conversation with the University of Sydney’...
Women's Inclusion in the History of the Chilean Public Sphere: a contemporary view
03 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
One of Chile’s leading political scholars, Professor Ana Maria Stuven, joins Sydney Ideas for an informative presentation on the changing role of wo...
The Call for Recognition of the Australian South Sea Islander Peoples
20 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
2013 marks 150 years since the first of 55,000 Pacific Islander labourers (known as Australian South Sea Islanders or ‘ASSI’) were brought to Aust...
I'm Not Creative, But...
03 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
I’m not creative, but... playfully investigates the role of creativity in all career paths, well beyond the so-called creative industries. Academics...
Forum on The Challenge and Necessity of Changing our Constitution
23 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
The Australian Constitution has not been amended for more than 35 years. In fact, with only 8 of 44 total referendums successful, changing our Constit...
Public Art Today: from Space Invaders to place-makers
15 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Vivien Lovell is a visual arts curator and founder of Modus Operandi, an independent public art consultancy organisation based in the UK. She has mana...
Professor Rana Mitter - How China's Wartime Past is Shaping its Present and Future
09 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Rana Mitter, History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Cross College, explores how the battered Ch...
In Conversation with Ahdaf Soueif
27 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
A fascinating conversation with novelist and journalist Ahdaf Soueif who witnessed first-hand the Egyptian Revolution of January 2011. As the events i...
Michael Bristow - The Joys and Difficulties of Being a Foreign Correspondent in China
06 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
China is undergoing a radical transformation that is changing the lives of everyone who lives there – and reporters have a ringside sea. Five years ...
China and the Fifth Generation Leadership: China Moves into the Era of Socio Political Change
16 Oct 2012
Contributed by Lukas
The incoming Director of University of Sydney’s China Studies Centre Professor Kerry Brown explores the new leadership of the Chinese Communist Part...
Crash and Crisis in Contemporary Europe: Lessons from History
04 Sep 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist Stephen Crittenden chairs a fascinating and robust conversation about the current state of Europe. What do historians say we can learn from...
Professor Geremie R Barmé - Telling Chinese Stories
01 May 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Many of those who engage with the Chinese world encounter the stories that are told about China–there is the monolithic narrative of the party-state...
Les Malezer on Affirming Indigenous Knowledge as the Social Capital of Indigenous Peoples
09 Dec 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Les Malezer is from the Butchulla/Gubbi Gubbi peoples in southeast Queensland. He has extensive experience in campaigning for Aboriginal and Torres St...
Mick Gooda on Effective Engagement: the tonic for a reconciled nation
30 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda charts an agenda of hope that can guide us towards a reconciled Australia...
Writing Science Lives: why biography matters
12 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
What do we learn when we revisit scientists' past worlds? How might one write a life as famous as Charles Darwin's? Why is biography the best-selling ...
Why History Matters: Historians reshape the world
26 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Do we need our history to be global? Work, leisure, war and peace, these are some of the themes that historians are now mapping onto a global past. ...
What Makes A Creative Entrepreneur?
30 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
The award-winning author and University of Sydney Alumna Kate Jennings, with her brother, Mambo founder Dare Jennings, discuss how they combine their ...
Modernism or Realism? The question in China’s quest for modernity through art
08 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
How to modernise art for a modern China? What ideas and practices should China adapt from the West? Such questions figured prominently in intellectual...
Meeting the China Challenge: Australia’s China Policy in a New Era
11 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This forum and open discussion with Australia’s leading China commentators was hosted by Dr James Reilly, Department of Government and International...
Professor Jeffrey Riegel - Confucius and the First Emperor
21 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Confucius (traditional dates 551-479 BCE) lived during the waning years of the Zhou dynasty. He was deeply troubled by the disorder of his age and too...
Saree Makdisi on Excavating Memory In Jerusalem
22 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
In 2004, construction began in Jerusalem on the local branch of the Los Angeles-based Museum of Tolerance, designed by the leading American architect,...
Professor David Goodman - Mao Zedong and his thought
02 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
SPEAKER: Professor David Goodman, Professor of Chinese Politics, and Director, Institute of Social Sciences Mao Zedong (1893-1976) is best known as t...
Why History Matters: the past in the present
28 Jul 2009
Contributed by Lukas
How does the past shape the present? Should history play a role in shaping politics today? Should we be held accountable for the wrongs of the past? D...